DrNaomi Nakayama
Reader in Biological Design
Department of Bioengineering - Faculty of Engineering
- Reader in Biological DesignDepartment of Bioengineering - Faculty of Engineering
- B303A, Bessemer Building, South Kensington Campus, United Kingdom
BIO
Naomi leads Biological Form and Function Lab in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. Her group investigates 'How' and 'Why' living organisms have the shape and body plan they have and explores the application of such knowledge to solving knotted and wicked problems in our daily life, from sustainable agriculture to green technology.
Her research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, incorporating methods and concepts from multiple disciplines of biology and engineering, such as cell and developmental biology, synthetic biology, biomechanics, and material sciences. In particular, her group studies the design principles of biological structure and architecture, such as slender bodies, at multi-scales from cells to organ systems (e.g. hairs, fibres, shoots). They test key determinants of functional forms by the fabrication of artificial models and bio-fabrication via synthetic biology.
To find more about her group and research, please visit the group website and her Google Scholar profile.
Prior to joining Imperial College in 2019, Naomi was a group leader at the University of Edinburgh, first as a Chancellor's Fellow and then as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. She received a PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University (USA) for molecular dissection of organ-identity-dependent differentiation in Arabidopsis petals and stamens. As a postdoctoral fellow at University of Bern (Switzerland) and École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), Naomi developed new methods for mechanical treatment and characterization of living tissues to uncover the biophysical underpinning of morphogenetic regulation in plants.
Her research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, incorporating methods and concepts from multiple disciplines of biology and engineering, such as cell and developmental biology, synthetic biology, biomechanics, and material sciences. In particular, her group studies the design principles of biological structure and architecture, such as slender bodies, at multi-scales from cells to organ systems (e.g. hairs, fibres, shoots). They test key determinants of functional forms by the fabrication of artificial models and bio-fabrication via synthetic biology.
To find more about her group and research, please visit the group website and her Google Scholar profile.
Prior to joining Imperial College in 2019, Naomi was a group leader at the University of Edinburgh, first as a Chancellor's Fellow and then as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. She received a PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University (USA) for molecular dissection of organ-identity-dependent differentiation in Arabidopsis petals and stamens. As a postdoctoral fellow at University of Bern (Switzerland) and École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), Naomi developed new methods for mechanical treatment and characterization of living tissues to uncover the biophysical underpinning of morphogenetic regulation in plants.
FACULTY
- Faculty of Engineering
POSITION NAME
- Reader in Biological Design