Welcome to the website of the Autonomous Polymer Design and Discovery Group. I am Yuuya Nagata, the group leader. Our group combines robotic experimentation, data science, machine learning, and polymer chemistry to create new materials using approaches beyond traditional frameworks. In particular, we aim to build an environment in which researchers can focus on more creative ideas and deeper discussions through the automation and autonomy of experiments.
We welcome students and young researchers who are about to start their research, as well as those who want to take on new challenges from different fields. If you are motivated to turn your ideas into reality or develop technologies that contribute to society, we would like to work together with you to pioneer the future of materials science. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested.
Yuuya Nagata
Email: NAGATA.Yuuya@nims.go.jp
Born in 1980 in Kagawa Prefecture. After obtaining a Ph.D. (Engineering) at Kyoto University, he engaged in research on organic synthesis and polymer chemistry. He served as Assistant Professor at Kyoto University and then as Associate Professor (Special Appointment) at Hokkaido University’s WPI-ICReDD. Since June 2025, he has been Group Leader of the Autonomous Polymer Design and Discovery Group, Research Center for Macromolecules and Biomaterials, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). He promotes the development of new organic materials using experimental automation/autonomy and information science.
researchmap
ORCID
NIMS Researcher Directory (SAMURAI)
This is a newly established group as of June 2025. We plan to recruit postdoctoral researchers and students in the future. Please consult with Nagata if you are interested.
Our group has introduced an automated synthesis robot from Chemspeed. It enables highly accurate and reproducible automation from reagent dispensing to reaction and pretreatment for analysis, allowing exploration of a large number of experimental conditions in a short time. In addition, by linking with the Bayesian optimization program (NIMO), it enables autonomous exploration, accelerating the discovery and optimization of new polymer materials.
Yuuya Nagata E-mail: NAGATA.Yuuya@nims.go.jp Group Leader National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) Research Center for Macromolecules and Biomaterials Autonomous Polymer Design and Discovery Group
305-0047 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan Central Building, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)