Historically, equestrian arts have been held in high regard, tied to nobility and is usually seen as a status symbol in many occasions. Japan is no exception when it comes to equestrian arts, one of the pinnacles of martial arts is horseback archery, demanding both the rider and the horse to work in harmony and unison for the objective of not only accurate shot placement but also elegant bodily form.

Today, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Equestrian Club gives everyone an equal chance to explore the world of equestrian arts and interact with horses.

The members of the club conducts a variety of drills on horseback, guided by senior members and graduates of the club. The drills mostly concern precise riding in designated patterns. To prepare for competitions, members also perform the most challenging activity of hurdling, during which the rider is required to cue the horse with perfect timing to achieve the most elegant and precise hurdle.

The equestrian club offers training and drills towards multiple different levels of proficiency, the requirements are strict and the discipline is highly demanding. With four training sessions each week, participants would need strong determination to keep up with consistent training.

Bonding and taking care of the horses is a key part in the club’s activities. Without thorough understanding of each other, and ultimately trust in each other, the rider and the horse will not be able to cooperate smoothly.

To ensure the safety and comfort of the horse, warm water is provided to the horses right after training, not only for drinking but also for cooling down their skin. Club members take turns in caring for the horses even on non-training days.

NAGATA Masako (Ph.D.)

Psychological Development and Family Division, Psychological Support and Research Center for Human Development, Graduate School of Education, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Prof. Nagata specializes in perinatal to early childhood family support and clinical care for developmental disorders. She is also an NBAS Master Trainer certified by the Brazelton Institute. In addition to writing and presenting her research papers, she has produced an educational DVD titled ¡°Supporting Babies and Mothers: What Observation Can Show Us¡± (in Japanese) and organizes a range of training programs to accumulate and disseminate her clinical knowledge. In April 2024, Prof. Nagata was appointed Vice President at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.

¡°Surprisingly, people don¡¯t know much about babies.¡±

What would it take to really get to know a baby? Needless to say, we are not entirely ignorant about or powerless vis-¨¤-vis babies. In fact, we have learned to save many babies¡¯ lives over the years. In Japan, about 27% of newborns died around 1950.⁽¹⁾ Today, the percentage is down to 0.8%.⁽¹⁾ While the work should continue until the ultimate goal of 0% is attained, we can fully appreciate changes in the social environment, medical advances, and the tireless efforts by healthcare professionals that have brought about the progress.

And the birth of a new life is the beginning of life. As the rate of newborns being saved increased, a new area of research came into focus around 1990: a study of mothers and fathers who grow as persons along with their babies and support for them and others around them. Paying close attention to the baby¡¯s innate strengths and accumulating and sharing resultant findings¡ªthese endeavors constitute steps to truly getting to know a baby.

(1) e-Stat (Japanese government website publishing statistical data), Vol. I, 6-2, ¡°Annual data on the number of neonatal deaths by sex and neonatal mortality rate (per 1,000 live births), sex ratio of neonatal deaths and the percentage of neonatal deaths among infant deaths¡± (survey conducted in 2023, published [updated] on September 17, 2024).

Simply being there can provide moral support

When Prof. Nagata was a student, she was a member of a research group studying university-based support for children with severe mental and/or physical disabilities and their families. Through the group¡¯s activities, she met many parents in challenging situations.

¡°They told me how hard it was just after their children were born, how they simply wished for someone who would listen to them.¡±

In those days, the healthcare community, especially in medical institutions that had many cases of premature babies requiring special care and support, was gradually realizing the need for psychologists who would look after mother-child mental health, which could not be fully covered by medical professionals alone. In 1995, upon completing graduate school, Prof. Nagata entered the field, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a general hospital, with which she had built ties through her previous activities. At that time, however, she only worked on a voluntary basis once a week because neonatal psychological care was still in its infancy with no fixed posts.

