Nikta Fakhri
Principal Investigator

Photo credit: Steph Stevens

Nikta is an associate Professor in the Department of Physics at MIT and Physics of Living Systems Group. 
​She completed her undergraduate degree at Sharif University of Technology and her PhD at Rice University. She was a Human Frontier Science Program postdoctoral fellow at Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany before joining MIT.
​Nikta is an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Physics. She is the recipient of the 2018 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Biological Physics, the 2019 NSF CAREER Award, and the 2022 APS Early Career Award in Soft Matter Research.
Nikta's Q&A with Quanta Magazine:
Starfish Whisperer Develops a Physical Language of Life​​

Google Scholar

Yu-Chen Chao
Graduate Student

Yu-Chen is a 5th year Applied Physics graduate student interested in understanding and utilizing non-equilibrium properties of living systems. Outside of lab, she enjoy traveling, reading manga, and playing volleyball!

Yuchao Chen
Graduate Student

Yuchao is a 4th year Physics graduate student interested in exploring the behaviors of active matter in complex environments. Outside of the lab, you can find him mountain biking and feeding bluejays.

Lisa Lin
​​Graduate Student

Lisa is a 3rd year Physics graduate student interested in manipulating and modeling active matter systems. Outside of lab, you can find her knitting, playing clarinet, or cooking.

Josh Liu
Research Scientist

Josh works on numerical methods for information thermodynamics. In his free time, Josh angles the mercury-ridden, lead-addled Charles for inedible abominations of fish-kind. 

Shreyas Gokhale
Postdoc

Shreyas is interested in understanding nonequilibrium self-organization and emergence of intelligence in soft materials using a combination of experiments, data analysis, and theory. He loves playing chess, writing poetry, and learning Indian classical vocal music.

Hyunseok Lee
​​Postdoc

Hyunseok studies emergent behaviors of living mixtures through experiment with marine organisms and microbial communities.

Vicki Mu
Undergraduate Student

Vicki is a freshman at MIT. She plans to major in physics and math end hopefully go to grad school afterwards. Outside of class, she likes to paint and play card games.

Tader Shipley
Administrative Assistant

Tader keeps the Physics of Living Systems group running smoothly. She also assists with biophysics activities across campus. When not assisting PLS, You can also find her performing on theatre stages in and around the Boston area!

Group alumni

PhD students:
Tzer Han Tan (UCSD) 
Yoon Jung (Amazon/Alexa)
James Pelletier (HFSP Madrid)
Alexandru Bacanu (Harvard)
Melis Tekant (Cubist)
Hugh Higinbotham (MIT Biology)
Junang Li (Princeton)
Jinghui Liu (Dresden)
Sebastian Coupe (Stanford)

Physics of Living Systems Postdocs:
Peter Foster (USC)
Alex Solon (CNRS)
​Todd Gingrich (Northwestern Chemistry)
Jordan Horowitz (UMich)