Shunsuke TAKANOPostdoctoral Researcher
(Inoue Group)

Shunsuke Takano is a Postdoctoral researcher interested in the emergent properties of soft condensed matter, including textiles and liquid crystals. Soft matter often exhibits collective order and responses that cannot be explained solely by the properties of its individual constituents. For instance, the elasticity of woven and knitted textiles arises not only from the material itself, such as silk, but also from the way the threads are interlaced. This illustrates the existence of causal relationships between entanglement and macroscopic properties behaviour that go beyond a purely reductionist perspective. He aims to elucidate these principles through the lenses of topology and chirality, with the goal of developing design guidelines that enable precise control over the elasticity and toughness of textiles. Furthermore, he interprets textiles as assemblies of chiral knots and is passionate about applying this perspective to advance the fundamental theory of metamaterials constructed from chiral knots.

Mentor ：Katsuya Inoue　
Co-Mentor ：Yuka Kotorii 　
Co-Mentor ：Elisabetta Matsumoto

What I like about my science
Soft matter is very complex, and some researchers consider it one of the most complicated systems. Even so, liquid crystals show beautiful patterns and fluctuations under a microscope. Careful investigation finally uncovers simple underlying principles behind seemingly complex behaviour. Soft matter is easy to get lost in.

Shunsuke's website