James Collins

James J. Collins, PhD

Lab Website: 

Collins Lab Website

 Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science

Affiliations: 

Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard

The Wyss Institute

Biography: 

James J. Collins is Termeer Professor of Bioengineering in the Department of Biological Engineering and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science.  He is also affiliated with the Broad Institute and the Wyss Institute.  His research group works in synthetic biology and systems biology, with a particular focus on using network biology approaches to study antibiotic action, bacterial defense mechanisms, and the emergence of resistance.  Professor Collins' patented technologies have been licensed by over 25 biotech, pharma and medical devices companies, and he has helped to launched a number of companies, including Sample6 Technologies, Synlogic and EnBiotix.  He has received numerous awards and honors, including a Rhodes Scholarship, a MacArthur "Genius" Award, an NIH Director's Pioneer Award, a Sanofi-Institut Pasteur Award, as well as several teaching awards.  Professor Collins is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a charter fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

The Collins research group works in synthetic biology and systems biology, with a particular focus on using network biology approaches to study antibiotic action, bacterial defense mechanisms, and the emergence of resistance.

Research Areas: 

 Synthetic Biology

Systems Biology

Selected Publications:

Cahan, Patrick, Hu Li, Samantha A. Morris, Edroaldo Lummertz da Rocha, George Q. Daley, and James J. Collins. "CellNet: network biology applied to stem cell engineering." Cell 158, no. 4 (2014): 903-15.

Green, Alexander A., Pamela A. Silver, James J. Collins, and Peng Yin. "Toehold switches: de-novo-designed regulators of gene expression." Cell 159, no. 4 (2014): 925-39.

Morris, Samantha A., Patrick Cahan, Hu Li, Anna M. Zhao, Adrianna K. San Roman, Ramesh A. Shivdasani, James J. Collins, and George Q. Daley. "Dissecting engineered cell types and enhancing cell fate conversion via CellNet." Cell 158, no. 4 (2014): 889-902.

Pardee, Keith, Alexander A. Green, Tom Ferrante, Ewen D Cameron, Ajay DaleyKeyser, Peng Yin, and James J. Collins. "Paper-based synthetic gene networks." Cell 159, no. 4 (2014): 940-54.

Dwyer, Daniel J., Peter A. Belenky, Jason H. Yang, Cody I MacDonald, Jeffrey D. Martell, Noriko Takahashi, Clement T Y Chan, Michael A. Lobritz, Dana Braff, Eric G. Schwarz et al. "Antibiotics induce redox-related physiological alterations as part of their lethality." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111, no. 20 (2014): E2100-9.