Things were not easy on the ground. In those days, psychologists without medical qualifications were in a limbo of a sort. While physicians and nurses busily performed their medical duties, babies kept crying, and the parents were only given extremely limited visiting time with their babies. Psychologists were not allowed to touch the babies or treat them in any way. Prof. Nagata recalls: ¡°I just felt helpless, and it was like this for a long time.¡± Even so, she was grateful that she had been accepted as a psychologist; otherwise, it would have been impossible to set foot in the NICU. She was encouraged by the doctors who worked alongside her and her supervisors who said: ¡°Hang in there; you¡¯re doing something important. Do what you believe is necessary; I¡¯ll take full responsibility for whatever you do.¡±

¡°So I said to myself: I can¡¯t run away; the parents won¡¯t run away from their babies.¡±

Here is a story of a family that Prof. Nagata cannot forget. A baby was born at the 25th week, weighing less than 1,000 grams. The baby had intracranial hemorrhage, and intensive medical care was provided. On the fourth day, the mother asked for the discontinuation of treatment. This upset the medical professionals, who were feeling hopeful about the baby¡¯s vitality. They wondered: Should we give up on this life? However, Prof. Nagata touched the mother¡¯s heart at that time. She thought she heard in the words the mother squeezed out amid so much pain and emotion, with no easy way out, the most sincere appreciation of the baby¡¯s life.

¡°In the past, my baby might have been stillborn. He is alive now, attached to a life support system and with a lot of medical attention. You may say it¡¯s the baby¡¯s vitality. But how can you say that when in fact he can¡¯t stay alive on his own without a respirator? The medical team¡¯s mission may be to save life no matter what, but the life saved, we must live it ourselves, with permanent disabilities, for good. How could you say, ¡®We¡¯ve done our job, now it¡¯s your turn¡¯? I feel like throwing these chairs at the incubator, and I don¡¯t care if that kills my child¡­¡± ⁽²⁾

The mother was in full acceptance of this small, fragile life that could disappear at any moment, so much so that the immense weight of this baby¡¯s life was palpable to everyone present.

¡°¡¯I want to take him home… I want to place him between us on our bed, to sleep together like many families do. But that will kill him,¡¯ said the mother and broke down. ¡± ⁽³⁾

The mother did not ask for the discontinuation of medical care without serious thought. The medical team and the psychologist worked out a plan to secure a place where the parents could spend time with the baby. The baby would eventually go home to live with the parents, although the brain damage would remain.

A psychologist¡¯s role in cases like this is to closely accompany the parents in a way that leads to concrete support measures. This is the essence of a psychologist¡¯s role, which cannot be fulfilled otherwise. It is not easy for a psychologist to build a relationship of trust that allows the baby¡¯s mother, father or other parental figure to share their innermost feelings, having taken a deep look at themselves. In the case cited, Prof. Nagata began by meeting and listening attentively to the mother, who had earlier been evaluated to be a straightforward person. She stayed by the mother¡¯s side and listened to her during her meetings with the medical team. She accompanied the mother during her visits with the baby and later discussed with her any perceptible change in her behavior. If the parents fell silent during the meetings, she shared that silence with them, patiently waiting for them to gather their thoughts. She stayed with them, even if no words came out. She went through this process over and over again and shared her findings with the medical team. Eventually, the baby went on to live with the parents, as a family.

Prof. Nagata says: ¡°What a privileged role I play. There are cases where the parents seem to reject me during the most difficult period, and years later when I run into them, they tell me that my presence and words back then actually brought them a lot of support and comfort. When I hear such remarks, I feel encouraged, feeling that my work has not been for nothing.¡±

(2)“Inochi” to mukiaukoto, “kokoro” o kanjirukoto: Rinshosinri no genten o toraenaosu ¡°¤¤¤Î¤Á¡±¤ÈÏò¤­ºÏ¤¦¤³¤È?¡°¤³¤³¤í¡±¤ò¸Ð¤¸¤ë¤³¤È¨DÁÙ´²ÐÄÀí¤ÎÔ­µã¤ò¤È¤é¤¨¤Ê¤ª¤¹

Supervised by Shuji Goto, and co-edited by Masako Nagata and Miwako Hori, Nakanishiya Shuppan, published on May 24, 2023, p.34-35

(3) Ibid., p.35

The babies and the parents are all right.

