Bradley Bundy

Cell-free Synthetic Biology for Protein Engineering

What is Cell-free Synthetic Biology?

Proteins—polymers of amino acids—are a major class of biomolecules whose myriad functions facilitate many crucial biological processes. Accordingly, human control over these biological processes depends upon the ability to study, produce, and modify proteins. One innovative tool for accomplishing these aims is cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS). This method, rather than using living cells to make protein, simply extracts the cells’ natural protein-making machinery and then uses it to produce protein in vitro.

Engineering Within a Cell-free System

Because living cells are no longer involved, scientists can freely adapt and engineer the protein production environment in ways not otherwise possible. This increased accessibility enables cutting-edge research on current topics such as unnatural amino acid insertion, virus-like particle production, enzyme immobilization, and high-throughput assays.

These exciting areas of study enable new biosensor designs, biotherapeutics, cancer treatments, vaccine development, and biocatalysis stabilization.

Professor Bundy currently offers these courses:

• ChEn 170: Introduction to Chemical Engineering

• ChEn 191: Preprofessional Seminar

• ChEn 263: Computational Tools for Chemical Engineers

• ChEn 273: Chemical Process Principles

• ChEn 291: Career Skills 1

• ChEn 376: Heat and Mass Transfer

• ChEn 475: Unit Operations Laboratory

• ChEn 493R: Job Finding

• ChEn 519: Graduate Biochemical Engineering

Virus-like Particles

The engineering of virus-like particles for highly specific imaging agents, drug delivery vehicles, and vaccine antigens is another major thrust of the Bundy Lab. Separately, the engineering of more effective cancer Therapeutics has been initiated as a new research project.

Icosahedral virus like particle (VLP) is a hollow spherical protein container. Hundreds of identical monomer self-assemble to become a microcompartment. VLPs are genetically modifiable. This property enables us to purify them, encapsidate guest molecules, or decorate the exterior surface with ligands, dye, etc. Currently many biotechnologists utilize VLPs to make drug delivering vehicles, bioimaging materials, vaccines, biochemical reaction vessels.

Biocatalysis Immobilization

Biocatalysts are enzymes that enable chemical reactions to occur faster and with less energy. Unlike traditional chemical catalysts, biocatalysts are biodegradable, function at low pressures and temperatures, and produce negligible side products. Biocatalysts already play an important role in making drugs, detergents, food products, fuel etc. In many industrial applications, biocatalysts are gradually lost as they “wash away” with product streams. Our lab seeks to immobilize biocatalysts using unnatural amino acids in order to preserve their retention and activity. Unnatural amino acids can act as unique targets for immobilization, increasing our control over the procedure. The process of incorporating unnatural amino acids into biocatalysts can be efficiently carried out in cell-free systems due to their open nature.