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Transformative Soft Matter Lab
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A lab that creates functional hydrogels, uncovers how they work, and connects them to applications.
AboutAbout the lab
Deepening gel science from fundamentals to applications
The Transformative Soft Matter Lab researches the creation of functional polymer hydrogels.
The lab repeats a cycle: investigating why the gels it makes have their functions, then using that knowledge to design the next gel.
Along the way, technologies related to biomaterials and new ways of measuring physical properties have emerged.
Through gels, students can learn from fundamentals to applications, such as understanding the friction and fatigue of tough double-network gels and creating gels for use in medical treatment.
Key terms
- Hydrogel
- A soft material made of a network of polymers that holds its shape while containing a large amount of water
- Double-network gel
- A gel that is hard to break, made by combining a brittle network with a highly stretchable network
- Toughness
- The tenacity of a material, indicating how much force or deformation it can withstand before breaking
NewsLab news
A master's student won the Outstanding Presentation Award at the Master's Program Research Results Presentation Meeting
A doctoral student and a master's student won Outstanding Poster Awards at the 74th Symposium on Macromolecules
Assistant Professor Yasui won the Young Researcher Oral Presentation Award at the 76th Symposium on Colloid and Interface Chemistry
A master's student won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the Student Research Presentation Meeting of the Society of Sea Water Science, Japan
Assistant Professor Yasui won the Outstanding Topic Award at the 36th Polymer Gel Symposium
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies gels across a wide range of themes, from fundamentals to applications. The research is presented in three groups: design of tough composite materials, new methods for evaluating physical properties, and applications to devices that mimic living tissue.
*Illustrative imageTough soft composite materials
In ordinary materials, the harder they get, the lower their toughness and the more brittle they become. Natural materials have mechanisms that prevent fracture and hierarchical structures that dissipate energy across many length scales. By imitating these essentials, the lab creates tough, functional materials.
*Illustrative imageNew ways to measure gels
At the molecular scale, the lab examines how the hydrogel network differs from place to place; at larger scales, it deals with friction and adhesion. The fact that the surface slides easily thanks to a layer of water is an important property for use in living bodies.
*Illustrative imageGels for use in the body
The lab is developing materials that must both bear loads and be compatible with living tissue, such as artificial skin, ligaments, and tendons. It also studies methods for making materials that can replace muscle.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Transformative Soft Matter Lab consist of faculty, academic researchers, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorTakayuki Kurokawa
- Assistant ProfessorTomoki Yasui
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: “Superabsorber Hydrogel KSG 2906 pK” Petra Klawikowski / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Tough soft composite materials: “Abalone nacre” Mauro Cateb / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- New ways to measure gels: “Macro view of water droplets on transparent surface” Dreamora96x / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Gels for use in the body: “Nanofiber-based engineered cartilage” United States NIH National Institute of Arthrits and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Soft Matter Structural Physics Lab): “Hidrogela egoera solidoan” Lialore / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Morphology and Function III Lab): “Arabidopsis thal background” Reo On / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Chiba Lab): “A thaliana” Safflle / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Soft & Wet Matter Lab): “More windows” Jin from Melbourne, Australia / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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