Prof. Nagata became more seriously interested in babies after having worked at the hospital as a volunteer for a year, observing babies and their diverse strengths and personalities. The timing was good since she had just been hired as a part-time clinical psychologist and become determined to make it her career.

She looked for objective ways to observe babies in great detail, and the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), developed by Dr. T. Berry Brazelto, a pediatrician, came into the picture. She had heard of the method through her research and headed for Nagasaki to attend an NBAS training course at Nagasaki University. The course was a by-product of Dr. Brazelton¡¯s visit to the Goto Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture for his comparative culture research.

As babies develop, they become aware when someone is talking to them and learn to tilt their head, turning their attention to the person. Normally, babies get increasingly better at this. Such a seemingly natural yet important gesture is among many signs of infant development, which could be overlooked. NBAS is used to observe a baby¡¯s, especially a newborn¡¯s, state of development by focusing on four main aspects of development: autonomous nervous system balance, motor performance, the regulation of sleep, wakefulness, and other states of consciousness, and the ability to interact with the outside world.

What do the stress signs that a baby shows mean? What responses are necessary, and when? Posing such questions makes it much easier to understand a baby¡¯s behavior than if a baby is vaguely observed. Sharing this kind of information within the family also makes it possible for the entire family to closely evaluate the baby¡¯s personality and growth. Prof. Nagata continued to clinically apply NBAS, engage in activities to disseminate it, and use it as a research method. In May 2024, she was officially certified as an NBAS Master Trainer by the Brazelton Institute at Boston Children¡¯s Hospital.

In recent years, progress has been made in risk management concerning babies¡¯ and mothers¡¯ wellbeing, including the prevention of abuse and postpartum depression. Meanwhile, too much emphasis on the risk aspect of infant development and parenting can only add to families¡¯ anxiety. Some parents wonder if they are in a bad way simply because a psychologist wanted to talk to them. Prof. Nagata hopes to see positive changes in the way young parents deal with babies and receive support.

 ¡°To be sure, there are risks for both the baby and the parents. Still, I hope people realize that they are in fact very powerful. Instead of just worrying about the risks, I want people to know that they can get off to a good start by having a warm, caring heart.¡±

Research on babies up to now and going forward

Some 30 years have passed since Prof. Nagata began her activities, and the importance of perinatal psychological care is being recognized today, as attested to by the placement of psychologists in 80 to 90% of the healthcare establishments providing perinatal care. In 1997, six people, including Prof. Nagata, formed a small group called the Perinatal Clinical Psychologist Network, which has now spread nationwide with a total of 241 members as of March 2023. The younger generation of psychologists trained and active in respective regions across the country is gaining power and playing central roles in the Network.

For any type of organization, however important its activities may be, it is not easy to start from scratch and expand to such a scale. Among the numerous endeavors that Prof. Nagata has taken up along this long path are writing research papers and presenting them at scientific conferences.

¡°You can¡¯t change the situation just by mumbling about your work to those around you. Evidentiary accumulation has been essential.¡±

Strongly encouraged by her superiors at the hospital, Prof. Nagata continued her research in parallel with her clinical duties. Her many research achievements include some large-scale surveys, such as a study of the relationship between infants¡¯ temperament and child-rearing stress, with the presence/absence of siblings and birth order taken into consideration,⁽⁴⁾ and a study of the relationship between maternity blues and maternal attachment to babies born in normal full-term birth.⁽⁵⁾ Incidentally, she met the founding members of the Perinatal Clinical Psychologist Network at the scientific conferences she attended. Her vigorous research and communications have certainly changed the situation.

Nevertheless, given the persistent difficulty in collecting data, research on newborns is still considered to have just begun.

