The tools of synthetic biology enable probiotic bacteria to be engineered to perform therapeutic functions within the human body. These engineered live bacterial therapeutics are a new class of medicines that could address patients’ needs across a broad spectrum of indications and may have the potential to augment human physical and cognitive performance. The low cost of DNA synthesis, combined with high throughput screening of engineered bacterial clones, enables rapid construction of prototype strains. However, advancing candidates into the clinic is low throughput since investigational products for human studies must adhere to strict safety regulations and clinical studies are inherently costly and time-consuming. Therefore, there is strong incentive to develop translational strategies for evaluating strain candidates preclinically. A human gut-on-a-chip and mathematical models to predict the function of an engineered bacterial therapeutic <i>in vivo</i> were employed to screen a series of synbiotics with sense and respond capability. The application of such synbiotics both in the clinic and for relevant occupational environments, such as those relevant to the military community, could enable more precise medicine and sustainment of human performance.

Accelerating synthetic biotic development with gut-on-a-chip technology

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.