Vision is an essential sensory function for both humans and animals, playing a crucial role in daily life and closely related to quality of life. Uveitis is a disease characterized by inflammation of the uveal tract within the eye. Progression of this condition can result in visual impairment or blindness. In canines, uveitis is recognized as a significant cause of vision loss, emphasizing the importance of early detection and appropriate treatment.
My research primarily focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the onset of uveitis, with the aim of identifying and evaluating novel therapeutic candidates. The anti-inflammatory properties of diverse chemical compounds are evaluated using research models meticulously designed with future clinical applications in mind.
The objective these studies are threefold: to establish new therapeutic strategies for uveitis; to protect visual function; and to contribute to the improvement of patients’ wuqlity of life.

To protect from viruses, animals including humans have acquired various innate immunity. However, viruses have also gotten the abilities to evade the host immune responses in order to efficiently propagate.
In the relation between viruses and host immune responses, I focus on the “programmed cell death”, which is the cell suicide to inhibit the infection to other cells, and “stress granule”, which is recently identified as the new host immune response. In the future, I’d like to investigate emerging infectious disease viruses to elucidate the viral survival-strategy against the host.

Typical gallbladder diseases in dogs include biliary sludge, gallbladder mucocele, and cholelithiasis, but the pathophysiology remains unclear. I am investigating safer treatment methods by clarifying the detailed pathophysiology of canine gallbladder disease.
In addition, the progress of diagnostic imaging technology in veterinary medicine is remarkable, and I am also working on the application of these data to surgical anatomy (vascular anatomy, etc.), and using these, considering a more safer surgical methods.

Veterinary pathology is the study and elucidation of the causes of animal disease and the study of their mechanisms. There are varies of animal diseases that are recognized dependinng on the animal species, the porpose of keeping animals and anatomical and physiological charaters of animal specises.
The researchs currently focusing on:
1) Pathological study of cardiac dilation in meerkat aims to elucidate the cause of cardiac dilation with suspecting a relationship with nutrients deficiency such as vitamin E and selenium.
2) Patholocical study of dermal fungus disease in Shiro-hebi (albino of Japanese rat snake) aims to elucidate the cause of the disease.

In mammals, auditory organ is composed of two types of hair cells, inner and outer hair cells, and various supporting cells. In contrast to the clear anatomical diversity of hair cells and supporting cells in mammals, the auditory organs of non-mammals show a simple structure in which hair cells and supporting cells are arranged in a row. I’m studying the evolution of the mammalian auditory system from a comparative anatomical perspective. In addition, I’m studying the molecules that are expressed characteristically in various types of supporting cells in order to elucidate the roles of each type of supporting cell in mammals.

Food hygiene is expected to more important due to HACCP and export of meat and marine product.
Pneumonia is a common disease in feedlot, and Mycoplasma bovis may be involved. The bacteria occur such as pneumonia, mastitis, and arthritis. Endocarditis, which causes lesions in the heart, is occasionally observed at slaughterhouses (Fig). The researches of adhesive factors for vaccine development leads to a stable supply of meat product.
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC, STEC), Salmonella, Campylobacter,which are known to be food poisoning, are tested at the Meat Inspection Center. The study of food microbiology that have attracted attention in recent years, such as Clostridium perfringens and Listeria monocytogenes, makes to improve food safety.

I aim to understand and evaluate the physical and mental conditions of livestock animals from the viewpoints of physiology and behavior, and to construct a rearing environment in which livestock animals can maximize their potential. In particular, we are conducting research on the effects of temperature on livestock animals and examining ways to supply healthy, safe, and high-quality livestock products to people even under climate change caused by global warming.

I am working for research on the causes, diagnosis and treatment of dermatosis and ear diseases in companion animals (dogs, cats and exotic pet animals). Furthermore, I am focusing on research on the treatment of infestation by fleas, ticks and Demodex mites. With regard to preventive veterinary medicine, the survey on the prevalence of infectious diseases in dogs and cats and further pharmacoepidemiological studies on vaccines, prophylactics for dirofilariasis, and ectoparasiticides for dogs and cats.

In order to conduct animal experiments with due consideration for animal welfare, we are improving to improve experimental techniques and management methods for experimental animals, and the breeding environment. Since we humans and animals can only communicate non-verbally, we are interested in assessing the needs of animals. We are studying pain assessment and temperature management in postoperative mice by setting up an environment that is selective for the animals.
We also view dog walking as a “joint activity between owner and dog,” and research the health promotion of dogs and their owners through dog walking. Dog walking have been reported to have a positive effects on the physical and mental health of dogs and their owners. We are currently researching heat stroke prevention for dog owners and dogs during dog walking from the perspective of safe health promotion.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the major causative diseases for dementia. Characteristic AD pathology, such as amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, are observed in aged animal brains, suggesting that AD pathology would be the sign of brain aging. Zoobiquity is an approach to investigate and treat diseases without any distinction of species. I have been working on the studies to clarify the mechanism of brain aging and the pathogenesis of AD by using nonhuman primates. I am also interested in how neuronal activities affect membrane traffic system in neural cells.

