NanoResCon2023: Researchers have made great strides in utilising bacteria to create artificial cells that function like real cells.
Researchers have used bacteria to create sophisticated synthetic cells that imitate the activity of genuine cells. The study, led by the University of Bristol and published today in Nature, advances the use of artificial cells, or protocells, to more faithfully mimic the intricate makeup, structure, and function of living cells. Establishing true-to-life functioning in protocells is an international great challenge involving several disciplines, from beginning of life research to bottom-up synthetic biology and bioengineering. Due to previous failures in modelling protocells using microcapsules , the study team turned to bacteria to construct sophisticated synthetic cells utilising a living material assembly method. Professor Stephen Mann from the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, the Max Planck Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology, and colleagues Drs. Can Xu, Nicolas Martin (currently at the University of Bordeaux), and Mei Li from the Bristol Centre for Protolife