Research Units

Theory-driven research on macroevolution, biodiversity, and evolutionary patterns across space and time, integrating fossils, fishes, biomechanics, phylogenies, and models.

The Marine Climate Change Unit aims to understand how coral reef fish respond to human society driven environmental changes such as climate change, heatwaves, overfishing, and urbanization.

Most coral reef fishes have an incredible colors but why and how do they appear ? We use clownfish as a model we decipher the origins of the colors and how the fish are using them.

Exploring marine genomic diversity helps understanding organism responses to environmental change in the past and future, both in terms of large-scale evolution and within their ecosystems.

The Marine Physics and Engineering Unit advances the forecast of ocean dynamics and the development of hydrodynamic disaster mitigation alternatives, paving the way for novel ocean technologies.

Our unit focuses on understanding how environmental changes impact soil microbes, particularly those that are symbiotic with or pathogenic to plants, and drive biogeochemical cycling.

The Model-Based Evolutionary Genomics Unit works at the crossroads of computational and evolutionary biology. Our long-term goal is to achieve an integrative understanding of the evolution of Life on Earth and the origins and emergence of complexity across different biological scales, from individual proteins to ecosystems. To move towards this goal, we develop and apply model-driven evolutionary genomics methods to reconstruct the Tree of Life and the major evolutionary transitions that have occurred along its branches.

The OIST Neural Computation Unit aims to develop novel algorithms and to reveal brain mechanisms for reinforcement learning and Bayesian inference by combining top-down theoretical and bottom-up experimental approaches.

We work in experimental nonlinear, non-equilibrium and soft matter physics. Our current research focuses on fluids, granular media, fluctuations in renewables and quantitative life sciences.

(Closed since June 2025) The unit studied natural time series data, from NLP to genome sequences to cephalopod camouflage, with dynamical systems and machine learning methods, letting the data lead the way.

The major goal of our research is to understand biological significance of epigenetic regulation of genes and transposons for environmental adaptation and genome evolution in plants.

The Solar-Terrestrial Environment and Climate Unit conducts research to enhance our understanding of the Sun, its surrounding environment, and their impacts on Earth’s climate and weather.