Publications related to Poly(ethyleneimine)-Mediated Large-Scale Transient Gene Expression: Influence of Molecular Weight, Polydispersity and N-Propionyl Groups

Prolamins' 3D structure: A new insight into protein modeling using the language of numbers and shapes

This study combined protein modeling methods to generate the prolamins' fractions as precise as possible. Hence, gliadins, zeins, kafirins, hordeins, secalins, avenins and oryzins were generated based on their characteristics and disulfide mapping. Finding ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2024

De novo designed proteins: a study in engineering novel folds and functions

Alexandra Krina Van Hall-Beauvais

Proteins control nearly every facet of life on a molecular level. Proteins are formed from linear strings of amino acids, which fold into three-dimensional structures that can enact functions. Evolution has created highly efficient proteins in diverse fold ...

EPFL2023

Engineering synthetic adhesins for biophysical investigation and rewiring of host-microbe interactions

Xavier Jean-Yves Pierrat

Host attachment is often a critical step in the onset of pathogenesis. To attach to host cells, bacteria have evolved a range of adhesins that bind to specific receptors. Some of these adhesins have been thoroughly characterized using biochemical technique ...

EPFL2022

Core-shell Structured Chitosan-polyethylenimine Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery: Improved Stability, Cellular Uptake, and Transfection Efficiency

Sandrine Gerber, Laura Camille Louise Nicolle, Perrine Agnes Edith Robin

Gene therapy emerged as a promising treatment option for acquired and inherited diseases. The delivery of nucleic acids relies on vectors that condense and encapsulate their cargo. Especially non-viral gene delivery systems are of increasing interest. Howe ...

2022

Natural competence of the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii: an elusive phenomenon

Nina Vesel

Natural competence for transformation is an important driver of horizontal DNA exchange between different organisms. This can result in accumulation of dangerous genetic features, such as antibiotic resistance genes, in a single organism. One example of an ...

EPFL2022

How Vibrio cholerae adapts to the environment: from cell shape transitions to antagonistic behavior

Leonardo Filipe Lemos Rocha

The bacterium Vibrio cholerae is the causative agent of the diarrheal disease cholera, which affects millions of people every year. Apart from being a human pathogen, V. cholerae is also a common member of aquatic habitats. Whilst the mechanism that allow ...

EPFL2022

Computational design of novel protein–protein interactions – An overview on methodological approaches and applications

Anthony Marchand, Bruno Emanuel Ferreira De Sousa Correia, Alexandra Krina Van Hall-Beauvais

Protein–protein interactions (PPIs) govern numerous cellular functions in terms of signaling, transport, defense and many others. Designing novel PPIs poses a fundamental challenge to our understanding of molecular interactions. The capability to robustly ...

2022

Biotechnology Applications of Nanocarbons in Plant and Algal Systems

Ardemis Anoush Boghossian, Alessandra Antonucci, Alice Judith Gillen

The unique combination of structural, optical, and electronic properties of nanocarbons (NCs) has made these materials particularly attractive for various applications in biotechnology and biomedicine, ranging from sensing, gene-delivery, bioimaging and th ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2021

Towards an artificial cell: Development of a system which self-regenerates the protein components of the PURE system in microfluidic reactors

Barbora Lavickova

Thanks to recent advancements in synthetic biology, the dream of creating a synthetic cell has become feasible. However, due to its inherent complexity, one of the fundamental functions of all living systems, i.e., self-replication, remains to be introduce ...

EPFL2021

On the exploration of novel methodological approaches for immunogen design: case studies in influenza and hepatitis C

Andreas Scheck

Proteins are fundamental components in biological systems and crucial for a variety of biological functions. Over the last decades, significant progress in structural biology has facilitated the study of proteins and their interactions with molecular partn ...

EPFL2021

Overexpression of transcription factor Foxa1 and target genes remediate therapeutic protein production bottlenecks in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Nicolas Mermod, Iris Bodenmann

Despite extensive research conducted to increase protein production from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, cellular bottlenecks often remain, hindering high yields. In this study, a transcriptomic analysis led to the identification of 32 genes that are co ...

WILEY2020

Functional de novo Protein Design for Targeted Vaccines and Synthetic Biology Applications

Che Yang

Evolution has created, selected and evolved large repertoires of proteins that operate in various biological systems. Nowadays biotechnological needs are coming up orders of magnitude faster than proteins naturally evolve. The emergence of de novo protein ...

EPFL2020

Selection of Water-Soluble Chitosan by Microwave-Assisted Degradation and pH-Controlled Precipitation

Sandrine Gerber, Céline Marie Anne Journot, Yann Lavanchy, Laura Camille Louise Nicolle

In the field of gene therapy, chitosan (CS) gained interest for its promise as a non-viral DNA vector. However, commercial sources of CS lack precise characterization and do not generally reach sufficient solubility in aqueous media for in vitro and in viv ...

2020

Neighborhood watch: tools for defining locale-dependent subproteomes and their contextual signaling activities

Yimon Aye, Yi Zhao

Transient associations between numerous organelles-e.g., the endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondria-forge highly-coordinated, particular environments essential for cross-compartment information flow. Our perspective summarizes chemical-biology tools th ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2020

High-throughput microfluidic platforms for characterizing and engineering cell-free gene regulatory circuits

Zoe Newell Swank

Cell-free systems have emerged as a versatile platform for constructing complex biological systems from the bottom-up. In particular, they enable the rapid engineering and characterization of gene regulatory networks, a critical cellular subsystem that all ...

EPFL2020

A ligand-based system for receptor-specific delivery of proteins

Kai Johnsson, Luc Reymond

Gene delivery using vector or viral-based methods is often limited by technical and safety barriers. A promising alternative that circumvents these shortcomings is the direct delivery of proteins into cells. Here we introduce a non-viral, ligand-mediated p ...

Springer Nature2019

Scalable Production of AAV Vectors in Orbitally Shaken HEK293 Cells

Florian Maria Wurm, Nicole Déglon, Bernard Schneider, Vivianne Padrun, Gabriel Vachey, Daniel Roman Blessing

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are currently among the most commonly applied for in vivo gene therapy approaches. The evaluation of vectors during clinical development requires the production of considerable amounts of highly pure and potent vectors. ...

2019

Development of microfluidic tools and methods for the biochemical characterization of scFv and Cas9 affinity reagents and their applications in molecular detection

Ekaterina Emilova Petrova

Recent progress in protein engineering, empowered by the rapidly evolving fields of synthetic biology and DNA synthesis, has enabled the generation of various custom-designed proteins. Their thorough analysis has led to applications in areas including medi ...

EPFL2018

Dual-controlled optogenetic system for the rapid down-regulation of protein levels in mammalian cells

Patrick Andreas Gonschorek

Optogenetic switches are emerging molecular tools for studying cellular processes as they offer higher spatiotemporal and quantitative precision than classical, chemical-based switches. Light-controllable gene expression systems designed to upregulate prot ...

Nature Research2018

Modeling and analysis of parts and devices of genetic regulation

Yves Berset

DNA encrypts the composition of the cellular material that is synthesized through transcription and translation. Never-theless, gene regulation mechanisms determine the final amount of transcribed and translated material. Transcription factors (TF) are a c ...

EPFL2018