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Project

Bottom-up reconstruction of a self-dividing artificial cell

What is “life”? What distinguishes a living organism from a simple mixture of chemical reactions? Through history many thinkers have pondered about these matters, yet the accurate definition of what constitutes a living system is still an unresolved mystery. It is, though, generally agreed that a living organism needs to satisfy a basic set of conditions: compartmentalize its components, encode information, catalyze reactions and be able to reproduce. To attain a better understanding of what constitutes a living system (and to, possibly, even synthesize life), many researchers are attempting to artificially reconstruct some of these conditions from the bottom-up. The problem of reproduction, though, is arguably the most complex one, since the remaining aspects need, to a certain extent, to be incorporated within this process. In this project we will attempt to build, from basic constituent parts, a cell facsimile that is able to mimic a mitotic process. To achieve this, we will deconstruct Xenopus eggs into their basic components (membrane and cytoplasm), which we will subsequently piece together using droplet-based microfluidic techniques, to reconstitute a cytoplasmic extract complex contained within a biomimetic membrane. Harnessing the capacity of these egg extracts to generate much of the spatial organization and cell cycle function of the early embryo, we will attempt to elucidate what are the minimal key components required for division within an artificial construct.

Date:1 Jan 2021 →  31 Jan 2024
Keywords:cell facsimile, mitotic process, Xenopus eggs
Disciplines:Biomaterials, Microfluidics/flow chemistry, Cell engineering