¡°I still learn a lot by listening to specialists from various domains, including medicine, psychology, and neuroscience. In this sense, I think perinatal psychological care represents an interdisciplinary research field where people from many different domains can get together for discussion. I would like us to put our findings together to build a solid body of knowledge to determine what influences newborns¡¯ development in what way and what kind of support should be provided and how, to achieve what outcomes.¡±

Therefore, Prof. Nagata intends to continue clinical care and learn from it while pursuing research to improve clinical care.

¡°I believe good research is about taking something intuitively understood on-site but couldn¡¯t quite put into words, and systematically theorizing or documenting it so that everyone can say, ‘Yes, that¡¯s exactly it!’ I hope to continue such research.¡±

(4) Shuji Honjo, Rie Mizuno, Miyoko Ajiki, Atsuko Suzuki, Masako Nagata, Yumie Goto, Takanori Nishide (1998). ¡°Infant temperament and child-rearing stress: birth order influences¡±. Early Human Development, 51: 123-135

(5) M. Nagata, Y. Nagai, H. Sobajima, T. Ando, Y. Nishide1, S. Honjo (2000).¡¡¡°Maternity blues and attachment to children in mothers of full-term normal infants¡±. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 101: 209-217

Interview and text: Megumi Maruyama (URA, Planning and Project Development Division, Academic Research & Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration)

Medical research environments come with challenges that differ from those in other disciplines¡ªlarge-scale funding requirements, the need to balance education and clinical duties, and high hurdles for industry collaboration.

To respond to these needs, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø established the Medical?and Healthcare Innovation Office (MIU) in 2019. MIU provides cross-cutting support for medical researchers, spanning competitive funding acquisition, industry collaboration, and interdisciplinary research development.

Six years on, how does this support reach researchers in practice? This article draws on interviews with Assistant Professor Nozomi Furukawa and Supervising Research Administrator Nahoko Sakaguchi to explore what medical research support looks like on the ground.

©¤©¤ How did MIU¡¯s support begin?

Furukawa: In 2021, shortly after I joined ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, I applied for a foundation grant¡ªand was rejected. That was when Ms. Sakaguchi reached out to me.

Sakaguchi: MIU was still in its early stages. We were exploring how to identify researchers who might benefit from support, and we realized that those who had missed out on competitive funding often had very concrete needs. So we decided to contact them proactively.

Furukawa: That message introduced me to the university¡¯s research support system. I hadn¡¯t realized there was a unit dedicated to industry collaboration as well¡ªit felt like new paths suddenly opened up.

©¤©¤ Starting from rejection, then. What made you decide to seek support?

Furukawa: I felt a great deal of pressure to secure my own funding. It was my first faculty position, and I had limited experience with grant applications. Cardiovascular research is costly, so relying on  (Japan¡¯s Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research) alone wasn¡¯t realistic. I needed guidance on which grants to pursue and how.

©¤©¤ How many applications do you submit each year?

Furukawa: On average, about ten. In busier years, closer to twenty. That includes public funding and grants from companies and foundations.

Sakaguchi: Even among the researchers I support, that¡¯s a high number.

Furukawa: Large-scale grants demand originality and careful positioning. With Sakaguchi¡¯s input, I¡¯ve learned how to sharpen my proposals and focus on what reviewers are really looking for.

©¤©¤ What kind of advice stands out?

Sakaguchi: A good example is funding from  (the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development). Each program has very specific requirements¡ªtarget fields, research stages from basic to clinical, expectations for industry collaboration. If you miss those conditions, you simply won¡¯t get funded.

Furukawa: And each AMED program expects a different kind of outcome. Some prioritize publications, others emphasize commercialization or partnerships. It¡¯s hard to judge where your research fits. Hearing that ¡°this program matches your work¡± helps me focus my efforts.

©¤©¤ What about advice that differs from your own thinking?

Furukawa: I¡¯m fairly open to it. Ms. Sakaguchi is very straightforward¡ªshe says what needs to be said, without sugarcoating¡ªand that makes her trustworthy. Once, she showed me a concrete budget estimate for a project I was planning. Vague ideas suddenly turned into something actionable.

