Lisa Onaga

Lisa Onaga is a Senior Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, leading the 'Proteins and Fibers' and 'Reclaiming Turtles All the Way Down' working groups. She holds a PhD in Science & Technology Studies from Cornell University and previously served as History faculty at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (2012–2018). Her research focuses on biological materiality intersections between invertebrate and human life, particularly in Japanese sericulture and postwar biomaterial studies. Current projects include analyzing silk as a biomaterial through interdisciplinary lenses and examining knowledge systems around proteins/fibers.

Her work bridges agricultural history, material culture studies, and Asian science history. Notable outputs include her monograph Cocoon Cultures: The Entangled History of Biology and Silk in Japan Since 1840 (forthcoming) and co-edited volumes like Making Animal Materials in Time (2023). She has held fellowships at UCLA, the D. Kim Foundation, and the Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien.

Her recent publications explore insects as epistemic agents (Isis, 2024), silk's role in agricultural failure narratives (Oxford Handbook of Agricultural History, 2024), and animal mobilities (Osiris, 2025). She serves on editorial boards for Historical Studies of the Natural Sciences and History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, and is a member of Germany's National Committee for History of Science and Technology.