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Saito Lab
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A research project that uses mathematics to understand the laws of biological phenomena.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding the laws hidden behind life through mathematics
The Mathematical Life Dynamics Research Project (Saito Project) studies living systems mathematically, drawing on biophysics, mathematical biology, and nonequilibrium and nonlinear physics.
Targeting the movement of cells and tissues, collective phenomena in molecular assemblies, and evolutionary dynamics, the lab describes phenomena mathematically to explain their mechanisms and compares the models with experimental data.
Even simple simulations can give rise to new phenomena when run at large scale, and the lab also searches the life sciences for real counterparts to the phenomena it finds.
Key terms
- Phase-field method
- A numerical method that represents the boundary between the inside and outside of an object with a smoothly varying value, and computes changes in shape on a computer
- Reaction-diffusion
- A phenomenon in which molecules spread through space while reacting. It is used to describe, for example, the behavior of signaling factors on the cell membrane
- Small-number effects
- Effects that arise when the number of molecules involved in a reaction is small, so that stochastic behavior can no longer be ignored
ResearchResearch themes
The lab uses mathematical models and simulations to study biological phenomena such as cell deformation and migration, collective movement of multiple cells, and molecular reactions inside cells. It also works on explaining the mechanisms of these phenomena mathematically and comparing the results with experimental data.
*Illustrative imageModeling cell deformation and migration
The lab models reaction-diffusion phenomena of signaling factors on the cell membrane together with deformation of the membrane. By investigating how the cell membrane self-organizes into specific shapes, it aims to uncover the basic principles of cell deformation.
*Illustrative imageIntegrating shape measurement and mathematical models
The lab applies machine learning to quantify cell shapes, and is developing methods to compare experimental and simulation results systematically and objectively.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping multicellular simulation methods
The lab uses mathematical models to study phenomena in which diverse cells come together, such as development, tissue formation, and wound healing. Currently, it models the collective movement of cellular slime molds with the phase-field method, and is also developing a theoretical framework that makes simulations of thousands of cells possible.
*Illustrative imageModeling chemical reactions and molecules inside cells
When only a small number of molecules take part in a reaction, small-number effects can no longer be ignored and the conventional chemical-kinetics picture breaks down. The lab is building a basic theory of this effect and applying it to cooperative microtubule transport by kinesin.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Saito Lab consist of faculty members and doctoral and master's students.
- Associate ProfessorNen Saito
- Assistant ProfessorMasato Tsutsumi
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: “Testate Amoeba Shell” ConformationXII / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Modeling cell deformation and migration: “Cardiac Stem Cell Differentiation” Jweiss20 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Integrating shape measurement and mathematical models: “Pencil cell or Pencil shaped RBC” Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Developing multicellular simulation methods: “Dictyostelium discoideum 43” Usman Bashir / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Modeling chemical reactions and molecules inside cells: “Microtubules in Primary Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts” Howard Vindin / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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「構造生命学研究」 ): “Cryo Conditions in EM” G wiz233 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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