People
Primary Faculty
James J. Collins Ph.D.
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
University Professor
Center for Advanced Biotechnology
Wyss Institute, Harvard University
Ph.D., Medical Engineering, University of Oxford
A.B., Physics, College of the Holy Cross
phone: (617) 353-0390
fax: (617) 353-5462
email: jcollins@bu.edu
website: www.bu.edu/abl
office: ERB 307
Research Interests
Synthetic biology; systems biology; noise-enhanced sensorimotor function.
Current Research
Dr. Collins' research focuses on developing nonlinear dynamical techniques and devices to characterize, improve and mimic biological function. His specific interests include: (1) modeling, designing and constructing synthetic gene networks; (2) reverse engineering naturally occurring gene regulatory networks; and (3) developing noise-based sensory prosthetics.
Selected Recent Publications
Friedland A, Lu T, Wang X, Shi D, Church G, Collins JJ "Synthetic Gene Networks That Count" Science. 324: 1199-1202 (2009)
Ellis T, Wang X, Collins JJ "Diversity-based, Model-guided Construction of Synthetic Gene Networks with Predicted Functions" Nature Biotechnology. 27 (5): 465-471 (2009)
Dwyer D, Kohanski M, Collins JJ "Networking Opportunities for Bacteria" Cell. 135: 1153-1156 (2008)
Kohanski M, Dwyer D, Wierzbowski J, Cottarel G, Collins JJ "Mistranslation of Membrane Proteins and Two-Component System Activation Trigger Antibiotic-Mediated Cell Death" Cell. 135: 679-690 (2008)
Kohanski MA, Dwyer DJ, Hayete B, Lawrence CA and Collins JJ "A Common Mechanism of Cellular Death Induced by Bactericidal Antibiotics" Cell. 130: 797-810 (2007)
Deans TL, Cantor CR and Collins JJ "A Tunable Genetic Switch Based on RNAi and Repressor Proteins for Regulating Gene Expression in Mammalian Cells" Cell. 130: 363-372 (2007)
Faith JJ, Hayete B, Thaden JT, Mogno I, Wierzbowski J, Cottarel G, Kasif S, Collins JJ, Gardner TS "Large-scale Mapping and Validation of Escherichia coli Transcriptional Regulation from a Compendium of Expression Profiles" PLoS Biology. 5 (1): e8 (2007)
Guido NJ, Wang X, Adalsteinsson D, McMillen D, Hasty J, Cantor CR, Elston TC, Collins JJ "A Bottom-up Approach to Gene Regulation" Nature. 439: 856-860 (2006)
