Engineering a bacterial secretion platform for rapid, high-yield, low-cost production of peptides and proteins for diagnosis and biomedicine

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Marc Erhardt
• Subject Area: Biological Process Engineering
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 530010140

Recombinant protein production is a multi-billion-euro market with critical applications for industy and medicine. Various methods of production are available using cellular organisms of all domains of life. Yet, most rely on expensive, and time-consuming steps performed in dedicated facilities to obtain the final pure protein. This project aims at developing reliable and simple methods of protein production by engineering bacterial secretion machineries. We will use both fundamental and applied viewpoints to reprogram bacterial secretion for high-yield low-cost in vitro production of proteins. We will further engineer those systems for production of therapeutical proteins. We expect this project to lower the barrier for heterologous production of tailored proteins with useful applications in various fields such as rapid prototyping for research, personalized medicine, low-cost/low-material production of medical proteins in crisis situation, and development of innovative in vivo therapies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Thibaud Renault