Patent ID: 7192767

Claim:
A process for carrying out a coupled in vitro transcription and translation reaction to produce proteins, said method comprising the steps of: providing a reactor, said reactor comprising walls that define a total reactor volume V R , a matrix comprising a porous material held within said total reactor volume, the matrix dividing the total reactor volume into a matrix volume V M and a matrix exclusion volume V 0 , the division based on the size of the matrix pores and in the absence of a membrane separating the matrix volume V M and the matrix exclusion volume V 0 , wherein at least 20 vol % of the total reactor volume is filled with said matrix, contacting said reactor with a supply solution, said supply solution comprising each of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids, ATP, GTP, CTP, and UTP, wherein said components of the supply solution have a molecular weight smaller than the pores of said matrix and are taken up into the matrix volume V M and are distributed largely homogeneously in the total reactor volume V R , contacting said reactor with a reaction solution, said reaction solution comprising tRNAs, DNA templates, RNA polymerases, mRNA, and enzymes, wherein said tRNAs, DNA templates, RNA polymerases, mRNA, and enzymes each have a molecular weight larger than the pores of said matrix and are only localized in the matrix exclusion volume V 0 , moving the reaction solution through the matrix exclusion volume V 0 while the reactor is thermostatted at a temperature conducive to in vitro transcription and translation, and obtaining said protein by recovering an eluate from the reactor.