Negative design enables cell-free expression and folding of designed transmembrane β-barrels

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 15, April 2026. <br/>SignificanceMembrane proteins (MPs) are essential to biology and biotechnology yet designing them from scratch remains challenging. Using synthetic transmembrane β-barrels and a cell-free expression system with lipid vesicles, we show that conventional …