Our laboratory investigates fundamental problems at the cross-roads of optics, soft-matter physics and cell biology, through experiments and theory. We use a range of tools from molecular genetics, statistical physics, imaging, optics or epistemology. In cell biology, we study how the geometry and mechanics of cell-cell interactions determine cellular structures and their dynamics, and we wish to resolve intrinsic vs. emergent properties of cells. Our fascination for light per se and its multiple interactions with living and non-living objects drives our research on imaging and applied optics, luminescence, light scattering and statistical optics. Our recent discovery of random-light interferometry opens a new field of theoretical and experimental research in optics, with applications to biology, soft-matter, and optical sensor technologies.