ProfessorYuval Elani

For my group website visit: www.elanigroup.org

I am a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, where I am also Director of Research.  I lead a multidisciplinary research group working at the interface of synthetic biology, bio-membrane science, microfluidics and nanotechnology. We build artificial cells and bioinspired machines from the bottom up.

The idea behind my group: instead of modifying an existing organism, can we take the components that make biology work — membranes, proteins, nucleic acids and molecular machinery — and assemble them into entirely new systems? Working outside living organisms opens up possibilities that conventional biology struggles to reach. It allows us to build systems that are programmable, controllable and designed for a specific task, with no ability to replicate or evolve.

Two strands run through the group.

Synthetic cells. Engineered membranes form the compartments, and cell-free machinery runs reactions inside them. My group makes designer cells that can sense their surroundings, compute, and respond.

Bioinspired nanoparticles. We design next-generation lipid nanoparticles with defined size, lamellarity, asymmetry, compartmentalisation and composition, for vaccines, drug and gene delivery.

Microfluidics + automation technologies, developed in-house, drive both, allowing high-throughput production, creation of libraries, automated assembly and screening.

Applications span therapeutics, diagnostics, sensing and biomanufacturing.  I have built a research programme covering both fundamental science and technology development, funded by UKRI, ARIA, Lister, Schmidt and other major funders, with collaborations across academia, industry and clinical research, including GSK, AstraZeneca, Syngenta and Neobe.

The question underneath all of it: how far can we engineer biology, and what becomes possible once we build biology from first principles?

Alongside my research, I am co-Founder and Co-Director of fabriCELL, and Co-Director of the Membrane Biophysics Platform. I sit on the executive board of the Institute of Chemical Biology and ICB CDT, and am a board member of Imperial College Centre for Engineering Biology 

Prior to joining Imperial, I was at Cambridge University where I studied Natural Sciences. More details can be found in my CV.

///HONOURS, PRIZES & AWARDs:

2025 Fellowship Prize,  Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine 

2024 Harrison-Meldola Prize, Royal Society of Chemistry 
2023 Nicklin Medal, Institution of Chemical Engineers
2022 Biophysical Science Institute Judith Howard Prize

2021 Felix Franks Medal for Biotechnology, Royal Society of Chemistry 
2020 UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship
2019 President's Medal, Outstanding Early Career Researcher
2019 Imperial College Research Fellowship
2018 Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy
2017 Royal Society of Chemistry Rita & John Cornforth Medal
2017 World Economic Forum, '50 under 40'
2016 EPSRC Fellowship 
2015 Roscoe Medal, Parliamentary & Scientific Committee
2011 Lord Porter Prize 

/// RECRUITMENT:

POSTDOCS

We are currently recruiting postdocs. Positions are available across all of the group's research activities: synthetic cells, microfluidics, biohybrid engineering, and liposome engineering. If you are interested in joining the team, please email me your CV.

PHD FUNDING

We currently have two fully-funded PhD studentships, open to both home and international students. These projects involve developing new technologies to generate vesicle-based synthetic cells and architecturally complex nanoparticles, working with novel biomembranes, cell-free protein expression systems, gene circuits and microfluidic platforms. Both are multidisciplinary, and depending on your background and interests will span one or more of: molecular bioengineering, chemical biology, synthetic biology, soft matter, membrane biophysics and microfluidics. If you would like to hear more, please email me your CV.

GENERAL ENQUIRIES

We are always on the lookout for excellent PhD students, PDRAs and fellows, and often have vacancies beyond those listed above. We would particularly welcome anyone interested in joining as a postdoctoral fellow on schemes such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Schmidt, EPSRC or BBSRC fellowships. Please get in touch directly.