Universal Constructor

What is the group doing?We want to build a universal constructor for 3D structure of polymers, adaptable to any chemistry.What is new in your approach?Our approaches will create the first-ever technology that can make sequence-polymer structures for non-natural polymers, which will provide a new language to unlock a vast design landscape of possible 3D polymers that is currently completely inaccessible.What is new in your approach?Biology invented a molecular architecture that can 3D ‘print’ any protein. We want to build an architecture that can do the same for any possible polymer system. We will start with building a simpler ribosome, since the sequence to 3D structure map is worked out and chemistry known. We will use those design insights, iteratively from computational design to evolution, to expand to other possible polymers, building the first system that can program 3D structure into any variety of polymer.How is it done today? If you are successful, what difference will it make?Natural ribosomes are extremely complex as well as not reengineerable, not transferable, and necessitate complex cellular machinery. They cannot generalize to polymers outside of the key macromolecules biological life uses. Meanwhile solid state synthesis of peptides are inherently limited (length, speed, scalability). If we succeed, we will be able to program sequence-to-structure for polymers that were not biologically evolved, allowing significant expansion of the capabilities of macromolecular chemistry.Cost and timeline?Initial funding should focus on the ‘minimal ribosome’ project, with the idea that the key output is not just the artificial ribosome functionality, but a design platform transferable to other polymer types.Design and filtering in silico -> wet lab expression and prototyping (~months – 1 year of postdoc time standard computational resources), successfully tape copying experimental evidence, with iterative design-evolution-testing (translation of mRNA into protein of target structure) (~2 years postdoc time, standard biochemical ressources)