Cell‐Free Protein Synthesis (CFPS) has, over the past decade, seen a substantial increase in interest from both academia and industry. Applications range from fundamental research, through high‐throughput screening to niche manufacture of therapeutic products. This review/perspective focuses on Quality Control in CFPS. The importance and difficulty of measuring the Raw Material Attributes (RMAs) of whole cell extract, such as constituent protein and metabolite concentrations, and of understanding and controlling these complicated enzymatic reactions is explored, for both centralised and distributed industrial production of biotherapeutics. It is suggested that a robust cell‐free extract production process should produce cell extract of consistent quality; however, demonstrating this is challenging without a full understanding of the RMAs and their interaction with reaction conditions and product. Lack of technology transfer and knowledge sharing is identified as a key limiting factor in the development of CFPS. The article draws upon the experiences of industrial process specialists, discussions within the Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub Specialist Working Groups and evidence drawn from various sources to identify sources of process variation and to propose an initial guide towards systematisation of CFPS process development and reporting. These proposals include the development of small scale screening tools, consistent reporting of selected process parameters and analytics and application of industrial thinking and manufacturability to protocol development.

Cell‐Free Protein Synthesis (CFPS) has, over the past decade, seen a substantial increase in interest from both academia and industry. This review/perspective focuses on Quality Control in CFPS. The articles draws upon the experiences of industrial process specialists, discussions within the Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub Specialist Working Groups and evidence drawn from various sources to identify sources of process variation and to propose an initial guide towards systematisation of CFPS process development and reporting.image

The field of synthetic biology emerged a few decades ago, following some key works of researchers in the USA, Europe, and the Far East. It reached Israel through academia and a few years later it finally got the attention of industry, venture capitals, and government authorities, especially the Israeli Innovation Authority, hoping to encourage entrepreneurs to establish startups in this field. Here we provide an overview of the activity of the field of synthetic biology in Israel, including historical notes, current strategy, prospects and developments, and further insight that are relevant to any stakeholders in the synthetic biology field.

The field of synthetic biology emerged a few decades ago, following some key works of researchers in the USA, Europe, and the far east. It reached Israel through academia and a few years later it finally got the attention of industry, venture capitals, and government authorities, especially the Israeli innovation authority (IIA), hoping to encourage entrepreneurs to establish startups in this field. Here we provide an overview of the activity of the field of synthetic biology in Israel, including historical notes, current strategy, prospects and developments, and further insight that are relevant to any stakeholders in the synthetic biology field.image

The field of protein engineering has seen tremendous expansion in the last decade, with researchers developing novel proteins with specialised functionalities for a range of uses, from drug discovery to industrial biotechnology. The emergence of computational tools and high‐throughput screening technology has substantially sped up the process of protein engineering. However, much of the expertise required to engage in such projects is still concentrated in the hands of a few specialised individuals, including computational biologists and structural biochemists. The international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition represents a platform for undergraduate students to innovate in synthetic biology. Yet, due to their complexity, arduous protein engineering projects are hindered by the resources available and strict timelines of the competition. The authors highlight how the 2022 iGEM Team, ‘Sporadicate’, set out to develop InFinity 1.0, a computational framework for increased accessibility to effective protein engineering, hoping to increase awareness and accessibility to novel in silico tools.

Protein engineering has seen a large growth over the past decade fuelled by innovation in AI and machine learning tools. However, these often remain inaccessible to the average researcher. The authors present their experience as the ‘Sporadicate iGEM Team’ in the development of an in silico framework to increase awareness and accessibility to novel in silico tools.image