James Collins is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT. Jim serves as a director at the MIT Jameel Clinic, a member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Faculty, a core founding faculty member of the Wyss Institute, and a member of the Broad Institute. Jim is also an elected member of all three national academies. As one of the founders of synthetic biology, Jim has pioneered research by using synthetic biology and AI to develop next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics, particularly for infectious diseases such as Ebola, Zika, COVID-19 and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (superbugs). Jim has received numerous awards and honors including recognition as a Clarivate Citation Laureate. The technologies from his lab have been licensed by over 25 biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies, and he has also co-founded a number of biotech startups.

In this episode,

* Jim talks about his growing up in a technical family and shares his early interest in science. He explains his uncommon decision he made as a high school senior to attend College of the Holy Cross instead of MIT.

* He reflects on his journey from doing neuro-mechanics research to making the big leap into synthetic biology. He highlights his early work on construction of a genetic toggle switch, a foundational project in synthetic biology.

* He talks about his past work on diagnostics for infectious diseases like Ebola and Zika, and shares his recent progress in developing AI-designed antibiotics, including Halicin.

* He expresses his concerns about R&D in antibiotics and explains his motivation for establishing the nonprofit Phare Bio to advance novel antibiotics against superbugs.

* He reflects on his time on President Obama’s bioethics advisory board and his overall views on bioethics.

* He talks about how ChatGPT and social media affects science, and strongly encourages young scientists to focus on becoming true experts rather than pursuing fame as influencers.

* Inspired by his love of team sports, he uses the analogy of an “underdog spirit” to describe his philosophy of embracing failure.

* He loves running, reading and spending his time with his family and friends.

Co-Hosts: Fang Xie and Yossef Baidi

Co-Producers: Fang Xie Yossef Baidi Rui Li

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