Research areas

The lab studies biological systems through a mechanics-first computational lens, combining molecular biophysics, multiscale modeling, and data-driven analysis to understand how structure, force, and dynamics shape biological function. The current public program is organized around three connected research areas, each of which grew out of a longer-running legacy body of work.

Cell & Nuclear Biomechanics

We study how forces are transmitted from integrin-mediated adhesions and the cytoskeleton to the nucleus, and how protein complexes at the cell-nucleus interface respond to load, deformation, and transport demands.

Microbiome & Bacterial Community Biomechanics

We investigate bacterial adhesion, host-microbe systems, and microbiome biogeography through multiscale models that connect molecular interactions, community dynamics, and biomechanical organization.

Statistical Learning & Biological Language Processing

We develop statistical learning and biological language-processing methods to support scientific discovery, from protein and genome representation learning to microbial informatics and model-guided analysis of complex biological data.

Historical research program

Before the current three-area framing, the lab also developed a substantial research program in cardiovascular and human-disease biomechanics. That work used subject-specific simulations and multiscale models to study aortic valve mechanics, arterial disease, and the links between mechanics, hemodynamics, and pathology.

That historical line of work remains part of the lab’s intellectual trajectory and is preserved here as archival context rather than as a separate current top-level area. Representative outputs are collected in the publications archive.