Insect cells as factories for biomanufacturing

Biomanufacturing : time for change ?

Mitochondria as biosynthetic factories for cancer proliferation

Unchecked growth and proliferation is a hallmark of cancer, and numerous oncogenic mutations reprogram cellular metabolism to fuel these processes. As a central metabolic organelle, mitochondria execute critical biochemical functions for the synthesis of fundamental cellular components, including fatty acids, amino acids, and nucleotides. Despite the extensive interest in the glycolytic phenoty...

Plants as factories for technical materials.

Until the latter part of the 19th century, humans were largely dependent upon contemporaneous biological sources for the production of all organic materials. Plants and animals provided the only sources of fibers, coatings, lubricants, solvents, dyes, waxes, fillers, and insulation, fragrances, detergents, sizing, leather, wood, paper, rubber, and many other types of materials. As recently as 1...

Biorhizome: A Biosynthetic Platform for Colchicine Biomanufacturing

Colchicine is one of the oldest plant-based medicines used to treat gout and one of the most important alkaloid-based antimitotic drugs with anticancer potential, which is commercially extracted from Gloriosa superba. Clinical trials suggest that colchicine medication could prevent atrial fibrillation recurrence after cardiac surgery. In addition, therapeutic colchicine is undergoing clinical t...

Recombinant baculoviruses as expression vectors for insect and mammalian cells.

Baculovirus expression vectors are widely used for expressing heterologous proteins in cultured insect cells. Recent advances include further development of the system for production of multi-subunit protein complexes, co-expression of protein-modifying enzymes to improve heterologous protein production, and additional applications of baculovirus display technology. The application of modified ...