James J. Collins (June 26, 1965) is an American bioengineer, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. He is one of the founders of the emerging field of synthetic biology, and a pioneering researcher in systems biology, having made fundamental discoveries regarding the actions of antibiotics and the emergence of antibiotic resistance.Boston University Professor; Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Co-Director, Center for BioDynamics, Boston University; MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award"; Co-founder Cellicon