(616d) Cell-Free Protein Synthesis Biosensing of Glutamine in Human Serum and Saliva: Towards at-Home Low-Cost Diagnostics for Personalized Cancer Treatment

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the human body and is essential for metabolism and immune system function. Facile at-home measurements of Glutamine concentrations in bodily fluids could enable personalized highly-effective treatment of cancer, diabetes, infection, and anorexia. To achieve this objective, here we report the development of a lyophilized cell-free protein synthesis sensing platform for rapid detection of glutamine concentrations in human serum and saliva.^1-3 The approach could have a transformative impact in enabling low-cost point-of-care and at-home diagnostics for the personalized dynamic treatment of cancer and other diseases.

References:

1) Hunt JP, Barnett RJ, Robinson H, Soltani M, Nelson JA, Bundy BC. Rapid sensing of clinically relevant glutamine concentrations in human serum with metabolically engineered E. coli-based cell-free protein synthesis. Journal of biotechnology. 2021 Jan 10;325:389-94.

2) Soltani M, Bundy BC. Streamlining cell-free protein synthesis biosensors for use in human fluids: In situ RNase inhibitor production during extract preparation. Biochemical Engineering Journal. 2022 Jan 1;177:108158.

3) Soltani M, Hunt JP, Bundy BC. Rapid RNase inhibitor production to enable low‐cost, on‐demand cell‐free protein synthesis biosensor use in human body fluids. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 2021 Oct;118(10):3973-83.