BPE Flashcards
What are the 4 examples of cell host?
- Bacteria
- Yeast
- Mammalian cells
- Insect
What is biopharmaceutical engineering?
The application of engineering principles to enhance the performance and production of biopharmaceutical products.
What is a signal peptide
A short peptide(16-30 amino acids long) present at the N-terminus
What is the N-terminus
The start of a protein or peptide
What is the first step in the process?
Objective
What does HEK cell stand for?
Human embryonic kidney cell.
What is the first step of the design process?
Objective
What is the second step of the design process?
Design Criteria
What is the third step of the design process
Measure
What is the fourth step of the design process?
Test
What is the fifth step of the design process?
Model
What is the sixth step of the design process
Design
What is the seventh step in the design process?
Validate
What is the eighth step in the design process?
Benefits
What are the 3 structures in the central dogma of molecular biology?
DNA, RNA, protein
What process converts DNA to RNA?
Transcription
What process converts RNA to DNA?
Reverse transcription
What process converts RNA to protein?
Translation
What are the products when cells are used as factories?
RNA, Proteins
What are the products when the cell is used as the product?
Cell therapies
What are the 3 parts of DNA?
Promoter - Coding sequence Ancillary DNA
What do promoters do?
Dictate the kinetics of gene expression
What are motifs?
Building blocks of DNA that bind proteins, interact with receptors and form secondary structures
How can DNA be redesigned?
Combining motifs in optimal order
What are the objectives for DNA in manufacturing?
Optimising expression levels, minimising silencing and instability, and minimising off target effects.
What are the objectives when using DNA as products?
Increase specificity/ reduce off-target, optimise gene expression, Minimise immunogenicity, Max half-life.
What is the structure of mRNA?
5’UTR - Coding Sequence - 3’UTR (Poly A Tail)
Which parts of the mRNA control the level of expression?
ALL 3!
What controls the ‘other functionalities in DNA and mRNA?
Generic DNA the coding sequence.
How is mRNA redesigned?
Using multi-parametric optimisation, might do 500 base pairs in one go
What is a sliding window?
A tool used in mRNA engineering that can help optimise 50 base pairs at a time, as opposed to working with the whole sequence
What is mRNA engineering all about?
Avoiding making the mRNA ‘bad’
What are the goals when using mRNA for manufacturing?
Maximising expression levels and minimising off target effects on the cell factory
What are the goals when using mRNA as products?
Maximising gene expression level in target cell, Minimise immunogenicity and maximise half-life.
What is the structure of a protein?
Signal Peptide —> Protein sequence
What do signal peptides control?
Protein transport/expression rate
What controls the functional effect of a protein?
Protein sequence
What is a protein?
A string of amino acids
What dictates how a protein works?
The secondary structures produced from amino acid folding.
What are the building blocks in protein engineering?
Motifs that interact with proteins, secondary structures that interact with proteins/receptors/DNA/mRNA & perform functions.
What part of the protein is used when it is being used for manufacturing?
Signal peptide
What are the goals when using proteins for manufacturing?
Optimising expression levels, minimising off target effects.
What are the goals when using signal peptides as products?
Maximise gene expression level in cell.
What are the goals when using proteins as products?
Maximise activity / effectiveness,, minimise off target effects, encode cell type specificity
What are the type of products relevant to this course?
DNA, mRNA, proteins, cells
What is the goal in the objective step?
What are you trying to achieve, value statement. All tech should be driven to achieve a measurable target.
What is the goal in the design criteria step?
What features will the engineered biological component/technology need to have?