Hagan Bayley’s laboratory pioneered the engineering of membranes proteins. His work has contributed to our understanding of the structure, assembly and functional properties of these proteins, and especially to their use in biotechnology, including the development a variety of single-molecule applications of protein pores for stochastic sensing, the study of covalent chemistry, and ultrarapid DNA sequencing.

Recently, Hagan’s laboratory has begun to explore the synthetic biology of tissue-like materials and living tissues prepared by three-dimensional printing. In 2005, Hagan founded Oxford Nanopore Technologies to exploit the potential of stochastic sensing technology. In 2014, he founded OxSyBio to build synthetic tissues for regenerative medicine.

Both Hagan’s research and entrepreneurial skills have been recognised several times. He has been a recipient of the Royal Society’s Wolfson Research Merit Award and was the 2009 Chemistry World Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2012, Hagan was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Interdisciplinary Prize and was elected an Honorary Member of the British Biophysical Society.