Professor Hagan Bayley’s laboratory pioneered the engineering of membrane proteins. His work has contributed to our understanding of these proteins, and especially to their use in biotechnology, including the development of a variety of single-molecule applications of protein pores for stochastic sensing and biopolymer sequencing. In 2005, Hagan founded Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which developed the MinION for the nanopore sequencing of DNA and RNA.

Recently, Hagan’s laboratory has explored the application of three-dimensional printing and related technologies for the fabrication of both synthetic tissues and living tissues. Synthetic tissues are materials that resemble living tissues, but the constituent compartments cannot divide. Synthetic tissues can synthesise and deliver drugs or act as soft miniature iontronic components.

Fabricated living tissues contain living cells deposited in predetermined patterns and can be used to screen drugs and will eventually be employed for organ repair. Hybrid synthetic / living tissues are an intriguing prospect.

In 2011, Hagan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; in 2019 he was awarded the Royal Society Mullard Award for the invention of stochastic sensing with nanopores; and in 2023 he won the Royal Society Buchanan Medal to recognise his role in the founding of Oxford Nanopore Technology.

Hagan is Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Oxford.