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Sumino Lab
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A lab studying artificial life physics, which aims to understand lifelike behavior from the laws of physics.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding lifelike dynamics from mesoscale interfaces
The Sumino Lab (Artificial Life Physics Lab) studies what physical laws give rise to lifelike behavior, with the goal of understanding them.
The lab calls this research field Artificial Life Physics.
Many phenomena seen in living systems, such as self-organization, collective motion, and pattern formation, are treated as nonequilibrium physical phenomena driven by flows of energy and matter.
The lab focuses in particular on mesoscale interfaces (100 nm to 1 mm), combining the construction of model experimental systems, numerical simulation, and mathematical modeling.
Key terms
- Nonequilibrium physical phenomena
- Phenomena that occur when driven by flows of energy and matter. Self-organization in living systems is viewed from this perspective.
- Mesoscale interface
- An interface with a size of 100 nm to 1 mm. It is where transport, instability, and collective dynamics become linked.
- Active matter
- A system made up of self-propelled units. It is a field of physics that seeks to understand such systems by focusing on their macroscopic behavior as a collective.
NewsLab news
A doctoral student received the Iris Award (Oral Presentation Award) at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Liquid Crystal Society
A paper by Assistant Professor Yoshii and researchers at Shimane University was published in Physical Review E
A paper co-authored by Professor Sumino and colleagues was published in Physical Review Letters (press release)
A paper co-authored by Professor Sumino and colleagues was published in Physical Review E
A paper co-authored by Professor Sumino and colleagues was published in Soft Matter
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to understand self-organization, collective motion, and pattern formation in living systems as nonequilibrium physical phenomena driven by flows of energy and matter. Its research targets are wide-ranging, including interfacial transport, rheology-induced patterns, collective motion of particles, active matter, and granular matter. All are linked by a common perspective: nonequilibrium self-organization at mesoscale interfaces.
*Illustrative imageInterface-driven colloidal particles
When an electric field is applied to a colloidal particle, or when a particle activates chemical reactions of the solutes around it, nonequilibrium flows can arise nearby. The lab designs such particles and controls their motion, aiming to mimic biological phenomena and develop engineering applications.
*Illustrative imageActive matter
This is a field of physics that seeks to understand systems made up of self-propelled units by simplifying them and using ideas from statistical mechanics, focusing on their macroscopic behavior as a collective. Because collective motion can be designed and controlled, the lab expects engineering applications as well.
*Illustrative imageFingering of viscoelastic fluids
The lab discovered that interfacial instability can arise when rheology is coupled with the singularity of the strain rate near the contact line. The lab is working to understand the background of this instability, which appears when a constant strain is applied from outside, using tools such as intermediate asymptotic solutions.
Injection of fluids involving chemical reactions
When changes in fluid rheology caused by chemical reactions are coupled with injection, distinctive interface motion arises. Examples include the extension of pseudopods in cells and the spreading of injected solutions in ground improvement work. The lab believes that embedding spatiotemporal scales into the injection process makes it possible to control spatial structures.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Sumino Lab consist of faculty members and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorYutaka Sumino
- Assistant ProfessorKiwamu Yoshii
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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: “Hubble helps astronomers map dark matter in Abell 1689 (opo1037a)” NASA, ESA, D. Coe (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, and Space Telescope Science Institute), N. Benítez (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalucía, Spain), T. Broadhurst (University of the Basque Country, Spain), and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University, USA) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Interface-driven colloidal particles: “Microfluidic chip for point-of-care medical devices” FMNLab / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Active matter: “Starling murmuration at Rome's termini station 02” Moskenes / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Fingering of viscoelastic fluids: “Saffman–Taylor instability Demonstration 1” AborontsOgley009293 / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (木下研究室): “Wafer-scale integrated circuit” Wikideas1 / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (荒木研究室): “EEG electrode” Gspilich2 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (麻生研究室): “PSM V29 D322 Gray and milne seismograph with recorder” 作者不詳 / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (伊藤研究室): “BURNED OUT SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNET COIL - NARA - 17450109” Martin Brown / Public domain (cropped)
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