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Furusawa Lab
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The lab explores the universal principles of living organisms through both experiments and theory.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding how robustness and plasticity coexist.
The Furusawa Lab studies how biological systems achieve both robustness and plasticity.
Living organisms keep functioning even when their environment changes, yet they can also flexibly change their own state when needed.
This combination is not seen in artificial systems, but how it comes about is still poorly understood.
Using evolution experiments with E. coli and mathematical models of cells, the lab seeks answers through both theory and experiments.
Key terms
- Robustness
- The ability of a system to keep functioning even when the environment changes or internal fluctuations occur
- Phenotype
- The form and traits that actually appear in an organism based on its genetic information, including growth rate and how genes are used
- Metabolism
- The series of chemical reactions that produce building materials for the body and energy for living from the nutrients taken in from the environment
NewsLab news
Paper published on using a mathematical model to explain how shapes form during development
Paper published on a mathematical-model analysis of cell-free translation systems
Paper published on how generalists emerge in ecosystems
Paper published on the evolution of pheromones in fission yeast
A lab alumnus received the Young Investigator Award of the Society for Genomic Microbiology
ResearchResearch themes
Biological systems combine robustness, which lets them keep functioning despite environmental changes and internal fluctuations, with plasticity, which lets them change themselves according to the situation. Taking the adaptive evolution of microorganisms and the development of multicellular organisms as its subjects, the lab aims to understand how the two coexist through both theory and experiments.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding the Mechanisms of Evolution through Theory
The lab evolved cell models with internal reaction networks inside a computer to explore the universal properties that evolution follows. It found that the phenotypes that can be taken after evolution are confined to a low-dimensional space.
*Illustrative imageEvolution Experiments on E. coli Using Robots
With a fully automated experimental system developed in-house, the lab evolves E. coli in environments to which various stress-inducing substances have been added. It analyzes gene expression and genomic mutations in the resistant strains that result.
*Illustrative imageTracking Metabolic Dynamics with Equations
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that produce building materials and energy for the body from the nutrients taken in. The lab models E. coli metabolism with differential equations and investigates how it behaves in each environment, using dynamical systems and network theory.
*Illustrative imageThe Speed at Which Gene Expression Evolves
Even with the same genotype in the same environment, gene expression levels in E. coli fluctuate. The lab experimentally tests how these fluctuations and responses to the environment relate to the speed at which expression levels evolve.
MembersFaculty
The Furusawa Lab's members consist of faculty, project researchers, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorChikara Furusawa
- Assistant ProfessorYusuke HimeokaPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorSaburo TsuruPublications ↗
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Biological Nonequilibrium Physics LabFaculty of Science, Department of PhysicsBiophysics, nonequilibrium physics, machine learningThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “E coli at 10000x, original” Photo by Eric Erbe, digital colorization by Christopher Pooley, both of USDA, ARS, EMU. / Public domain (cropped)
- Understanding the Mechanisms of Evolution through Theory: “Epistasis and landscapes” Thomas Shafee / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Evolution Experiments on E. coli Using Robots: “BioMek FX P200 96 liquid handling robot” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) / Public domain (cropped)
- Tracking Metabolic Dynamics with Equations: “Glycolysis pathway 2” Eunice Laurent / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- The Speed at Which Gene Expression Evolves: “Colonie batteriche o vita marina?” Chiara.marraccini / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Okada Lab): “Multicolor fluorescence image of a living HeLa cell” 8x57is / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nose Lab): “Drosophila larvae mariometzler” Mario Metzler / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Takeuchi Lab): “B72Textur” Minutemen / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Biological Nonequilibrium Physics Lab): “Nematic liquid crystal” Ingo Dierking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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