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Kobayashi Lab
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A lab that reads how cells and the immune system work in the language of information and mathematics.
AboutAbout the lab
Welcome to the boundary between biology and mathematics.
The lab studies how living systems receive, process, and use information.
Using mathematical frameworks such as information theory, learning theory, and information thermodynamics, it explores properties unique to living systems.
A distinguishing feature is its combination of various types of quantitative data with theoretical and computational methods.
The lab also aims to apply the theories it develops to the design of new computational algorithms and engineering systems.
Key terms
- Information thermodynamics
- A field of physics that deals with the relationship between information and heat or energy
- Chemotaxis
- The tendency of cells or bacteria to sense differences in the concentration of surrounding chemicals and move toward or away from them
- T cell
- A type of white blood cell that recognizes invading pathogens and plays a central role in the immune defense of the body
NewsLab news
Theoretical elucidation that optimal information processing switches discontinuously under resource constraints
Proposal of a method for deciphering information flow in bacterial chemotaxis, in collaboration with RIKEN and Osaka University
Theoretical elucidation of "collective intelligence" that uses the environment as external memory
Development of a new theory for controlling uncertain biological populations
ResearchResearch themes
Living systems are information-processing systems shaped by evolution. The lab focuses on three themes: the optimality of information processing, constraints imposed by physics and chemistry, and evolution and self-replication. While developing the necessary mathematical and informatics methods, it tackles phenomena such as those found in cells and the immune system.
*Illustrative imageCell Chemotaxis
The lab investigates how cells sense a changing environment and choose their behavior from highly noisy receptor signals. Using E. coli and the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium as subjects, it combines theoretical models with quantitative data.
*Illustrative imagePhenotypic Change and Evolution of Cells
Cells change their own traits in response to the environment, while cells that happen to be well suited are also selected within a population. The lab explores how these two processes connect to evolution, using lineage tracking of E. coli, Raman-based measurements, and theoretical models.
*Illustrative imageOlfaction and Chemical Information Sensing
Olfaction processes information from mixtures of many different odorants. The lab investigates how odors are received and recognized, and whether the perception of odors can be predicted from data, approaching these questions from both theory and data on receptor responses and sensory evaluation measurements. It also conducts joint research with companies.
*Illustrative imageAdaptive Immunity and T Cell Diversity
The lab studies how the immune system recognizes unknown pathogens and learns its responses from past infections. It also works on methods for reading infection history and immune status from T cell receptor sequence data.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members consist of faculty, specialist technical staff, project researchers, collaborating researchers, visiting professors, doctoral and master's students, research students, and technical staff.As of 2026
- ProfessorTetsuya J KobayashiPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorSimon Schnyder
VoicesStudent voices
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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: “Mitotic LLC-PK1 cells, fluorescence microscopy ( )” ZEISS Microscopy from Germany / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Cell Chemotaxis: “E coli at 10000x, original” Photo by Eric Erbe, digital colorization by Christopher Pooley, both of USDA, ARS, EMU. / Public domain (cropped)
- Phenotypic Change and Evolution of Cells: “E.coli plate dark background” LadaSy / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Olfaction and Chemical Information Sensing: “Spices of India” Vikas 1980 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Adaptive Immunity and T Cell Diversity: “T Lymphocyte ( )” NIAID / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Mathematical Bioinformatics Lab): “Mouse Embryo Cerebellum ( )” NIH Image Gallery from Bethesda, Maryland, USA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Brain Mathematics and Information Collaboration Lab): “Synapsin and CamK2 positive neurons” ManuelSchottdorf / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Systems Pharmacology Lab): “Lab mouse mg 3263” Rama / CC BY-SA 2.0 fr (cropped)
- Related lab (Sadakane-Ito Lab (Mathematical Informatics Lab 2)): “TSP Deutschland 3” The original uploader was Kapitän Nemo at German Wikipedia. / Public domain (cropped)
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