When injection substances such as anesthetics to experimental animals, they should be pharmaceutical or veterinary grade or the Japanese Pharmacopoeia products, and scientific justification is required for the use of non-pharmaceutical grade compounds. Pentobarbital sodium has been used as an anesthetic for small laboratory rodents because of its rapid on set of effect, rapid loss of consciousness, and low cost compared to other anesthetics. However, this anesthetic is no longer marketed, and it has become necessary to find an alternative anesthetic to pentobarbital sodium. In this study, we will devise new anesthetic methods by combining anesthetics, sedatives, and analgesics that are currently manufactured and marketed as drugs.

My main study is on German Literature, German Romanticism, and on the filmstudy about Germany and Ireland. I have studied for many years German romantic Literature, especially Novalis, Tieck and Eichendorf. In recent years I have studied German silen film, Friedrich Murnau and Fritz Lang, etc. In pararell with Filmstudy, I am making research on the probaebs of the world.

We are concerned with biomimetic microstructure formed by self-spreading behavior of phospholipid molecular assembly in nanotechnology fields. Especially, a pollen like structure formed by egg-yolk phosphatidylcholine myelin figures has been studied by use of an optical microscopy. Budding of giant liposomes (GUV ~ 50µm) from the tip of spore like structure were observed. The size of GUV and the forming behavior were discussed using a geometric packing shape and a phase separation phenomenon of phospholipid molecules.

The difficult past was a catastrophic event that led to “mass death,” and the damage was felt not only by the dead but also by the survivors. This applies to wars, pollution damage, isolation policies for Hansen’s disease, pollution damage, etc. Furthermore, because such damage involves a complex relationship between perpetrators and victims, the “interpretation = meaning” of the event is likely to be divided depending on one’s position, making it difficult to pass on experiences. Based on the concepts of collaboration and ESD, I create spaces for dialogue, practice public history, and deepen my research on the inheritance of difficult past experiences.

The establishment of physique (body type) and physical fitness assessment methods that consider individual growth and development is an important issue in school health. In particular, for late adolescents (high school students), who are in the final stages of their physical growth, it is important from the perspective of future health to acquire physical fitness appropriate to their physique. However, conventional physical fitness assessment often overestimates (or underestimates) physical fitness. Hence, it is necessary to develop a new evaluation method that takes individual physique into account and can be practically implemented in educational settings. In our research, we have proposed a new physique assessment (body composition category model) based on the combination of fat mass and lean body mass. In the future, we will examine the validity of this model and the evaluation of physical fitness and athletic ability by body size, verify the validity of the evaluation table, and consider applying it to the educational field.

We are researching the nature of science education, such as student-led lesson development and creative questioning, to nurture children who love science and teachers who can truly enjoy science classes.

The vehicle speed is calculated from the rotation of the wheels, so errors occur due to tire wear and other factors. Methods using GPS and map information also have the problem of being easily affected by the environment and changes over time. Therefore, we focused on the patterns on the road patterns and developed a position estimation method by matching feature points on road surface images, and applied it to measuring the vehicle speed.
The speed estimation procedure is as follows : ① Deriving pairs of feature points on images with the same features. ② Findng geometry parameters by feature points, . ④ Calculating distance by majority pairs. An example of
speed calculation is shown in the
right figure. The relative error
with GPS is -5%.

We have developed a novel surface coating material called CAT that could induce cell self-assembling （Japanese patent No. 5746240, No. 6704197）. The single cell aggregate was formed by self-assembly of all cells adhered on CAT coated area. This technology enabled us to obtain 3D cell constructs having desired shapes and sizes automatically by only seeding cells on CAT printed culture dishes, which have great application potential for regenerative medicine, artificial organs and drug discovery as 3D tissue preparation tools.

We aim to contribute to the development of the wine industries and education, through our research.
Research and invstigation into wine, Japanese sake, fruits and functional foods. Invesigation of volatile compaounds in wine and its produvtion mechanisms. Especially, advanced analysis and evaluation of wine.Wine has favorable and characteristic flavor. We indentify the characteristic compounds in wine and investigate their production mechanisms.
Wine have multiple health functionalities since it is a fermented material. We investigate the health functionality of wine and fermented foods in vitro.And, we investigate the health functinalities of functinal components fermented foods.

We not only analyze the health status of humans, animals, the environment, and food, but also develop new testing methods to evaluate them.
In recent years, we have been conducting joint research with local governments and companies to develop processing methods to reduce food loss and add value to food ingredients, to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of functional ingredients in foods, and to develop new testing methods for inflammation markers.