Descripción del proyecto
Una nueva vía para la vida sintética y un gran paso adelante para la química
La creación de vida sintética es un viejo objetivo de la ingeniería y la química; para conseguirlo, los ingenieros y los químicos se enfrentan a diversos obstáculos. La creación de sistemas inspirados en la vida que sean capaces de sentir su entorno, tomar decisiones de forma autónoma y extraer energía y recursos del entorno para la proliferación y la división celular (todos estos procesos controlados por redes de reacciones enzimáticas) constituye un reto importante. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos Life-Inspired tiene como objetivo desarrollar sistemas inspirados en la vida y basados en el diseño de la materia viva. Para alcanzar este objetivo, el proyecto se centrará en la creación de un conjunto de sistemas complejos basado en redes de reacciones enzimáticas programables.
Objetivo
Many of the key functions typically associated with living systems, including sensing of the environment, autonomous decision making, and extracting energy and building blocks from the environment for cell growth and division, are all governed by enzymatic reaction networks. Constructing synthetic systems that capture some of these capabilities, i.e. life-inspired systems, would represent a truly disruptive development, as they challenge our notion of what differentiates living systems from synthetic, man-made devices. However, the ability create synthetic life-inspired systems remains an elusive goal. Despite impressive progress in systems chemistry, no clear engineering principles or methodologies exist for the bottom-up construction of functional complex molecular systems The translation of the design principles of living systems into programmable and functional life-inspired systems is one of the outstanding grand challenge in chemistry. The ultimate aim of this proposal is to construct life-inspired systems based on the design blueprints of living matter To achieve this aim, I propose a key breakthrough by presenting a completely new approach to functional complex systems based on programmable enzymatic reactions networks. The envisaged approach is modular and will allow for systematic increases in complexity. The core objectives of this proposal are: - establish a completely new approach to programmable enzymatic reaction networks - compartmentalize network motifs, and separate the small molecule ‘software’ from the enzyme ‘hardware’ - demonstrate modularity and increase the complexity via communication between compartments - develop robust methods to manage the maintenance of non-equilibrium conditions - design and construct complex life-inspired systems.
Ámbito científico
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Régimen de financiación
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitución de acogida
6525 XZ Nijmegen
Países Bajos