“Programming protein function to respond to environmental triggers”.
Many natural proteins have built-in biosensing capabilities that allow their function to be triggered by environmental events, e.g., changes to temperature, pH or Ca2+, post-translational modifications, or through binding to a ligand partner. Rewiring protein stimuli-responsiveness has the potential to generate novel diagnostic tools and ‘smart’ biologics. Reprogramming protein function remains, however, challenging to achieve by rational and computational design. Here, I will present my own work in the field: Using rational protein design in conjunction with protein trans-splicing I will show how a generalizable actuator can control protein function in response to a designated environmental input. Specifically, I will present a novel precision protein tool for the highly cell-selective delivery of various cargoes