Why Do You Do Science?

We believe science not only helps you better understand the world, but also provides a way to better understand yourself. Through scientific training and research, you gain more than knowledge:

• You learn how to learn.

• You learn what you want to do.

• You learn why you do what you do.

By engaging in scientific training and research, you learn far beyond science itself. It shapes how you see the world and how you guide your life, giving you a clear understanding of yourself. With this clarity, you can achieve anything you imagine—and even go beyond science.

Research Vision

What is Life? Specifically, how do lifeless molecules come together to create something as dynamic and purposeful as living things? In our lab, we seek to answer this fundamental question by exploring how complex life-like behaviors can emerge from the coordinated action of nanoscale biomolecules. We take a bottom-up approach: instead of studying living cells as they are, we rebuild key aspects of life in the lab, piece by piece, using building blocks of life. This allows us to isolate the core principles that drive life’s organization and behavior.

Biomolecular Self-Organization

We are especially fascinated by self-organization—how molecules spontaneously assemble into larger functional structures without any blueprint. A striking example is the cytoskeleton, a dynamic filament network that gives cells their shape, helps them move, and enables them to divide. By rebuilding such systems in vitro, we aim to understand how cells generate force, coordinate movement, and respond to surrounding environments (Research Direction 1, see below).

Engineering Life

Once we understand these fundamental mechanisms, we aim to go one step further: designing and building life-like systems that not only mimic but could potentially outperform natural cells. This could open up exciting opportunities in biotechnology, synthetic biology, and sustainable material development (Research Direction 2, see below).

In essence, our lab unites physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering to reveal the beauty and mysteries of life—and to explore how we can harness its principles to create something entirely new.

Multidisciplinary Strategy

Modern science demands the integration of diverse approaches to uncover the core mechanisms underlying complex biological phenomena. Multiple perspectives are essential for revealing fundamental principles, combining tools and viewpoints from physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering (Fig. 1).

Our lab achieves this by integrating cutting-edge nanotechnology, biochemical techniques, advanced microscopy with photo-manipulation, quantitative image analysis, and physics-based theoretical modeling. Discovery and innovation often arise from the unexpected combination of different technologies and perspectives.

We welcome people from diverse disciplines and backgrounds who are motivated to advance science and technology by uncovering fundamental principles of biological systems and driving technological innovation. We foster an inclusive and collaborative research environment—one we believe is essential not only for scientific discovery and innovation, but also for a fulfilling and meaningful life.