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Cell-free Production of Pharmaceutical-grade Biologics
Completed
TRL 2 (started at 1, targeting 2)
Description
Industry Project
Biomolecules, such as proteins, carbohydrates, and metabolites, hold promise as treatments and diagnostic markers for a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. However, generating the appropriate biomolecules currently requires numerous chemicals and cell-culture systems. Synlife Inc. proposes developing freeze-dried, cell-free extracts that can generate active biomolecules upon adding only water and DNA. Further, the kit would allow purification of these biomolecules to a level safe for human injection. This system will be low cost, highly portable, and have a long shelf life.
Benefits
We have shown that production of erythropoietin (EPO), granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), three proteins that could act as treatments for acute radiation poisoning in space, could in theory be produced from freeze-dried cell-free extracts on demand. Adiga et al. (2018) showed similar results with different freeze-dried cell-free extracts and performed both the reaction and purification in automated, custom-built hardware. These proofs-of-concept show that production and purification of therapeutic proteins is possible and can be made practical through advances in method, formulation, and integrated hardware.
Reference:
Adiga R, Al-Adhami M, Andar A, et al. Point-of-care production of therapeutic proteins of good-manufacturing-practice quality. Nat Biomed Eng. 2018;2(9):675-686.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-018-0259-1 Details
| Technology area | Human Health, Life Support, and Habitation Systems > Human Health and Performance > Food Production, Processing, and Preservation |
| Program | Human Research Program (HRP) |
| Lead organization | Translational Research Institute for Space Health, Houston, TX |
| Start date | 2019-05-01 |
| End date | 2020-04-30 |
Project contacts
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How to get involved
This is early/mid-stage (TRL 2) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.
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