About me

Hi - welcome to my research homepage! I’m Jake Song - a materials scientist specializing in polymers, soft matter, and living systems.

My research interest is in the unique mechanical properties of biological materials, such as (bio)polymer hydrogels, extracellular matrices, and tissues. As a PhD student in the McKinley group and the Holten-Andersen group at MIT, I designed bioinspired polymeric hydrogels and polymer-particle composite hydrogels with metal-coordinate bonds, studied underlying signatures of the complex stress relaxation behaviors of composite hydrogels, and studied the non-linear mechanical response of composite hydrogels and soft tissues. As a current postdoc in the Chaudhuri lab at Stanford University, I am studying how the cellular behaviors of chondrocytes (cells that reside in the cartilage) are mediated by the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix for tissue engineering applications.

In the future, I plan to leverage these ideas to identify novel inelastic properties of biological materials, develop materials design strategies for replicating the mechanics of biological materials, and study how the mechanics of biological materials guide the development and disease of various living tissues in the body.

Beyond these topics, I have prior research experience in polymer physics as a BS student in the Keten group at Northwestern University, where I studied the physics of nanooconfined polymer materials. I also worked as a PhD research intern at Motif Foodworks where I worked on developing the mechanical properties of plant-based cheese, and have an ongoing interest in engineering food mechanics using techniques from soft matter science and materials science.

Besides research, I am passionate about mentoring students and providing experience in academic research, which to me is not only one of the most fun part of studying STEM, but also is an effective method to develop an analytical mindset which can help address challenges in any discipline.