Sakaguchi: I try to respond precisely to what researchers ask. When I sense they need more, I offer it¡ªbut I try not to push unnecessarily.

©¤©¤ MIU also showcases research seeds at exhibitions like BioJapan. You¡¯ve participated, haven¡¯t you?

Furukawa: Yes, in 2022. It led to some promising conversations, but some conversations stall when it comes to investment in basic research. Matching is harder than it looks.

©¤©¤ Is that a challenge specific to medical research?

Sakaguchi: Not exclusively. There¡¯s often a gap in how universities and companies use the same words. Even ¡°basic research¡± can mean different things. That mismatch can stop collaborations before they begin.

Furukawa: I really feel that wall. At the same time, I see the value of industry collaboration, and I¡¯d welcome more opportunities to connect.

Sakaguchi: Projects move more smoothly when companies clearly articulate what they need. Creating mechanisms to pass those needs on to researchers¡ªthat¡¯s a major challenge going forward.

©¤©¤ Your lab is based at the Daiko Campus, while MIU is at Tsurumai Campus. Has distance been an issue?

Furukawa: In my case, not really. I collaborate with a lab at Tsurumai, so I¡¯m there often anyway.

Sakaguchi: Physical distance can make support harder to deliver. One of our ongoing challenges is how to identify researchers who don¡¯t actively ask for help but still need it. We¡¯re looking for new ways to reach them.

An unsuccessful grant application became the starting point for ongoing support and growth. At the same time, the question remains: how can research support address unspoken needs? The search for the next form of medical research support continues.

The conferment marks the culmination of an exchange stretching back several years. When Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in 2019 and received an Honorary Doctorate, he expressed a personal wish for Professor Amano to visit Uzbekistan. Following a period disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Amano delivered an online lecture to the university in 2022, then visited Tashkent in person in 2024 to give a lecture and participate in a roundtable with young researchers and scholars of Uzbekistan.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Professor Amano echoed the words President Mirziyoyev had spoken upon receiving his own honorary degree from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in 2019, when the President declared that he was now a member of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. “I am now a member of the National University of Uzbekistan,” Amano said, expressing his hope to continue deepening ties between the two institutions.

The award reflects the breadth and depth of the relationship between ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and Uzbekistan, a partnership that has been firmly anchored and continuously strengthened since the early 2000s.

A research team in Japan has developed an efficient and minimally invasive cancer detection device that uses high-performance zinc oxide nanowires to selectively capture extracellular vesicles (EVs) from bodily fluids.

Using this device, researchers successfully captured cancer-related EVs from the blood serum of ovarian cancer patients. The EVs’ surface membrane proteins and microRNAs remained intact, indicating the potential for sensitive disease analysis. These findings were published in the journal .

A liquid biopsy is a procedure that collects disease-related information from bodily fluids, such as blood and urine. Unlike traditional tissue biopsies, it places less physical burden on patients.

EVs are nanoscale vesicles that carry diverse molecular contents such as microRNA and messenger RNA, and display membrane proteins that indicate their cell of origin. EVs reflect disease states and serve as promising diagnostic indicators for liquid biopsy.

Accurate and efficient isolation of EVs from complex biological fluids is essential for identifying disease-associated molecules, but conventional techniques are time-consuming, require large sample volumes, and lack specificity.

A team led by , a professor at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s , previously achieved efficient EV capture using zinc oxide nanowires they developed.

They are now collaborating with Yasuhide Inokuma, a professor at Hokkaido University, and researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo, Kyoto University, and the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology to develop antibody-conjugated nanowire technology for the selective capture of cancer-derived EVs.

The initial challenge was attaching antibodies to nanowires. Conventional adhesives bind both target and non-specific proteins and require lengthy attachment times.

