Research Labs and Projects

Fundamental science, primarily stimulated by curiosity, often doesn’t lead to immediate applications. But technological and industrial breakthroughs are unimaginable without academics’ perseverance in pursuit of basic scientific research. Discoveries in fundamental science are the building blocks of our knowledge about the natural world and ourselves as human beings.

OIST currently has more than 80 tenured or tenure-tracked faculty members each leading an independent research lab focused on specific topics across a wide range of disciplines in fundamental science. Donors may support scientific curiosity and discovery by making a research-designated gift. Browse the OIST Faculty and Research website to find the topics that are interesting to you.

Below are some examples of the projects carried out at individual research labs. You are welcome to check out this list of examples from time to time as it is updated regularly. . 

Samples of Research Projects

Thank you for your great interests in our research. I’m looking forward to seeing you at OIST in near future!!

Dr. Jun Tani

The basic scientific question behind this project is:
Is it possible to exploit enzyme reactions to move droplets towards a stimulus (e.g., biomarkers released by aging cells)?

Dr. Paola Laurino

Artificial hibernation, or cold sleep, is expected to play an indispensable role for space travels in the near future.
Surprisingly, we found artificial hibernation itself has therapeutic effects on various brain disorders such as epileptic seizure or brain damages.
We aim to establish the therapeutic method by expanding our research projects.

Dr. Kazumasa Z. Tanaka

Gut microbes are indispensable for our healthy life. We uncovered a unique feature of mammalian gut microbes: Mucus colonization. This feature enables a much more intimate host-microbe association. It would be our great pleasure if we could contribute to the world through this project together with you.

Dr. Noriyuki Satoh

Animal cellulose is almost untapped and overlooked biological material. Nonetheless, it shows unexpected beautiful structural and material properties. It would be our great honor to contribute to the world through this project together with you.

Dr. Noriyuki Satoh

For the future sustainability of our planet, this is an urgent research topic. Our research progressed very rapidly – we developed this eDNA method just a few months ago. Therefore, we have no ready funding support for this fast-developing yet promising research project.

Dr. Noriyuki Satoh

Understanding the resilience of coral reefs to environmental changes both in Okinawa and worldwide will allow us to better protect these unique and beautiful ecosystems.

Dr. Timothy Ravasi

We discovered in my lab that clownfish use their brilliant colors as a language in their complex social life, but we need to understand better this unique communication system. Also, we must analyze how human impact may affect the life in clownfish colonies and to develop restoration programs.

Dr. Vincent Laudet

Fish larvae are so important for our daily life. This is simple to understand: No fish larvae, no sashimi ! And despite their importance, we know virtually nothing about them in the wild. Help us unravel this mystery of all mysteries.

Dr. Vincent Laudet