James J. Collins

James Collins fascinates me because he is a boundary-crosser, a physicist who helped invent synthetic biology by treating cells like programmable circuits. That audacious leap, applying engineering logic to living systems, is the kind of lateral thinking that births entirely new fields. The real proof of his impact lies downstream, in how his synthetic gene networks shaped detection and treatment work for Ebola, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2. A Rhodes Scholar and MacArthur Fellow with the Max Delbruck Prize to match, he clearly has the credentials, but what I value is the imagination behind them. People who refuse to stay in one discipline tend to see the world differently.

Name (English)

James J. Collins

Name (Japanese)

ジェームズ・J・コリンズ

Reading

じぇーむず・J・こりんず

Born

June 26, 1965 (age 61)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Snake

Origin

New York City, New York, United States

Occupation

physicist / university teacher

High school

Bishop Guertin High School

University

College of the Holy Cross

Awards & achievements

• 2003 MacArthur Fellows Program
• 1987 Rhodes Scholarship
• honorary member
• 1999 Fellow of the American Physical Society
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2019 Pierre Galletti Award
• 2020 Max Delbrück Prize in Biological Physics
• 2007 National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.collinslab.mit.edu/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%82%BA%E3%83%BBJ%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BA

Tags

• New York
• physicist
• university teacher

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.