The team used the synthetic polymer polyketone to create six N-hydroxysuccinimide-functionalized polyketone (pKNHS) variants with different chain lengths. Of these, pKNHS 4.2 showed optimal stability for adsorption onto zinc oxide nanowires and effective antibody immobilization, enabling single-step antibody modification.

Evaluation of the new technology in cultured cell experiments

Researchers evaluated the capture efficiency of antibody-conjugated nanowires for cultured breast cancer cells using pKNHS 4.2. While antibody-free nanowires captured about 65% of CD9-positive EVs, CD9 antibody-conjugated nanowires achieved 90% efficiency. These results demonstrate the technology¡¯s effectiveness in selectively recovering target molecules.

Further experiments showed that nanowires modified with antibodies for ovarian cancer markers CLDN3, FOLR1, and TROP2 enabled the selective recovery of EVs from ovarian cancer cells.

Analysis of serum from cancer and non-cancer patients

Researchers isolated EVs using CLDN3, FOLR1, and TROP2 antibody-modified nanowires from the serum of six patients with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, an aggressive ovarian cancer subtype, and six non-cancer individuals. Analysis of microRNAs in EVs revealed distinct profiles between the patient and non-cancer groups.

When comparing microRNAs in EVs captured with the three antibodies, researchers identified 126 microRNAs common to all, indicating signals shared by ovarian cancer. They also found microRNAs unique to each antibody: 40 for CLDN3, 37 for FOLR1, and 45 for TROP2. These findings suggest that EVs with different membrane proteins have distinct microRNA profiles.

Significance and future perspectives

“In this study, we developed a nanowire microfluidic device capable of selectively capturing cancer-associated EVs with high efficiency, while suppressing nonspecific adsorption through simple chemical modification,” said Yasui, a corresponding author of the study. “We also demonstrated that this approach maintains both EV membrane proteins and internal microRNAs intact, showing strong potential for highly sensitive analysis of cancer states.”

, an assistant professor and corresponding author, said: “We plan to compare and evaluate this technology against existing clinical methods and expand its application to capture more specific EV subpopulations. In the long run, we aim to apply this technology to non-invasive liquid biopsies and early diagnosis across a variety of cancer types.”

Paper information

Kunanon Chattrairat, Akira Yokoi, Yumehiro Manabe, Yuki Ide, Jiahui Shen, Takeshi Hasegawa, Mikiko Iida, Taiga Ajiri, Zetao Zhu, Ryosuke Uekusa, Masami Kitagawa, Yoshinobu Baba, Hiroaki Kajiyama, Yasuhide Inokuma, and Takao Yasui, 2026. Discrete polyketones enable antibody click conjugation for selective exosome profiling. Device, 101153.
DOI:

Funding and other support

This work was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency CREST (JPMJCR2576), JST FOREST (JPMJFR211H and JPMJFR204J), the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (JPNP20004), the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (24H00792), the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (24K02586), the Moonshot Research and Development Program (22zf0127004s0902 and JP22zf0127009) from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, the Asahi Glass Foundation Continuation Grants for Outstanding Projects, the Noguchi Institute NJ202308, the Cooperative Research Program of the ¡°Network Joint Research Center for Materials and Devices,” and the World Premier International Research Initiative, MEXT, Japan ¡ªInstitute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (facility use)

Expert contact:

Kunanon Chattrairat
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Graduate School of Engineering
Email: kunanon.chat@chembio.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Takao Yasui
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Graduate School of Engineering
Email: yasui@chembio.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Media contact:

Naomi Inoue
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø International Communications Office
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image:

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of zinc oxide nanowires
Credit: Kunanon Chattrairat (Yasui Lab., ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø)

Researchers have identified the neural circuit through which the brain¡¯s circadian clock controls the timing of torpor, a natural state of reduced body temperature and metabolism. The discovery provides new insights into how mammals regulate energy use and may inform future approaches in medicine and long-duration spaceflight. ?

