Faculty and Research Units
OIST research units take a cross-disciplinary approach to research, and the PhD program encourages students to explore the intersections of disparate fields of science and technology. Find the research unit of your interest below.
Faculty and Research Units
Find a Faculty Member or Research Unit
Plant Epigenetics Unit
The major goal of our research is to understand biological significance of epigenetic regulation of genes and transposons for environmental adaptation and genome evolution in plants.
Hidetoshi Saze
Professor
Protein Engineering and Evolution Unit
The Protein Engineering and Evolution Unit applies chemical approaches, evolutionary methods and protein engineering to study and manipulate protein functions.
Paola Laurino
Associate Professor
Quantum Dynamics Unit
In the nanoscopic world, electrons can exist in many places at once—a feature that, if harnessed to encode data, could revolutionize information processing. The Quantum Dynamics Unit is expl...
Denis Konstantinov
Professor
Quantum Engineering and Design Unit
The Quantum Engineering and Design Unit explores how we can transfer today ideas in quantum information science into tomorrow’s quantum technologies through system design.
Bill Munro
Professor
Quantum Gravity Unit
Curiosity-driven research on fundamental theoretical physics. Recent focus areas include higher-spin theory, de Sitter holography, black holes and asymptotic symmetries.
Yasha Neiman
Associate Professor
Quantum Information Science and Technology Unit
Quantum information science and technology brings quantum mechanics and information theory together and includes, but is not limited to, quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum metrology.
Kae Nemoto
Professor and OCQT Director
Quantum Information Security Unit
The research unit will conduct theoretical research into all aspects of quantum information processing with focus on the nature of randomness and its applications in secure communication.
Artur Ekert
Professor (Adjunct)
Quantum Machines Unit
We study in theory and experiments the engineering of quantum devices built from different subsystems that can collectively perform beyond the individual capabilities of their parts.
Jason Twamley
Professor
Quantum Materials Science Unit
We explore novel physics, leads to future nano-electronics and nano-spintronics, and design novel charge, spin, orbital, and/or phonon states in a variety of engineered quantum materials.
Yoshinori Okada
Associate Professor
Quantum Systems Unit
We study synthetic few- and many-body systems made from ultra-cold atomic gases and develop methods to quantify, control, and engineer their properties and their dynamics.
Thomas Busch
Professor
Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit
We conduct R&Ds on the precession beam electron microscope for protein crystal, study for infection prevention of influenza and COVID by ethanol and WEC Project to generate electricity from ocean wave.
Tsumoru Shintake
Professor
Qubits and Spacetime Unit
The Qubits and Spacetime Unit explores quantum properties of spacetime
Philipp Höhn
Assistant Professor
Representation Theory and Algebraic Combinatorics Unit
Our unit studies the representation theory of algebras via tools from algebraic combinatorics. Our study largely centres around the philosophy of decomposing representations.
Liron Speyer
Assistant Professor
Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit
We investigate how behavioural contexts tune olfactory information processing in the mouse brain. Methods used include neurophysiology, imaging, circuit analysis, behaviour.
Izumi Fukunaga
Associate Professor
Shocks, Solitons and Turbulence Unit
The Shocks, Solitons and Turbulence Unit studies nonlinear-wave phenomena, from space weather to biological networks, to predict and control how mass and energy propagate in space-time
Emile Touber
Associate Professor
Synapse Biology Unit
The Synapse Biology Unit studies how the dynamic features of synaptic connections between neurons mediate and maintain efficacious information processing in the brain. Synaptic communication...
Yukiko Goda
Professor
Theory of Quantum Matter Unit
The Theory of Quantum Matter (TQM) Unit carries out research into a wide range of problems in condensed matter and statistical physics.
Nic Shannon
Professor
pi-Conjugated Polymers Unit
We work on creating synthetic methods for polymer semiconductors and the development of new materials for use in organic electronics (e.g., OLEDs, stretchable devices, bioelectronics).
Christine Luscombe
Professor