Protoecologies between Artificial Cells and Mammalian Cells

Objetivo

ProtoEco pioneers a molecular chemistry and systems engineering approach to establish protoecologies – interac-tive communities of artificial cells and mammalian cells – engineered from the molecular scale upward. Moving be-yond isolated artificial cells of today, ProtoEco introduces synthetic–living hybrid communities with sustained metabolic
interactions, adaptive molecular signaling, and feedback loops to build communities with entirely unknown emergent properties at the system level.

We will develop complementary AC platforms sourced from the polymer and DNA realm that are engineered for tunable mechanics, selective responsiveness, robust metabolic encapsulation, and for interactivity on a molecular signaling level. Using photochemical patterning and colloidal assembly methods, ProtoEco will precisely engineer artificial cell–cell architectures in 2D landscapes and 3D co-spheroids. These well-defined systems will allow systematic exploration of the design space for stable, adaptive, and ultimately sustained bidirectional interactions, enabling ecological behaviors and regulation of the tumor microenvironment.

ProtoEco will address key questions: (1) Defining the chemical design space for meaningful artificial cell–cell inter-actions, (2) engineering ecological behaviors and homeostasis at the molecular level, (3) understanding emergent dynamics in biohybrid systems, and (4) enabling novel therapeutic technologies.

Aspects of robotic screening will accelerate optimization of signaling interactions, while robust metabolite and signal tracking and analysis of reciprocal artificial cell–cell interactions will provide deep mechanistic insights. ProtoEco’s fundamental science opens unprecedented pathways toward programmable probiotics, adaptive therapies, and in-teractive biomaterials.