Engineered red blood cell-based biosensors

• Main Authors: Schwarz, Kelly A, Leonard, Joshua N, Dolberg, Taylor B
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 25.08.2020
• Subjects: BEER; BIOCHEMISTRY; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; CULTURE MEDIA; ENZYMOLOGY; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; METALLURGY; MICROBIOLOGY; MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; PHYSICS; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; SPIRITS; TESTING; VINEGAR; WINE

Disclosed are systems and methods for detecting extracellular ligands. The disclosed systems and method for detecting extracellular ligands typically comprise or utilize engineered red blood cells (eRBCs) that comprises modular extracellular sensors. The eRBCs may comprise: (i) a first exogenous extracellular sensor; the first extracellular sensor comprising: a) a ligand binding domain, b) a transmembrane domain, and c) a first fragment of a functional protein, and (ii) a second exogenous extracellular sensor; the second extracellular sensor comprising: a) a ligand binding domain, b) a transmembrane domain, and c) a second fragment of the functional protein. In the eRBCs, the ligand binding domain of the first exogenous sensor and the ligand binding domain of the second exogenous sensor bind to the same ligand to form a ternary complex, and the first fragment of the functional protein and the second fragment of the functional protein interact in the ternary complex to reconstitute functional activity of the functional protein.