Science of Gel
暫譯: 凝膠科學

Yoshihito Osada (Japanese) obtained his Bachelor's degree in chemistry from Waseda University, Japan, in 1966, and received his Ph.D. in polymer science from Moscow State University in 1971 under supervision of Academician Prof. V.A. Kabanov. He held the position of Professor at Ibaraki University, Japan, from 1973 to 1991. In 1992, he was invited as a professor from the Department of Polymer Science, Hokkaido University (Sapporo), later served as a Dean of Graduate School of Science, then as the Vice President of Hokkaido University till 2007. He was invited from RIKEN in 2007 and served as a Deputy Director of RIKEN Advanced Science Institute till 2011. Since 2011, he serves as a Group Director and a Unit Leader of Molecular and System Life Science Unit. His main research interest is soft and wet matter (gels). He developed chemomechanical systems (artificial muscles) using polymer gels as early as 1975. Systematic study on frictional behaviors of polymer gel has been making through 1995. He also has developed Double Network Gels which exhibit excellent mechanical performances as strong as those of soft tissue of living organism. Currently his interests focus to highly hierarchical protein gels with "emergence" functions such as motility, self-repairing, self-oscillating functions.

大貫義仁（日本）於1966年在日本早稻田大學獲得化學學士學位，並於1971年在莫斯科國立大學獲得聚合物科學博士學位，指導教授為V.A. Kabanov院士。他於1973年至1991年擔任日本茨城大學的教授。1992年，他受邀擔任北海道大學（札幌）聚合物科學系的教授，隨後擔任科學研究所研究生院院長，並於2007年之前擔任北海道大學副校長。2007年，他受邀自RIKEN加入，並擔任RIKEN先進科學研究所的副所長，直到2011年。自2011年以來，他擔任分子與系統生命科學單位的組長和單位負責人。他的主要研究興趣是軟物質和濕物質（凝膠）。早在1975年，他便利用聚合物凝膠開發了化學機械系統（人工肌肉）。對聚合物凝膠摩擦行為的系統研究持續進行至1995年。他還開發了雙網絡凝膠，展現出與生物體軟組織相當的優異機械性能。目前，他的研究興趣集中在具有“湧現”功能的高度分層蛋白凝膠上，例如運動性、自我修復和自我振盪功能。