Research Areas

Animal behavior relies on the integration of complex external and internal information in the brain. Highly organized molecular and cellular networks underlie this integration. These networks are defined largely by genetic factors and partly by environmental factors, and their subtle differences among individuals underlie differences in personality and temperament. Abnormalities in these networks caused by various factors, including injury, infection, social and physical stress, and genetics, might result in cognitive deficits and various mental disorders. We are interested in learning how highly organized networks are established in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS); how the networks are modulated by environmental factors; and the mechanisms that underlie the integration and/or differentiation of distinct information inputs. Mutant mice generated by reverse genetics are indispensable for examining these issues because they allow for the study of an unambiguous cause-effect relationship at any phenotype level. In our laboratory, we have developed and refined genetic engineering methods to produce mice with the required novel genetic traits. Our current aims include the elucidation of molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying attention and impulsivity. We focus on neuronal circuits that express Netrin G1 or Netrin-G2. Neuron-astrocyte interactions are also a focus of study in our laboratory.

Research Subject

1. Molecular mechanisms of neural network formation
2. Neuronal networks underlying attention and related behaviors
3. Neuronal circuit mechanisms for REM sleep and its implication
4. Roles of astrocytes inhiger brain functions
5. Genetic tools for analyzing neuronal network functions

Related links

1. RIKEN Brain Science Institute Website_Laboratories Page
2. Individual Website Laboratory Page

Press release

May 06, 2009

Brain protein X11L involved in development of brain fundamentals for processing conflict, suggesting new course of research on nerve mechanisms governing drive and social nature

September 04, 2007

The BSI Laboratory for Behavioral Genetics has elucidated an elemental part of the information transmission pathway of the brain in which a pair of two proteins governs the entire neural circuits in the manner of a donor-acceptor relationship.

August 25, 2007

The Laboratory for Behavioral Genetics of the Advanced Technology Development Group in BSI has elucidated the mechanism which prevents the entanglement of the right and left side neural circuits of the limbs' motions through the first production of a mutant mouse which cannot place its feet alternately, and the identification of the causative genes.

RIKEN RESEARCH

July 10, 2009

One gene shy of confidence
A timid knockout mouse separates conflicting emotional behavior for the first time

December 05, 2008

The need for new neurons
Tracking and halting the making of new neurons shows that continued neurogenesis is needed for spatial memory

February 15, 2008

Instructing neuronal connections
Researchers unravel how specific connections result in the layering of neurons in the brain

November 30, 2007

Hopping mad for the nervous system
Mutant mice that hop like rabbits are helping scientists to identify proteins that mediate the nervous system