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.

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.

Most female mammals have an estrous cycle in which they ovulate periodically. During the estrous cycle, ovarian follicles develop and blood levels of estrogen secreted by the developing follicles increase. This increased estrogen induces ovulation, promotes the proliferation of the endometrium to prepare for implantation of a fertilized egg, and induces sexual behavior by acting on the central nervous system. In addition, estrogen is known to have a wide range of effects, including effects on bone formation, central effects such as memory, and effects on the cardiovascular systems. This means that a wide range of cells are affected by estrogen, and these effects fluctuate during the estrous cycle. In our laboratory, we are investigating the factors and functions affected by estrogen during the estrous cycle, especially in tissues related to reproductive functions such as the pituitary gland and uterus. Oxytocin is a hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary gland and is involved in milk secretion and uterine contractions. Recently, its central effects, such as the ability to trust others more easily, have been attracting attention. Vitamin D is considered to be a hormone and is known to have many actions, just like estrogen. We are currently investigating the regulatory mechanisms of oxytocin receptor and vitamin D receptor expressions, which are involved in the expression of these hormones’ actions.

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.

Quantitative analysis of histopathological changes and brain atrophy using volumetric MRI in BSE prions to cynomolgus macaques. Our results point out that C-BSE and L-BSE infected monkeys could be compatible models of vCJD and sCJD of human.
Administration of the compound in macaques infected with BSE slowed down the development of neurological and psychological symptoms. The de novo rational design of chaperone compounds could lead to therapeutics that can bind to different prion protein strains to ameliorate the pathology of Prion disease.

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 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.

While using mechanical engineering (fluid dynamics, thermal engineering), applied physics (magneto science), and econometrics, I am conducting research on material informatics that integrates engineering and informatics. Practically, I analyze medical data using the methods of data mining and multivariate analysis. In the field of magneto science, I progress a technology called a “magnetic force booster” and succeeded in realizing a completely containerless protein crystal growth (see the photos). By the use of a magnetic levitation technique, I have also established in measuring the thermal properties of protein crystals.

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.

We are developing soft actuators and soft sensors with flexibility and safety in life support devices and human frendly robot that act directly on humans. In addition, we are developing a pipe inspection robot that has a flexible structure by itself using a pneumatic actuator that can run on its own in complicated pipe and can be used in a wet narrow space. Then, in order to reduce the weight and labor of the peripheral equipment for driving the robot, we have devised a control valve with excellent cost performance and a new propulsion mechanism of the robot, and are considering making the inspection robot compact. Furthermore, we are developing local structure control technology by using burnishing as research on processing technology.

High temperature superconducting (HTS) wires have good characteristics such as perfect electric conductivity and large critical current density. Therefore the HTS wires are expected to contribute to development of small, lightweight and very efficient electric power apparatus. I am currently conducting researches on development of a small power source with an HTS transformer for supplying large current, a protection system for normal transitions in superconducting coils and a superconducting rotating gantry for heavy ion therapy.

Ashworth scales have been used as a method to evaluate the muscle tonus of the patient having spasticity.This method however cannot evaluate it without the enforcer’s subjective judgment.Therefore we analyze the motion of leg by measuring pendulum motion (Pendulum Test) to evaluate the spasticity objectively.

The picture shows two one axis accelerometer were attached to a leg to measure leg motion.Because the angle output of the leg is only provided by the motion capture directly, 2 times differential calculus operation is necessary to obtain the angular acceleration output convenient to evaluate.In contrast, the angular acceleration output is provided directly with our method.

In recent years, almost all digital systems have operated in synchronization with the clock pulse. However, high-frequency clock pulses not only increase the power consumption but also cause instability in the system. In our laboratory, we are working on the applications of an asynchronous circuit without clock pulses, for example, improving the performance of large-scale digital systems and reducing the power consumption of biometric signal processors. The proposed architectures are designed and implemented in the reconfigurable programmable gate array (FPGA), and we are also working on the FPGA-based image processing accelerator for surveillance camera systems and medical diagnostic imaging systems.

　I do research the image processing using color effects and visual characteristics. For example, the human visual features vary with on age. I advance the development of a lightness transform method considering the visual features of the elderly person.