Molecule-Making Machine

A 3D printer for Chemicals

Presented by Raja Wajahat

A group of chemists led by medical doctor Martin D. Burke at the University of Illinois may have already taken a major step in that

direction.

Burke, who joined the Department of Chemistry at the university in 2005, heads up Burke Laboratories where he studies and synthesizes small molecules with protein-like structures.

2Presented by Raja Wajahat

The machine can break down

very complex molecules into

their basic chemical building blocks

To put things into perspective,

imagine each chemical building block

as a different LEGO brick.

They all share the same connectors,

but may be totally different from one another

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The machine is able to use

a catch-and-release method

to automate the process of connecting

these building blocks together,

one brick at a time,

while releasing

the byproducts of each chemical reaction.

4Presented by Raja Wajahat

5Presented by Raja Wajahat

It was this technique of releasing

the unwanted byproducts

which made this breakthrough a reality.

Using this process the machine can utilize over 200 different building blocks along with thousands of other molecules

To ‘print’

billions of different organic compounds,

many of which make up 14 classes of small molecules,

including the ratanhine molecule family

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Also, according to Burke,

it can even synthesize chemicals

which were never before created

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BURKE AND HIS TEAM

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“The vision for the future is

that anyone who needs a specific small molecule

can essentially print it out from their computer,”

explained Burke

“We are really excited about

the immediate impacts that this will

have on drug discovery.”

9Presented by Raja Wajahat

10Presented by Raja Wajahat

REVOLUTION Medicines, Inc.

has already licensed the technology and

is investing heavily in

developing next generation molecule-making machines

which will be much more powerful and easier to scale

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If things go as planned,

these machines have the potential to do to chemistry

what 3D printing has done to engineering;

making it fast,

less complicated

and accessible to pretty much anyone

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“Perhaps most exciting,

this work has opened up an actionable road map to a general and automated way to make most small molecules,”

stated Burke

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14Presented by Raja Wajahat

“If that goal can be realized,

it will help shift the bottleneck from synthesis to function and bring the power of making small molecules to nonspecialists….

A 3D printer for molecules could allow us to harness all the creativity,

innovation, and outside-the-box thinking that comes when

non-experts start to use technology that used to only be

in the hands of a select few.”

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Imagine a website like

Thingiverse,

where instead of open sourcing 3D design files for printing,

you could open source medications and other chemicals

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Presented by

Raja Wajahat