Project No. 2425

STANDARD PROJECT

Primary Supervisor

Prof Michelle D. Garrett – University of Kent

Co-Supervisor(s)

Dr Tim Fenton – University of Southampton

Prof Dan Mulvihill – University of Kent

Summary

Production and delivery of biologically active recombinant proteins into target cells is still an important ongoing challenge in biotechnology.

Rationale: Production and delivery of biologically active recombinant proteins into target cells is still an important ongoing challenge in biotechnology. We have developed a transformative technology to solve this problem, which utilises an innovative recombinant E.coli-based expression system to induce packaging of a range of recombinant proteins in membrane bound vesicles. This enables production of otherwise challenging insoluble, toxic, disulphide bond containing recombinant proteins in bacteria. Preliminary studies with these vesicles show that they can fuse with human cells in culture, thus delivering their cargo into the cell. The aim now is to modify the surface of these vesicles so that we can selectively target them to particular cell types.