RESEARCH THEMES
Living systems achieve remarkable functions through the coupling of fluid flow, mechanics, transport, and chemical signaling. Plants redistribute water across complex environments, cells sense and respond to mechanical perturbations, and biological materials reorganize and adapt—all without the centralized machinery we typically associate with sensing and control.
The NIFE Lab investigates the physical principles that make these behaviors possible. We combine experiments, imaging, and mathematical modeling to study how flows, forces, interfaces, and soft materials interact across scales, from intracellular transport and mechanosensing to whole-organism dynamics and transport through porous environments.
These fundamental questions also inspire new engineering strategies. By identifying how biological and soft systems exploit mechanics and transport to sense, adapt, and function, we develop new concepts for soft robotics and tactile sensing, bio-inspired materials, sustainable technologies, and the control of transport in complex systems.
PHYSICAL MECHANISMS OF
BIOLOGICAL SENSING
(supported by NSF CAREER award 2442203)
Living organisms constantly sense and respond to their physical environment, often without specialized sensory organs or nervous systems. How these signals are detected, transmitted, and converted into biological responses remains poorly understood. We combine controlled physical perturbations, quantitative imaging, and modeling to uncover the mechanical and transport processes underlying biological sensing, from cellular dynamics to organism-scale responses.