Synthetic biology platform technologies for antimicrobial applications

• Main Authors: Braff, Dana (Contributor), Shis, David Liu (Contributor), Collins, James J. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Synthetic Biology Center (Contributor), Harvard University- (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor), Collins, James (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier, 2017-09-27T17:40:19Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 The growing prevalence of antibiotic resistance calls for new approaches in the development of antimicrobial therapeutics. Likewise, improved diagnostic measures are essential in guiding the application of targeted therapies and preventing the evolution of therapeutic resistance. Discovery platforms are also needed to form new treatment strategies and identify novel antimicrobial agents. By applying engineering principles to molecular biology, synthetic biologists have developed platforms that improve upon, supplement, and will perhaps supplant traditional broad-spectrum antibiotics. Efforts in engineering bacteriophages and synthetic probiotics demonstrate targeted antimicrobial approaches that can be fine-tuned using synthetic biology-derived principles. Further, the development of paper-based, cell-free expression systems holds promise in promoting the clinical translation of molecular biology tools for diagnostic purposes. In this review, we highlight emerging synthetic biology platform technologies that are geared toward the generation of new antimicrobial therapies, diagnostics, and discovery channels.