A PROBIOTIC CELL FACTORY FOR PRODUCTION & DELIVERY OF SUPPLEMENTS

Growing restrictions on antibiotics and other growth promoters in the livestock industry has left an acute need for alternative supplements to enhance animal growth and prevent pathogen infection. Sasya aims to address both of these issues by using synthetic biology to develop a probiotic cell factory to produce and deliver performance supplements to livestock. Engineered probiotics represent an innovative approach with several advantages to traditional chemical or fermentative synthesis methods. By employing a probiotic cell factory the supplement is produced in situ, eliminating product loss during purification or processing. Furthermore in situ production allows for delivery of less stable supplements that may not be suitable for traditional oral delivery. Importantly, supplements can be produced "on-demand" in response to when they are needed.In this proposal, Sasya aims to take advantage of recent advances in synthetic biology and our understanding of therole of microbiome in human and animal health to develop a nimble probiotic platform that is capable of not only colonizing but also genetically wired to sense stimuli and respond by produce appropriate supplements. Given consumer demands for transparency in food supply chain andincreasingly stringent regulatory constraints on food production, the entire agriculture industry is struggling to maintain profitability. If successful, a probiotic vehicle to deliver supplements promises to reduce production costs by eliminating the need to provide exogenous supplements to food and feed.This project is directly in line with the priorities of USDA SBIR priorities to develop new technologies to increase the competitiveness of agriculturally derived products.