This project aims to expand the OnePot PURE (protein synthesis using recombinant elements) transcription-translation system to simultaneously incorporate two to three unnatural amino acids into a protein. Cell-free (in vitro) synthetic biology releases the researcher from the constraints of keeping a cell alive. For one, endogenous DNA no longer inhibits the production of your desired product, and secondly, researchers can conduct more rapid experiments for various genetic constructs concurrently. The OnePot PURE system uses 36 individually purified protein factors in conjunction with tRNA, purified ribosomes, and a small amount of compounds and ions for efficient polypeptide translation. The PURE method lends itself to superior control of the translation process. If successfully done, it opens the door for creating novel biopolymers with various applications in biomedicine, energy, and sustainability.

Spirobifluorenes are newly synthesized macromolecules with applications in organic-semiconducting technology such as OLED devices, gas storage/separation, biotechnology, and solar panel energy conversion efficiency. Typically, inorganic molecules are used for these applications as metals have intrinsic conductive properties and organic molecules do not. But, their unique structure allows their molecular orbitals to overlap in such a way that gives rise to these useful optical and electronic properties. As of now, separating their complementary configurations (enantiomers) of L and R has only been done using HPLC which is costly and purifies a few milligrams at a time. We are adding a special group to our molecules to make them non-complementary configurations of themselves: Different configurations cause the molecules to have different properties, from which we can now isolate the L and R arrangement using practical chemistry techniques.​ This approach will cost less and produce more at a time. We hypothesize that building larger materials out of only L or R will enhance their semi-conducting properties because of their uniform spatial arrangements. Increasing the capabilities of spirobiflourenes makes them an even more attractive idea towards the advancement of organic-semiconducting technology.