About us


    Our research group aims to clarify the mechanisms by which cells sense mechanical stimuli and regulate their activities in tissue adaptation, regeneration and stem cell differentiation in morphogenesis. To better understand the mechano-regulation of these dynamical processes through the complex hierarchical structure-function relationships, bridging spatial and temporal scales from microscopic molecular/cellular activities to macroscopic tissue behaviors is very important. Based on multiscale biomechanics, our group is involved in the integrated biomechanics and mechanobiology researches of modeling and simulation combined with experiments, focusing on mechano-biochemical couplings in the system dynamics.

Research themes
1) Biomechanics and mechanobiology studies on stem cell differentiation and morphogenesis in tissue development and regeneration.
2) Experimental and theoritical studies on functional adaptation of living tissues to the changes in mechanical environment.
3) Understanding mechanisms of tissue differentiation and regeneration emerged from multicellular dynamics.
4) Elucidation of mechano-biochemical coupling mechanisms in mechanosensory cells.
5) Nano- and microengineering of artificial systems combined with biomolecular and cellular systems.

Fig.1 Biomechanics of bone functional adaptation

Fig.2 Multiscale computational biomechanics of tissue morphogenesis

Fig.3 Nano- and microscopic biomechanics of biomolecules

Fig.4 Multiscale dynamics of filamentous actin cytoskeleton in cell migration

【Selected papers】
  1. Okuda S, Inoue Y, Eiraku M, Sasai Y, Adachi T: Reversible network reconnection model for simulating large deformation in dynamic tissue morphogenesis, Biomech. & Model. Mechanobiol. 12: in press (2013).
  2. Eiraku M, Takata N, Ishibashi H, Kawada M, Sakakura E, Okuda S, Sekiguchi K, Adachi T, Sasai Y: Self-organizing optic-cup morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture, Nature 472: 51-56 (2011).
  3. Tsubota K, Suzuki Y, Yamada T, Hojo M, Makinouchi A, Adachi T: Computer simulation of trabecular remodeling in human proximal femur using large-scale voxel FE models: Approach to understanding Wolff’s law, J. Biomech. 42: 1088-1094 (2009).


(c) 2011-2022 Department of Biosystems Science, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University