Siavash Monfared is a computational physicist and venture originator at Flagship Pioneering, with a deep interest in the dynamics of self-organization in complex systems — studied through high-performance simulation and deep learning.
Combining in-vitro experiments with multi-phase-field simulation, we challenge the long-standing belief that winning cells always expel others by squeezing. Cells can remain compressed and still emerge as winners — a mechanism rooted in force-transmission capability with implications for morphogenesis, cancer, and inflammation.
How does collective behavior emerge in dense, soft multicellular systems? Using multi-phase-field models I study how mechanical forces, stress transmission, and topological defects drive self-organization — from tissue morphogenesis to cell competition and extrusion.
Granular matter is everywhere, but the role of particle topology in collective behavior is not well understood. I study systems composed of non-convex particles — how shape drives packing, force transmission, and structure formation in regimes where classical convex-grain intuition breaks down.
Bulk and confined fluids behave very differently. Pore morphology, topology, and fluid–solid interactions reshape the energy landscape. I develop models that resolve capillary phase transitions and confinement effects in disordered porous aggregates.
Heterogeneous and disordered solids resist simple continuum descriptions. I work on stress transmission, criticality, and the statistical physics of deformation in strongly heterogeneous systems — often borrowing tools from non-equilibrium physics.