OCFS harnesses the power and productivity of the entire cellular protein synthesis machinery without the requirement to maintain a living cell and focuses all biochemical processes to make one product. This is accomplished by extracting the necessary catalytic machinery required for metabolism, transcription, translation, and proper folding from living cells. Energy and other resources can be then focused and efficiently utilized for processes directed toward synthesis and folding of the target protein therapeutic. Proteins that are in their correct conformation are critical to biological function.

Economic commercial protein production requires an efficient, stable, and long-lasting energy system to drive the rapid synthesis of therapeutic product. OCFS technology uniquely harnesses the most efficient biological energy production system that is homeostatic and scalable, offering the potential for improved economics.

Improving the quality of a protein therapeutic is critical to maximizing its clinical benefit. OCFS technology has been designed to promote proper folding by optimizing synthesis and the chemical and physical environment to maintain homeostasis throughout the expression process. The components of the system have been picked to closely mimic the environment of the cellular folding compartment.

The open architecture of the system easily allows additions of exogenous chemical species as well as catalysts to promote folding in the cases where those additions are needed. The system is also much more dilute in macromolecule and protein concentrations than in living cells. This physical environment promotes folding and reduces aggregation.

Proper disulfide bond formation is also critical to the system's ability to synthesize and properly fold complex protein therapeutics. OCFS is specifically engineered for disulfide bond formation through sulfhydryl redox potential stabilization, adjustment, and catalysis.

With cell-based systems, considerable resources and time are required to develop a cell line. As a result, obtaining the initial quantities of protein needed for preliminary biological assays can take significant time and money. The lack of cell line development requirements coupled with the open architecture of OCFS technology makes it ideally suited for faster candidate selection. Short reaction times and the ability to carry out reactions at very small volumes in micro-titer plates enable very rapid product development and process optimization.

OCFS is readily scalable from micro-titer plate reaction volume to stirred tank reactors such that data generated from process screening can be directly applied to the production-stage process development using conventional fermentors.