Towards Synthetic Life: Constructing Peptide-based Minimal Catalytic Protocells with Emergent Functionalities

The CAT-PRO (Catalytic Protocells) project focuses on investigating the emergence of complex functionalities from minimal chemical systems to bridge the gap between prebiotic chemistry and the origin of life. The project aims to construct catalytic protocells that mimic primordial cellular functions, utilizing peptide-based liquid-liquid phase separation as a scaffold for proto-metabolism. By incorporating cofactor molecules, the potential of these protocells to perform diverse catalytic transformations, including enantioselective reactions, will be explored. Further, dynamic structural reconfiguration of these protocells will be studied, alongside their integration into flow reactor systems for scalable and sustainable bioprocessing. Additionally, the project seeks to establish reciprocal communication between protocells and living cells, a step towards achieving the goal of engineering a feedback-driven targeted delivery system. This multidisciplinary approach is expected to provide fundamental insights into the origins of life while advancing the frontiers of heterogeneous catalysis, synthetic biology, and nanomedicine.