Journal
WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-NANOMEDICINE AND NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 14, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/wnan.1761
Keywords
synthetic biology; synthetic cells
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [5R01MH114031-02]
- National Science Foundation [1840301, 1844313]
- John Templeton Foundation [61184]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Div Of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience [1840301] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Chemistry
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1844313] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Synthetic cells can mimic various life-like behaviors and offer unique advantages in nanomedicine, but face key challenges before being deployed as drugs.
Synthetic cells are engineered vesicles that can mimic one or more salient features of life. These features include directed localization, sense-and-respond behavior, gene expression, metabolism, and high stability. In nanomedicine, many of these features are desirable capabilities of drug delivery vehicles but are difficult to engineer. In this focus article, we discuss where synthetic cells offer unique advantages over nanoparticle and living cell therapies. We review progress in the engineering of the above life-like behaviors and how they are deployed in nanomedicine. Finally, we assess key challenges synthetic cells face before being deployed as drugs and suggest ways to overcome these challenges. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Biology-Inspired Nanomaterials > Lipid-Based Structures
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