Stanford engineers reprogram yeast cells to become microscopic drug factories

Stanford engineers have genetically reprogrammed the cellular machinery of yeast to create microscopic factories that convert sugars and amino acids into plant-based drugs.

Since antiquity, cultures on nearly every continent have discovered that certain plant leaves, when chewed or brewed or rubbed on the body, could relieve diverse ailments, inspire hallucinations or, in higher dosages, even cause death. Today, pharmaceutical companies import these once-rare plants from specialized farms and extract their active chemical compounds to make drugs like scopolamine for relieving motion sickness and postoperative nausea, and atropine, to curb the drooling associated with Parkinson’s disease or help maintain cardiac function when intubating COVID-19 patients and placing them on ventilators.

The stylized yeast cells depicted in several leaves and flower petals are an artist’s interpretation of how scientists, using the tools of synthetic biology, genetically engineered yeast to brew plant-based medicines that traditional societies discovered in nature. (Image credit: Jennifer Cook-Chrysos)

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