Welcome to the Department of Physiology
Overview
The brain is a complex organ and has evolved to improve its responses to the environment of individual animals and thus increase the animal’s level of survivability. Studying how the individual animal learns of its changing environment and takes the appropriate action is an important approach in learning the true nature of the brain.
With a focus on the olfactory system, we study the brain’s sensory system (how an animal learns of their surrounding environment), behavioral system (how an animal makes its decisions) and plasticity mechanism (how an animal adapts to the changing environment). The olfactory system is a fundamental sense, affecting our emotions and feelings, and ultimately influencing our actions. By maximizing the potential ability of the olfactory system, we hope to uncover the brain’s plastic ability to make actions based on the changing environment and determine the underlying mechanisms involved including emotion, motivation and the link between individuals. We use a variety of research methods including electrophysiological examinations of freely-behaving animals and brain slices, brain imaging, optogenetics, and cellular and molecular-level analysis.
INFORMATION
| 2023/8/23 | A paper by Mr. Md Fazley Rabbi Sha, a doctor course student in our lab, has been accepted in Frontiers in Neuroscience. |
| 2023/8/21 | A paper by Mr. Junichi Inatomi, a doctor course student in our lab, has been accepted in Journal of Sensory Studies. |
| 2023/4/17 | Award ceremony was held for “Sagara award” of year 2022. |
| 2023/3/20 | We had a research meeting with Dr. Daniel Wesson in Florida University and Dr. Takeshi Imai in Kyusyu University. |
| 2023/1/25 | A paper by Dr. Md Monjurul Ahasan, a postdoctoral research fellow in our lab, has been accepted in BMC Women’s Health. |
| 2022/09/21 | A paper by Mr. Junichi Inatomi, a graduate student in our lab, has been accepted in Asian Journal of Occupational Therapy. Congratulations! |
| 2022/04/08 | Award ceremony was held for “Sagara award” of year 2021 |
| 2022/01/17 | A movie site “Yumenavi”, which provides movies of researches in university, has introduced our lab. |
| 2021/03/20 | Our lab hosted the 18th Meeting on Adult Neurogenesis (online). |
| 2020/04/13 | Dr. Inatomi, a master course student in our lab, has become a doctor course student from this April. As a new postgraduate students (master course), Mrs. Kamioka (Department of Clinical Laboratory, Kochi Medical School Hospital) have joined our lab. As members of the training course in “Center for Innovative and Translational Medicine” in Kochi Medical School, three undergraduate medical students, Mr. Kim, Mr. Tani and Mr. Izu have joined our lab. |
| 2020/01/21 | A paper by Dr. Md Monjurul Ahasan, a postdoctoral research fellow in our lab, has been accepted in Scientific Reports. Congratulations! |
| 2019/10/02 | A paper by Mr. Yutaka Yano, a graduate student in our lab, has been accepted in Occupational Therapy International. Congratulations! |
| 2019/9/17 | 53th Annual Meeting of the JASTS (Japan association for the Study of Taste and Smell) was held in Kochi City. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Fumino Okutani in the Nursing Course of Kochi Medical School (a former associate professor of our lab). Our lab cooperated in the management of the meeting. |
| 2019/06/12 | We invited Dr. Takumi Misaka, an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, as a seminar lecturer. |
| 2018/12/05 | We invited Dr. Kazushige Touhara, a Professor in the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, as a seminar lecturer. |
| 2018/11/16 | A paper by Mr. Kazuhiko Yasaka, a graduate student in our lab, has been accepted in Cognitive Processing. |
| 2018/10/27 | Mr. Yasutaka Chikuda, a graduate student in our lab, has been awarded the “Young Scholar Promotion Award” in the 70th Annual Meeting of the Physiological Society of Japan Chugoku-Shikoku Division. |
| 2018/09/05 | A paper by Dr. Masahiro Yamaguchi, a professor in our lab, has been accepted in Scientific Reports. |
| 2018/04/13 | As members of the training course in “Center for Innovative and Translational Medicine” in Kochi Medical School, four undergraduate medical students, Mrs. Ohta and Mr. Masaike have joined our lab. |
| 2018/04/02 | As postgraduate students (master course), Dr. Inatomi (Tosa Rehabilitation College), Mrs. Koga and Mrs. Muramatsu have joined our lab. |
| 2018/03/15 | Dr. Toshihara Namba, who obtained the doctor degree in our lab, has been promoted as an assistant professor in Aichi Medical University. |
| 2017/12/26 | We held a year-end party. |
| 2017/10/2 | Dr. Monjurul Ahasan joined our lab as a research fellow. |
| 2017/9/20 | We invited Dr. Hitoshi Sakano, a Designated Professor in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, the University of Fukui, as a seminar lecturer. |
| 2017/8/25 | Designated Professor Hideto Kaba received a commendation from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. |
| 2017/7/19 | A paper by Dr. Tsunehiro Ochi, an assistant professor in our lab, has been accepted in Scientific Reports. |
| 2017/6/21 | We held a welcome party for new members. |
| 2017/6/18 | Dr. Namba’s manuscript has been introduced in the Neuroscience section of ”Biomedical Advances” as an excellent manuscript. |
| 2017/4/12 | As members of the training course in “Center for Innovative and Translational Medicine” in Kochi Medical School, four undergraduate medical students have joined our lab. |
| 2017/4/1 | Our lab has joined the “Center for Innovative and Translational Medicine” in Kochi Medical School, as “Neural Circuit Function Team”. |
| 2017/3/15 | We invited Dr. Yoshihiro Yoshihara, a Senior Team Leader of the Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, as a seminar lecturer. |
| 2017/2/23 | Dr. Taniguchi, the associate professor in our lab, has been awarded for his outstanding research presentation in the 16th KMS (Kochi Medical School) Research meeting. |
| 2017/1/23 | A paper by Mr. Manabu Okita, a graduate student in our lab, has been accepted in Brain and Cognition. |
| 2017/1/22 | A paper by Mrs. Shinobu Kaibe, a graduate student in our lab, has been accepted in Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. |
| 2017/01/06 | A paper by a graduate student Tong Jia has been accepted in Neuroscience. |
| 2016/09/29 | A paper by a graduate student Toshiharu Namba has been accepted in Neuroscience Letters. |
| 2016/11/7 | A graduate student Toshiharu Namba has been awarded the Young Scholar Promotion Award in the PSJ Annual Meeting Chugoku-Shikoku Division. |
| 2016/10/26 | We invited Dr. Kensaku Mori, a Designated Professor in the University of Tokyo, as a seminar lecturer. |
| 2016/09/29 | A paper by a graduate student Toshiharu Namba has been accepted in Neuroscience Letters. |
| 2016/06/24 | Welcome to the Department of Physiology's newly renovated home page! |