This project aims to develop a new way to make active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) in a cell-free manner using wheat germ extract (WGE), a key ingredient derived from agricultural wheat. To date, cell-free production has been plagued by low yield and inability to synthesize APIs with the required quality attributes. This project proposes using an abundant and cost-effective reagent in cell-free manufacturing. WGE is a significantly cheaper cell free production system than the competing front-runner biomass of E. coli and has the potential to be cost competitive with traditional chemical synthesis approaches. If successful, the team will have demonstrated a paradigm shift in domestic API manufacturing.