New innovations in cell-free biotechnology

A Northwestern University-led team has developed a new way to manufacture proteins outside of a cell that could have important implications in therapeutics and biomaterials. The advance could make possible decentralized manufacturing and distribution processes for protein therapeutics that might, in the future, promote better access to costly drugs all over the world. The team set out to improve the quality of manufactured proteins in vitro, or outside a cell, and found success across a number of fronts."We developed a bacterial cell-free protein synthesis system that is capable of high level expression of pure proteins containing multiple non-canonical amino acids," said Michael Jewett, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering. "This is important because it allows us to expand the range of genetically encoded chemistry incorporated into proteins in previously unattainable ways."