Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) 2024-2029
Activities
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2024
The 3rd Administrative Group Meeting was held.
2024.11.29
The 3rd Administrative Group Meeting was held online. This time, we mainly discussed the program and plans for fostering young researchers for the Kick-off Symposium to be held in February.
We also exchanged opinions on Shared Platform Centers, international collaboration, and future area events.
The 4th Area Seminar was held.
2024.11.19
The 4th Area Seminar was held as a lecture by Prof. Gemma Marfany of the University of Barcelona.
Professor Marfany’s specialty is genetics, and she gave a presentation entitled “Using 2D and 3D retinal organoids with CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing hiPSCs to model retinal diseases”.
In addition to the results of her research using knockout mice, she also introduced her recent research on modeling diseases using human iPS cell-derived neurons and retinal organoids. The microscope photo of the organoid with the outer segment of photoreceptor cells growing like a brush was a highlight. She also told us about recent trends in new drug development, explaining that in some countries, animal testing can be omitted if appropriate experiments are carried out using organoids derived from human cells. The presentation was easy to understand even for members and students outside the field, and there were many questions during the Q&A session.
The 3rd Area Seminar was held.
2024.10.30
The 3rd Area Seminar was held by Dr. Albert Díaz-Guilera of the University of Barcelona.
Dr. Díaz-Guilera gave a lecture on the topic of the “Kuramoto model”, which is his specialty, and in particular, on the phenomenon of oscillator synchronization on networks.
The 2nd Area Seminar was held.
2024.10.28
As the 2nd Area Seminar, we invited Professor Bernhard Wolfrum from the Technical University of Munich to give a lecture. Professor Wolfrum is a researcher who is active at the forefront of the biosensor and bioelectronics fields, and he also has experience of staying at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University as a visiting associate professor for a long period of time in 2017. This time, he took the opportunity of visiting Japan for another academic conference to stop by Tohoku University before returning home.
At the seminar, he gave a talk entitled “Needle electrode arrays for interfacing cortical organoids”, in which he introduced the needle-type 3D electrodes (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/admt.202400645) that he developed for deep brain organoid measurements, as well as flexible electrodes (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202210206, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anbr.202300102) were introduced in detail, with the latest data.
The “Area Seminar” is held in a format that is open to researchers outside the domain, and this time, around 50 researchers and students attended, both in person and online. During the Q&A session, there were many questions about electrode fabrication and observation methods, as well as cell measurement technology, and a lively discussion took place.
Nishimura (A03-1 Group Co-I) gave a lecture at a home education class for the PTA of Kyoto Konoe Junior High School.
2024.10.26
Nishimura (A03-1 GroupCo-I) gave a lecture on the theme of “Brain research using iPS cells – What kind of cells? What can they do?” at a home education class for the PTA of Kyoto Municipal Konoe Junior High School. About 20 elementary and junior high school students and their parents participated, and he introduced recent research using iPS cells.
The 1st model animal experiment workshop was held.
2024.09.26
In charge : Systems Neuroscience Group A03-1 Ozaki(A03-1 Group Co-I) and Masumizu(A03-1 Group PI)
Participants : Hosaka(A01-1 Group Co-I) and Kato(A01-1 Group Co-I), Lee(A01-2 Matsui Group)
Date : September 26th, 2024, 13:00-18:00 (Reception: 19:00-22:00)
On September 26th, we held the 1st Model Animal Experiment Workshop. At the beginning of the workshop, Ozaki used slides to explain the surgical techniques for rodents (mouse). Specifically, he explained the series of procedures from headplate installation to adenovirus vector injection, using video clips. After that, he explained the outline of the two-photon microscope system and high-speed confocal microscope system in the laboratory, and acquired data using actual animals.
Next, we explained the features and usage of “suite2p”, the analysis software for fluorescent calcium imaging. In the second half of the workshop, each participant analyzed the acquired data using their own laptop, and we also shared information about convenient ways to use suite2p, such as JupyterLab and Google Colab. The workshop was very meaningful, with active information exchange taking place throughout.
<Observing the headplate used in the surgical technique explained in the video>
<Explanation of the two-photon microscope system and simultaneous two-color fluorescence calcium imaging of neuronal fibers and cerebral cortex>
<Explanation of the high-speed confocal microscope system and fluorescence calcium imaging of the cerebral cortex during whisker sensory stimulation>
<Social gathering>
Yamamoto (Area Representative) gave a lecture at Sapporo Kiyota High School.
2024.08.29
Yamamoto (Area Representative) gave a lecture at Sapporo Kiyota High School on the topic of “Engineering x Biology x Mathematics to Create a Future Society and Achieve the SDGs”.
He explained the importance of working with experts from various fields in research on bottom-up neural circuits using cultured cells and in achieving a sustainable society. The lecture was given as part of the school’s “SDGs x Searcher Interview” class. Around 35 first-year students attended, and there were also questions about how to coexist with AI technology.
