We are a theoretical physics group focusing on various non-equilibrium problems in condensed-matter physics, materials physics and biophysics. We aim at quantitatively answering fundamental questions such as “What are the laws and dynamics that govern the physics of sliding interfaces?”, “How do cells apply forces to their environment and dynamically respond to forces acting on them?”, “How do biological materials achieve their remarkable properties?”, “How do materials fail catastrophically?” and “How do disordered solids deform irreversibly?”