High-Throughput Exploration of Cell-Free Metabolism

While cell-free systems have been employed to produce a variety of impressive chemical products, our mechanistic understanding of cell-free metabolism still requires significant research to effectively understand the highly connected nature of metabolic networks, which obscure design and engineering choices for optimization. The problem is compounded by the difficulty of obtaining high quality kinetic measurements, especially in high throughput. Using a combination of traditional analytical methodologies and reporter-based characterization, this work will enable quick and effective measurement of variations in the extract’s function caused by perturbations to the extract’s metabolism.

Immediate Work: Introduce modified energy and cofactor regimes to measure effect on cell-free systems and conduct pilot-scale studies.

Long term Vision: Precise engineerable control over cell-free metabolism for product specific applications.