2020/02/21 by Nicole E. Gregorio, Wesley Y. Kao, Layne C. Williams +4 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Engineering · #CRISPR and Genetic Engineering #RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms #Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects #Biomanufacturing #Shelf life #Off the shelf #Biochemical engineering #Biotechnology #Productivity #Cell-free protein synthesis #Synthetic biology #Chemistry #Computer science #Computational biology #Food science #Biochemistry #Biology #Engineering #Protein biosynthesis
paper · doi:10.1021/acssynbio.9b00433
openalex publication_date 2020/02/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/20
Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is a platform biotechnology that enables a breadth of applications. However, field applications remain limited due to the poor shelf-stability of aqueous cell extracts required for CFPS. Lyophilization of E. coli extracts improves shelf life but remains insufficient for extended storage at room temperature. To address this limitation, we mapped the chemical space of ten low-cost additives with four distinct mechanisms of action in a combinatorial manner to identify formulations capable of stabilizing lyophilized cell extract. We report three key findings: (1) unique additive formulations that maintain full productivity of cell extracts stored at 4 °C and 23 °C; (2) additive formulations that enhance extract productivity by nearly 2-fold; (3) a machine learning algorithm that provides predictive capacity for the stabilizing effects of additive formulations that were not tested experimentally. These findings provide a simple and low-cost advance toward making CFPS field-ready and cost-competitive for biomanufacturing.