NU 2021-182 

INVENTORS 

Michael C. Jewett* 

Ariel N. Thames 

Madison A. DeWinter 

Weston K. Kightlinger 

BACKGROUND 

Sensitive biologic medicines can be difficult to safely deliver due to cold chain and infrastructure constraints. Point-of-care drug manufacturing could circumvent these challenges since medicines could be produced locally and used on-demand. Northwestern researchers combined cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) and an affinity purification and enzymatic cleavage scheme to develop a platform for point-of-care drug manufacturing. A panel of peptide hormones have been synthesized for which temperature stable lyophilized CFPS components can be rehydrated for peptide expression, followed by purification to yield the peptide hormone in their native, recognizable form. With further development to ensure proper biologic activity and patient safety, this platform could be used to manufacture valuable peptide hormone drugs in a decentralized way. 

IP STATUS 

A non-provisional patent application has been filed.