Department of Integrative Physiology

In Japan, an ultra-aging society, the number of cases of chronic diseases is steadily increasing. Although the fields of medicine and pharmacology have made dramatic advances, lifestyle-related diseases and cancer still have poor prognoses, and there is no end to patients suffering from intractable diseases. It is the mission of medical scientists to properly grasp the challenges facing current medical care, look to the future, and develop basic medicine.
Living organisms have a mechanism for maintaining homeostasis. This allows the internal environment to be maintained even under disturbances, enabling continuous vital activity. However, various pathological conditions are closely related to the breakdown of this mechanism. Therefore, understanding the above mechanism is essential in medicine and life sciences, and this course aims to elucidate this at multiple levels, from cells to organs to individuals.
Using genetically modified animals equipped with various reporters and gain- and loss-of-functional models, we are advancing the following projects based on the themes of "mitochondrial quality control," "organ connectivity through extracellular vesicles," and "maintenance of homeostasis through neuroendocrine secretion."

(1) Research into the breakdown of mitochondrial quality control, which is the cause of lifestyle-related diseases
(2) Research into intercellular signaling by extracellular vesicles (exosomes) in cancer recurrence
(3) Research into the development and plasticity of functional neural circuits in the cerebellum, pons-medulla-spinal cord in animals from fetal to neonatal stages
(4) Research into the neural mechanisms and pathophysiology of respiration
(5) Research into homeostatic mechanisms related to respiratory control and neuroendocrine function

In terms of education, I am in charge of the "Homeostasis" lecture for second-year undergraduates, physiology training, and basic course assignments. In addition, this course recruits third-year undergraduate students and graduate students who will participate in research.
In today's world, where we have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and the changing situation in Europe, we truly need people who can respond to unknown challenges. It is important to have the ability to solve problems in any environment, to be good at improvisation, and to build cooperative relationships with other parties.
The task of "extracting unsolved problems from the field, setting the tasks, and communicating the solutions in an easy-to-understand manner in a foreign language," which is necessary in basic medicine, is not easy, but we believe that this process is the best training for the next generation of talent. We look forward to the participation of motivated young researchers.