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
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
Zhang S, Contini C, Hindley J, et al., 2021, Engineering motile aqueous phase-separated droplets via liposome stabilisation, Nature Communications, Vol:12, ISSN:2041-1723, Pages:1-11