Naomi Nakayama

Professor of the Biological Design Unit. Naomi studies the construction, function, and evolution of plant cells and organs, which are highly adaptable to the changing environment. She explores the form-function-environment landscape to uncover the underlying design principles, creating gradients of biological forms (and their mimics) by fabrication and reprograming of biological development. Ultimately, she weaves the different threads of investigations in developmental and evolutionary biology, mechanics (solid and fluid), and synthetic biology to predict how plant morphology and anatomy may evolve in the future climate.