Welcome to the
Laboratory of Soft & Wet Matter

LSW at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan ~ We belong to here

We are trying to uncover key design principles that Nature uses to build living things.

Click on the photo to explore !
Tough gel	Gel composite	Self-healing gel	Self-growing gel
Adhesion gel	Self-patterning gel	Colorful gel	Low friction gel
Gel + bioceramics	Medical gel	Adhesive gels for marine environments	Quick thermo- stiffening gel

Jul/28/2019--new!--
Our research on hydrogel's memorizing-forgetting behavior has been featured in New Atlas's article "Memorizing and forgetting" gel mimics the human brain".

Jul/28/2020--new!--
Our research on hydrogel's memorizing-forgetting behavior has been featured in The Science Times's article "Japanese Scientists Discover How Hydrogels 'Mimic Biological Functions'".

July/28/2020--new!--
Our research on hydrogel’s memorizing-forgetting behavior, published on Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), appears on Hokkaido U Web Site: Research Press Release . It also appears on EurekAlert!

June/25/2020--new!--
Dr. Kazuki Fukao's paper has been chosen for the front cover of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B Volume 8 Number 24.

Jun/9/2020--new!--
Division of Soft Matter Entrance Examination Guidelines are now available on Graduate School of Life Science website.

May/20/2020--new!--
Our new gel showing an instant thermal stiffening has been featured on research outreach's article "This polymer hardens as it heats up".

Apr/30/2020
Our work "Tough Particle‐Based Double Network Hydrogels for Functional Solid Surface Coatings" published in Advanced Materials Interfaces, is one of the journal's top 10% downloaded paper among work published between January 2018 and December 2019.

Apr/30/2020
Our works "A Facile Method to Fabricate Anisotropic Hydrogels with Perfectly Aligned Hierarchical Fibrous Structures," "Hydrophobic Hydrogels with Fruit‐Like Structure and Functions," "Tough Hydrogels with Fast, Strong, and Reversible Underwater Adhesion Based on a Multiscale Design," "Instant Thermal Switching from Soft Hydrogel to Rigid Plastics Inspired by Thermophile Proteins ," published in Advanced Materials, are one of the journal's top 10% downloaded papers among work published between January 2018 and December 2019.

Apr/28/2020
Dr. Hailong Fan's artwork has been chosen to appear on the front cover of Macromolecules Volume 53 Number 8.

Apr/1/2020
Dr. Takayuki Nonoyama has been promoted to Specially Appointed Associate Professor at Faculty of Advanced Life Science. Dr. Hailong Fan has received a specially appointed assistant professor position at WPI-ICReDD, Creative Research Institution (CRIS).

Apr/1/2020
LSW hosts Dr. Tomoki Yasui for one year, a visiting research fellow of "Research Fellowship for Young Scientists from JSPS."

Mar/17/2020
Our article "Adjacent cationic–aromatic sequences yield strong electrostatic adhesion of hydrogels in seawater" was one of the most read Nature Communications articles in chemistry and materials science in 2019.