First Demonstration of Neuro Therapeutic Tropane Alkaloids Produced in Yeast

Researchers report the first successful microbial biosynthesis of the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, a class of neuromuscular blockers naturally found in plants in the nightshade family…
New paper demonstrates most advanced example of engineering integrated systems for biosynthesis

A new paper published today in the journal Nature describes the first successful microbial biosynthesis of the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, a class of neuromuscular blockers naturally found in plants in the nightshade family…
Engineered Yeast Produce Hyoscyamine and Scopolamine

Successful production of medicinal compounds from plants depends on weather and growing seasons, potentially making supply chains vulnerable to uncontrollable forces. One way around such challenges is to use microorganisms as factories to make the compounds instead…
Revealed: A Clearer View of How General Anaesthetics Actually Work

You may never have heard of tropane alkaloids, but they are classed as essential medicines by the World Health Organization, for good reason since they are used in the treatment of a wide range of conditions, as synthetic biologist Christina Smolke explains…
A Milestone for Drug Manufacturing and Synthetic Biology: Stanford Research Published in Nature

It’s a momentous day for my research team at Stanford University. Today, we’ve announced a new paper published in Nature that describes the first successful microbial biosynthesis of the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine…
Stanford Team Turns Lowly Yeast into Medicine, and So Much More

For millenniums, humans have harnessed yeast to brew beer. Now, in the latest advance in the fast-moving field of “synthetic biology,” a Stanford team is enlisting the lowly fungus to do so much more…
Antheia Receives Phase I SBIR Award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse to Make Non-Addict…

The objective of this Phase I SBIR project will be to develop engineered yeast strains that produce high levels of noroxymorphone, the direct precursor for the nal opioids naloxone and naltrexone through whole cell biocatalysis…
Antheia Receives Phase I SBIR Award from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Med..

The objectives of this Phase I project will be to develop engineered yeast strains that produce high levels of natural and non-natural noscapinoids secoberberines and other valuable alkaloids, thereby providing…
Antheia CEO: One of the Ten People who Mattered Most in 2015

Early this year, synthetic biologist Christina Smolke was in a dead-heat race with a handful of other labs to engineer a yeast strain capable of making opioids…
Scientists engineer yeast to turn sugar into hydrocodone

Over the past several months, scientists from around the world have published bits and pieces of a fascinating feat: In an effort to create pain medication components like hydrocodone…