Summary
Dr James Hindley is Department Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London, the co-director of the Membrane Biophysics Group and part of the executive team of fabriCELL. His research focuses on the development of synthetic cells - biomimetic soft materials that aim to mimic the functions and behaviours of biological cells. Building cells from the bottom-up enables a better understanding of cell biology, as well as creating systems that can interface with biological systems. This second property makes synthetic cells a promising technology in applications across biomedicine.
Research topics of particular interest include:
- Development of new signal transduction pathways that cannot be assembled in living systems
- Engineering stimuli-responsive synthetic cells
- Translation of synthetic cell technologies for biomedical application
- High-throughput production/characterisation of synthetic cells
James is based in the EPSRC-funded Institute of Chemical Biology - Centre for Doctoral Training, and is associated with the Membrane Biophysics Platform and "CAPITALS" EPSRC Programme Grant.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Designing new signalling pathways from the bottom-up in artificial cells - PNAS, Press Release
Engineering light-responsive artificial cells that function as enzyme microreactors - Nature Communications, Press Release, Nature Research Blog - Science Imitates Art
Engineering patterned thermoresponsive vesicles for content release - Chemical Science
Publications
Journals
Zhu KK, Gispert Contamina I, Ces O, et al., 2024, Magnetic Modulation of Biochemical Synthesis in Synthetic Cells., J Am Chem Soc, Vol:146, Pages:13176-13182
Allen ME, Hindley J, O'Toole N, et al., 2023, Biomimetic Behaviours in Hydrogel Artificial Cells through Embedded Organelles, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of Usa, Vol:120, ISSN:0027-8424
Gispert Contamina I, Hindley J, Pilkington C, et al., 2022, Stimuli-responsive vesicles as distributed artificial organelles for bacterial activation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of Usa, Vol:119, ISSN:0027-8424, Pages:1-10
Allen ME, Hindley JW, Baxani DK, et al., 2022, Hydrogels as functional components in artificial cell systems, Nature Reviews Chemistry, Vol:6, ISSN:2397-3358, Pages:562-578
Zubaite G, Hindley JW, Ces O, et al., 2022, Dynamic reconfiguration of subcompartment architectures in artificial cells., Acs Nano, Vol:16, ISSN:1936-0851