Developers
Kelly A. Schwarz, Nichole M. Daringer, Taylor B. Dolberg, Joshua N. Leonard.
Description of the technology
Engineered
This technology proposes an engineering strategy, leveraging a
The authors of the technology have investigated whether we could leverage the MESA design to generate a general platform for rewiring cellular functions in response to physiologically relevant cues. They have developed MESA receptors that enable cells to sense vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and, in response, secrete interleukin 2 (
Practical application
The technology has a high potential for future use in bioengineering.
Being included to engineer cells that respond to a target extracellular cue via the expression of either transgenes or endogenous genes, MESA platform could facilitate the rapid implementation and evaluation of diverse therapeutic strategies.
Additionally, the MESA platform could provide unique capabilities for fundamental research in multicellular networks and whole organisms, e.g., to monitor, in a spatially and temporally resolved fashion, the presence of VEGF in a living animal. Besides, MESA platform could complement genetic tools such as knockouts and knockins to enable the testing of novel hypotheses pertaining to multicellular network function.
Thus, MESA is a promising novel technology for the mammalian synthetic biology. This generalizable approach for rewiring cellular functions could enable both translational applications and fundamental biological research.
Laboratories
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston (USA)
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston (USA)
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston (USA)
- Member, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Evanston (USA)
Links
http://www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/v13/n2/full/nchembio.2253.htmlPublications
- Schwarz, K.A. et al. «Rewiring human cellular
input-output using modular extracellular sensors." 13 Nature Chemical Biology (2017): 202–209. - Schwarz, K.A. & Leonard, J.N. «Engineering
cell-based therapies to interface robustly with host physiology." 105 Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. (2016): 55–65. - Daringer, N.M., et al. «Modular extracellular sensor architecture for engineering mammalian
cell-based devices." 3 ACS Synth. Biol. (2014): 892–902.