Production of Mucins using Synthetic Biology

Project Description

The goal of this project is to use synthetic biology approaches to prepare synthetic mucin proteins. Mucins are the primary protein components of animal mucus gels, which have many important biological, biotechnology, and industrial applications, such as hydrating agents for skincare, joint lubrication, semipermeable barriers for filtration systems, and as adhesive biomaterials. However, the direct harvesting of mucins from animals has several disadvantages, including inconsistency, heterogeneity, and low scalability. Recently, the Braunschweig lab at City University of New York obtained tunable synthetic mucins via conventional polymer chemistry, but this process involves: a) high labor costs, b) long production times, and c) low yields (15-20%) with toxic reagents or heavy metal catalysts. To overcome these challenges, this project will utilize synthetic biology tools for the gram scale, and eventual industrial scale, production of synthetic mucins, while maintaining a tunable chemical composition, control over aminoacid sequences, and targeted rheological properties.

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