Publications

Lewis is a son and a grandson of a mechanical engineer and a master carpenter, respectively, which led to him tinkering in the family workshops from the age of four. The skills developed through the course of his childhood have proven invaluable during his academic career as a spin chemist who specialises in developing experimental techniques for understanding quantum spin effects in biological systems. He is a pioneer of magnetic field effect-based microspectroscopy, in which seminal papers were published during his PhD. His PhD thesis at The University of Tokyo (2014-2018) focused on developing transient optical absorption-based microspectroscopy for investigating flavin-based spin-correlated radical pairs (see Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. and Rev. Sci. Instrum.). The development of this high-sensitivity instrumentation led to the discovery of magnetosensitive photochemistry of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) at physiological pH (see J. Phys. Chem. Lett.) and the first reported low field effect (LFE) on FAD photochemistry, the mechanism by which migratory birds are proposed to sense the geomagnetic field to navigate across the world (see Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.). His efforts were awarded with a Best Poster Prize at the 2017 Spin Chemistry Meeting, The First National High School Memorial Award (一高記念賞) and graduated as valedictorian (卒業生代表).

During his JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-2019, nominated by The Royal Society) at Saitama University and his independent JST PRESTO (さきがけ)Research Fellowship (2019-2023), he developed the most sensitive magnetic field effect-based technique to date, named magneto-fluorescence fluctuation microspectroscopy (MFFMS), a fluorescence-based microspectroscope that enables quantum spin effects on biomolecules to be observed at single-photon levels. This work was awarded a Best Presentation Award and Best Poster Prizes (by students) at domestic and international conferences (here and here) and was recently published in a Nature Photonics and featured in Nature Photonics News & Views.

During this time he started to co-develop the open-source object-oriented spin dynamics software RadicalPy, which was recently published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. This software is designed to provide a versatile framework for students and researchers to perform correct and complex radical pair spin dynamics simulations with relative ease.

He then moved to the University of Oxford in early 2023 as a Research Associate to investigate quantum phenomena in cryptochrome proteins for avian magnetoreception and singlet fission materials. He was shortlisted for a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) at New College, University of Oxford before deciding to move to S. Korea, where since December 2024, he has been running his own group that focuses on understanding the influence of quantum effects on biological function and their medical applications in the Institute of Quantum Biophysics (IQB) at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU).

He is currently organising and running the Spin Chemistry Graduate Seminar Series (SCGSS), whose aim is to give graduate students the opportunity to present their research, in English, in an online conference format. His contributions to the field of spin chemistry were recognised and awarded with the honour of becoming the youngest member of the prestigious International Spin Chemistry Committee and appointed as a Visiting Academic at the University of Oxford in 2024. He is also a Guest Editor for PLOS Computational Biology and a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Microscopical Society.