James R Collins
Biography
James Joseph Collins (born June 26, 1965) is an American systems biologist, biomedical engineer, and biophysicist who is one of the founders of synthetic biology. He is known for pioneering synthetic gene networks and programmable cells, which launched the field of synthetic biology and influenced research in the detection and treatment of Ebola, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2. He pioneered the use of artificial intelligence in antibiotic discovery, identifying novel antibiotics effective against drug-resistant bacterial pathogens. He is also known for pioneering stochastic resonance, neurostimulation, and biological dynamics in the research of physiological and biological systems. He is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After graduating from the College of the Holy Cross, Collins earned his doctorate in medical engineering from the University of Oxford in 1990 as a Rhodes Scholar. He was a professor of biomedical engineering, a professor of medicine, University Professor, and the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor at Boston University, where he co-founded the Center for BioDynamics before moving to MIT in 2014. He is currently a director of the MIT Jameel Clinic, a member of the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology and the Broad Institute, and a core faculty member of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and IMES. Collins is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003 for biotechnology research, the Lagrange Prize in 2010 for outstanding contributions to complexity science, and the Dickson Prize in Medicine in 2020 for pioneering synthetic biology. He received the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology in 2023 and was named a Clarivate Citation Laureate in Chemistry that same year for pioneering synthetic gene circuits.
Bio from Wikipedia