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Cell-Free Synthetic Biology Biosensors

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Handbook of Cell Biosensors

Abstract

The field of synthetic biology offers powerful tools for biosensor development that enable the integration of sensing, regulation, and response components. Cell-free protein expression systems offer an appealing platform for harnessing synthetic biology capabilities for a variety of sensing applications. Cell-free systems consist of components, typically derived from living cells, needed to reconstitute protein expression in vitro. In vitro operation can offer improved safety and flexibility profiles as compared to the use of living cells. Although cost, yield, and scale of cell-free protein expression were long barriers to practical applications of cell-free technology, these have all improved significantly, making biosensing applications appealing. Consequently, different sensing strategies have now been demonstrated for a variety of different ligands, using both protein and nucleic acid sensing components. In addition, a growing number and diversity of regulatory networks are being developed, and these can be incorporated to enable basic signal processing, integration, and output. Furthermore, several recent advances in robustness, shelf-life, and operation platforms have generated a variety of practical deployment options for cell-free biosensors. Therefore, this chapter discusses developments in cell-free biosensing strategies, regulatory networks, outputs, and deployment.

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Correspondence to David K. Karig .

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© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Karig, D.K., Reno, A., Franklin, L.E., Timm, A.C. (2020). Cell-Free Synthetic Biology Biosensors. In: Thouand, G. (eds) Handbook of Cell Biosensors. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47405-2_134-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47405-2_134-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47405-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47405-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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