The field of biology has expanded from the traditional approaches of focusing on specific organisms and phenomena to utilizing data science approaches in the pursuit of obtaining a comprehensive understanding of life. Under this context, our laboratory employs interdisciplinary approaches, including but not limited to: bioinformatics, laboratory experiments, mathematics, and field samplings to study evolution and ecology of diverse life forms, and to develop novel biotechnological methods.

Research Keywords and Topics

Evolutionary and ecological bioinformatics
Evolution of genomes and life systems
Microbial dark matter, non-model organisms
Microbial ecology, metagenomics
Environmental DNA

In particular, we are aiming at the following fundamental research questions:
(1) How have the elaborate and complex living systems evolved?
(2) How are the ecosystems stably maintained?
(3) What unknown gene functions have evolved in 4 billion years?
(4) What is the methodology to reveal unknown gene functions from big data?
(5) How many genes are being born on the earth?