The 3rd Research-in-Progress Meeting was held at Matsui’s (A01-2 group PI) laboratory.
2024.08.14
The 3rd research-in-progress meeting was held, with the “Neural Computation Seminar” hosted by Matsui (A01-2 Group Leader) at Doshisha University being broadcast to the members of the research area in a hybrid format.
This time, Dr. Riko Ishikawa (Keio University) gave a lecture entitled “Sensory information processing in neural networks: interaction between synaptic formation and diffusion transmission”, and introduced the latest results and future prospects for how information transmission via synapses and how information is transmitted without synapses, as well as how the interaction between these two types of transmission enables sensory information processing by neural networks that is dependent on the situation and context, he introduced the latest results and future prospects.
Fujiwara (A01-1 Group Co-I) organized an international workshop on complex systems science and its interdisciplinary applications.
2024.08.09
Fujiwara (A01-1 Group Co-I) and Professor Peng Ji of Fudan University, China, jointly organized the international workshop “The International Workshop on Complex Systems and Their Interdisciplinary Applications” (August 5-9, Tohoku University).
Researchers in the fields of complex systems, network science and nonlinear science gathered from both countries to discuss their research and the potential for future joint research over the course of five days. From our research area, Yamamoto (Area Representative) gave an invited lecture, and Kadoma (A02-1 Yamamoto Group D1) gave a research presentation.
The 2nd Administrative Group Meeting was held.
2024.07.16
The 2nd Administrative Group Meeting was held. Although it was held online, the representatives of the planning groups gathered and shared information about future plans and events.
The 2nd Research-in-Progress Meeting was held at Matsui’s (A01-2 group PI) laboratory.
2024.07.03
The 2nd research-in-progress meeting was held, with the “Neural Computation Seminar” hosted by Matsui (A01-2 Group Leader) at Doshisha University being broadcast to the members of the research area in a hybrid format.
This time, Dr. Hirotaka Sakamoto (Okayama University) gave a lecture entitled “Neurohormones that Design Behavioral Adaptation in a Non-synaptic Manner”, and introduced his research results on the neural mechanisms that regulate mammalian mating behavior in a non-synaptic manner.
The 1st Area Seminar was held.
2024.05.17
He 1st Area Seminar was held by Dr. David Park, Director of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary.
He introduced the various brain research projects being undertaken at HBI, as well as the latest findings on LRRK2, a protein related to Parkinson’s disease that is Dr. Park’s specialty.
The 1st Research-in-Progress Meeting was held at Matsui’s (A01-2 group PI) laboratory.
2024.05.13
The 1st research-in-progress meeting was held, with the “Neural Computation Seminar” hosted by Matsui (A01-2 Group PI) at Doshisha University being broadcast to the members of the research area in a hybrid format.
This time, Satoru Kondo (The University of Tokyo IRCN, A01-2 Group Co-I) gave a lecture entitled “Multiphoton Excitation Fluorescence Bioimaging”, introducing two-photon microscopes and their applications.
The 1st Area Meeting was held.
2024.05.10
The 1st Area Meeting for Transformative Research Areas (A) “Multicellular Neurobiocomputing : Understanding and Advancing towards Biological Supremacy” was held.
Although it was held online, a total of 33 people, including research investigators, advisors and area members, gathered to share information about the research and future prospects of each group. In addition, the academic investigators and advisors gave us warm words of encouragement for our future research.
Program
| 11:00～11:10 | Introduction of Advisors and Academic Investigators | |
| 11:10～11:30 | Outline of the Research and Administrative Group | Hideaki Yamamoto (Area Representative) |
| 11:30～12:00 | Research Group A02 | Hideaki Yamamoto、 Takashi Tanii (A02-2 group PI)、 Ayumi Hirano-Iwata (A02-3 group PI) |
| 12:00～12:20 | Research Group A03 | Yoshito Masamizu (A03-1 group PI)、 Haruyuki Kamiya (A03-2 group PI) |
| 12:20～12:25 | Photo-taking and Break | |
| 11:25～12:45 | Research Group A01 | Yuichi Katori (A01-1 group PI)、 Teppei Matsui (A01-2 group PI) |
| 12:45～13:05 | Research Group A04 | Takashi Kohno (A04-1 group PI)、 Yutaka Hirata (A04-2 group PI) |
| 13:05～13:15 | Shared Platform Centers | Hideaki Yamamoto |
| 13:15～13:30 | Comments from Advisors and Academic Investigators | Prof. Kazuyuki Aihara、 Prof. Tomoki Nemoto、 Prof. Yuji Ikegaya、 Prof. Chie Hosokawa、 Prof. Sota Fujii |
| 13:30 | Closing | |
| 13:30～ | Free Discussion (optional) |