 
You have gone without food for days, and the temperature drops to near freezing. What do you do? For some animals, the answer is influenced by the brain¡¯s circadian clock. Hummingbirds, bats, and mice are among the animals that can enter torpor, which reduces body temperature and metabolism. Scientists suspected that the brain¡¯s circadian clock controls the timing of torpor, but until now the exact mechanism was not known.  
 
Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in Japan have identified the specific neural circuit responsible for this survival strategy. They have shown that the brain¡¯s circadian clock, a small cluster of neurons located in the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, sends silencing signals through this circuit to a nearby temperature-regulating region, suppressing torpor during the day. The findings were published in .

Torpor from midnight to dawn 

“The brain’s preoptic area (POA) controls body temperature and has an important role in initiating torpor,¡± said senior author and lecturer Daisuke Ono from the at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. ¡°During the day, the brain¡¯s circadian clock suppresses torpor, which occurs between midnight and dawn in mice.¡± 
 
Using light-based tools (optogenetics) to switch specific neurons on or off, the researchers showed that activating the circadian clock-POA pathway suppressed torpor. When the circadian clock was disrupted, mice either entered torpor at irregular, unpredictable times or showed a marked reduction in torpor. ?  

Additionally, the specific clock cell type responsible for sending these signals was identified. Neurons that produce a protein called arginine vasopressin (AVP neurons) in the circadian clock inhibit neurons in the POA. Mice with impaired inhibitory signaling from AVP neurons to the POA showed abnormal torpor timing, demonstrating that this pathway plays a key role in determining when torpor occurs. ? 

The research team also discovered that the POA becomes more active at night. ¡°The clock does not actively trigger torpor. Instead, it reduces its inhibitory influence at night, allowing neural circuits involved in thermoregulation and energy balance to promote torpor when environmental conditions are favorable. The three systems work in tandem to create the right conditions,¡± Ono explained. 

Implications for medicine and space travel 

A clearer understanding of how the brain times metabolic shutdown may inform a technique that uses controlled cooling to limit tissue damage after injury or surgery (induced hypothermia). The findings may also be relevant to extended spaceflight, where controlled reduction of metabolism could protect the body. ? 

Although humans do not naturally enter torpor, understanding the neural mechanisms that regulate metabolic suppression in mammals could provide clues for developing controlled hypometabolic states in the future.  

Rare accounts of people surviving extreme cold exposure with dangerously low body temperatures hint at this possibility. Understanding the brain circuits that control these states in mammals may one day bring researchers closer to inducing suspended animation in humans, a state long imagined for deep space travel. 

Paper information 

Sheikh Mizanur Rahaman, Shota Miyazaki, Chang-Ting Tsai, Akihiro Yamanaka, Chi Jung Hung, Michihiro Mieda, Takahiro J. Nakamura, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, and Daisuke Ono. 2026. GABAergic projections from the suprachiasmatic nucleus to the preoptic area regulate the timing of torpor in mice, Nature Communications. DOI: ?

Funding information: 

This work was supported by the HIROSE foundation, LOTTE Foundation, Foundation of Kinoshita Memorial Enterprise, Astellas Foundation for Research on Metabolic Disorders, UBE Foundation, JST FOREST Program (JPMJFR211A), and JSPS KAKENHI (25H02445, 24K02060, 24H02006, 23H04939, 21H02526, 25KF0138, 21H00422, 24KJ0102 and 25K18507). 

Expert contact:

Daisuke Ono 
Research Institute of Environmental Medicine 
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 
dai-ono@riem.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Media contact: 

Merle Naidoo   
International Communications Office   
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø   
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image:

When facing freezing temperatures and food deprivation, mice enter a state of low metabolism known as ¡°torpor¡± from midnight until dawn. Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø have now identified the specific brain circuit that controls this timing, running from the brain’s biological clock to its temperature-regulating region. Credit: Daisuke Ono, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 

Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor Toshio Fukuda has been awarded the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Richard M. Emberson Award 2026.

IEEE, the world¡¯s largest organization of STEM professionals, presents the award to individuals who have made significant contributions in advancing the technical objectives of the organization. Professor Fukuda was recognized especially for his work in the area of robotics.

