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Ishihara Lab
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The lab studies how cells and tissues take shape, using physics and mathematical models.
AboutAbout the lab
How collections of molecules become cells and tissues
The Ishihara Lab studies self-organization phenomena in living systems.
The lab is interested in how cells emerge from collections of molecules, and how tissues and whole organisms emerge from collections of cells.
It combines nonlinear and nonequilibrium physics and soft matter physics with data analysis based on mathematical statistics and machine learning.
The lab also values finding mathematically and physically interesting themes starting from the phenomena themselves.
Key terms
- Self-organization
- A phenomenon in which order or patterns arise from the interactions among many elements, without any form being imposed from outside
- Nonlinear physics
- The branch of physics that deals with phenomena in which cause and effect are not simply proportional. It studies oscillations and pattern formation
- Mathematical model
- A description of the mechanism of a phenomenon in mathematical equations. The calculated results can be compared with actual behavior
NewsLab news
A paper from the lab was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
A paper from the lab was published in Physical Review E
Joint research with the Sugimura Lab was published in Development
A paper from the lab was accepted by the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan (JPSJ)
A student received the Outstanding Student Presentation Award from Division 11 of the Physical Society of Japan
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies self-organization phenomena in living systems by combining nonlinear and nonequilibrium physics and soft matter physics with data analysis techniques based on mathematical statistics and machine learning. It is interested in how cells emerge from collections of molecules, and how tissues emerge from collections of cells.
*Illustrative imageFrom molecules to cells and tissues
A cell is nothing more than a collection of molecules, yet how does it build structures, sense its external environment, and link that to behavior? Based on statistical mechanics and nonlinear physics, the lab investigates the control principles behind the autonomous functioning of cell populations as systems.
*Illustrative imagePhysics of cell populations
In the development of an organism, cells generate forces and influence one another through those forces as growth and deformation proceed. In collaboration with other researchers, the lab develops new methods for measuring the forces acting on cell populations, along with continuum models, aiming to understand tissue behavior from cell-level properties.
*Illustrative imageInformation processing in cells
Single cells, which have no eyes, ears, or brain, perform sophisticated information processing such as chemotaxis, in which they read the gradient of a chemical signal and move accordingly. Through collaborative research, the lab has shown that temporal changes in the signal also play an important role, and it investigates the mechanism and its molecular basis.
*Illustrative imageNonlinear and nonequilibrium phenomena
The lab studies phenomena discovered in the course of developing mathematical models of biological processes, based on nonlinear dynamics and statistical mechanics. It has found that coarsening closely resembling phase separation occurs in reaction-diffusion systems with a conserved quantity, and that the curvature of a surface can drive the propagation of patterns.
MembersFaculty
The Ishihara Lab's members include faculty, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, a JSPS Overseas Research Fellow, an administrative assistant, and visiting students from overseas.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorShuji IshiharaPublications ↗
- Assistant Professor光元 亨汰
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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: “Actin Filaments in a Neuroblastoma cell Line” Howard Vindin / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- From molecules to cells and tissues: “Embryonic foot of mouse” Michal Maňas / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Physics of cell populations: “Human umbilical vein endothelial cells” BigLew99 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Information processing in cells: “Dictyostelium Late Aggregation 1” Bruno in Columbus / Public domain (cropped)
- Nonlinear and nonequilibrium phenomena: “Belousov Zhabotinsky reaction ( )” Stephen Morris from Toronto, Canada / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (理論化学研究室
（横川研究室） ): “Separatory funnel with oil and colored water” PRHaney / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped) - Related lab (柳澤研究室): “Phosphatidylcholine liposomes stained with acridine orange” ArkhipovSergey / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (奥野研究室): “Raman Microscope” Lv9454 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (若本研究室): “E. coli Bacteria ( )” NIAID / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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