InaRIS Fellow (2026-2035)

Kyogo Kawaguchi

Pioneering Research Institute, RIKENChief Scientist*Profile is at the time of the award.

2026InaRISScience & Engineering

Research topics
Physical Foundations of Intelligent Matter
Keyword
Summary
Living matter constantly consumes energy to sustain itself, a property physicists call "nonequilibrium." But so do rivers and the changing weather, so that alone doesn't make something alive. What sets life apart, I believe, is that it uses energy intelligently, responding and adapting to whatever the environment throws at it. Life isn't just burning fuel. It's burning fuel with purpose. Our research explores the physics of this "intelligent matter," aiming to build a framework that captures what makes living systems so special. It's a fresh angle on an old question: what, exactly, is life?

Message from Fellow


Citation

Dr. Kyogo Kawaguchi is a researcher who has pioneered new frontiers at the border of biology and physics from a nonequilibrium physics perspective. At the biomolecular level, the mechanism by which the molecular motor F1-ATPase converts ATP energy almost perfectly into rotational motion has long been a mystery. Dr. Kawaguchi et al. proposed a model called the "totally asymmetric allosteric model,” where the transition probabilities of forward and reverse reactions satisfy detailed balance. They demonstrated that this model reproduced characteristics and efficiencies equivalent to experimental results, contributing to the elucidation of the fundamental principles behind its high efficiency.

The behavior of cell sheets plays a crucial role in multicellular morphogenesis. Dr. Kawaguchi discovered that neural stem cell cultures exhibit a nematic liquid crystal-like order, with cells accumulating at +1/2 topological defects. He was the first researcher to report that topological defects hold biological significance within cell populations. Furthermore, he proposed a minimal mathematical model to explain this phenomenon. This phenomenon has been confirmed in other systems, including the formation of heads, feet, and tentacles in hydras involving +1/2 defects. In epidermal cells, homeostasis is maintained by balancing cell death and extrusion with stem cell division and differentiation. Previously, the asymmetric division model was supported. However, Dr. Kawaguchi demonstrated a strong correlation between the survival times of daughter cells, thereby refuting this model. Through observations of the mouse epidermis and new statistical analyses, such as window size-dependent net growth fluctuation analysis, he revealed that statistical data showing that cell division occurs near the extruded cell follows the voter model of statistical mechanics.

His multifaceted research has recently expanded to include topics ranging from evolutionary questions to the learning processes of AI language models. One example involves vertebrate phylogeny. Hox gene clusters are conserved, and vertebral number distribution analysis provides insights into evolutionary constraints. Dr. Kawaguchi and his colleagues collected comprehensive vertebral number data for tetrapods. They revealed an inverse correlation between adjacent vertebral numbers in mammals and discovered a balance between distal vertebrae. Conversely, they found that distinct patterns exist in other taxonomic groups.


Message from Fellow

I am truly grateful for this long-term support. Having the space to think carefully and patiently about a question as big as "what is life?" is a rare and valuable opportunity. This grant allows us to explore ideas that don't easily fit into shorter-term proposals. I look forward to making the most of it, taking my time, following my curiosity, and seeing where this line of research leads.

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