A Life Fellow of the IEEE, Professor Fukuda has served as president of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, director of IEEE Division X, president of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council, as well as in other roles. In 2020, he was elected as the organization¡¯s first Asian president.

This award celebrates Professor Fukuda¡¯s remarkable contributions to academia and technology internationally over the years.

Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi

Professor, Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Dr. Matsubayashi made the world¡¯s first discoveries of plant peptide hormones and their receptors in succession, with his findings being published in many renowned academic journals, including Science. He continues to lead the field of expertise with unique ideas and skills derived from his knowledge of both chemistry and biology.

How do researchers develop their originality?

In 1996, Dr. Matsubayashi made the world¡¯s first discovery of the plant peptide hormone PSK (phytosulfokine), one of the hormones essential for communication between cells.   Before that discovery, a lot of attention in the research world had been paid to the existence of a mysterious substance that promoted cell proliferation. It was Dr. Matsubayashi who identified PSK as that substance. Furthermore, at that time, peptide hormones had been believed to exist just in animals, not in plants. Dr. Matsubayashi¡¯s discovery was so novel that peer reviewers of his paper were skeptical about it. This achievement opened up a new path for him as a researcher. At least it seemed so, but Dr. Matsubayashi felt unsure.

He confesses, ¡°Researchers of this type were likely to end up as one-hit wonders.¡±

The laboratory that Dr. Matsubayashi belonged to was a group of researchers known as ¡°molecule hunter,¡± who identified active substances in natural products. Their usual move was to pick a phenomenon discovered by other biologists and identify the molecules involved in it. However, there was only a limited number of notable phenomena to pursue, and there was fierce competition in all of those research themes.  It was not easy to be the first to discover an unknown hormone, but such tough circumstances did not discourage Dr. Matsubayashi. What should such researchers rely on when making their next move?

His answer to this question is: ¡°I should look back on the path I have taken.¡±

PSK, the above-mentioned peptide hormone, is a small molecule consisting of five amino acids linked in this order: tyrosine-isoleucine-tyrosine-threonine-glutamine. As a point of information, large molecules with a large number of amino acids linked together are called ¡°proteins,¡± while small molecules with a small number of amino acids linked together are called ¡°peptides.¡± After examining all the conditions he could think of, including heat resistance, molecular size, and resistance to enzymatic digestion, Dr. Matsubayashi analyzed the peptide and succeeded in determining the amino acid sequence it contained.

Things did not end there. Mass spectrometry showed that the sequence weighed 846, which was 160 more than five amino acids. This fact led to the discovery of the structure of the sequence: a sulfate group with a weight of 80 was attached to the first and third tyrosines.

After being translated from a gene into a molecule made up of amino acids, it needed further modification in order to function. Because peptide hormones are small, they can easily diffuse between cells, making it convenient for the cells to exchange information. On the other hand, with a limited number of amino acids, it is difficult to increase the variation of hormones. These molecular backgrounds are presumed to be one of the reasons why post-translational modifications such as sulfate groups are made, despite the use of energy.

¡°This is knowledge from organic chemistry,¡± Dr. Matsubayashi remarks. ¡°It is the world of chemistry.¡±

Dr. Matsubayashi has always loved and studied both biology and chemistry, and has utilized their knowledge in his research. His skill in precisely determining chemical structures gave him a great advantage. Furthermore, he incorporated genetic analysis, which was cutting edge at the time, into his research. Dr. Matsubayashi talks about ¡°the perfection of molecule hunter that I would aim for if there were such a thing.¡±

¡°That would be to search for hormones from the molecular side rather than relying on biologists¡¯ papers. The culmination of my research is to use chemistry to explore phenomena that even biologists do not know about.¡±

This is the general process he follows. First, he reads genome information to find candidate genes that are likely to become hormones. After finding molecules that have been translated from genes and modified, he performs mass spectrometry to determine their structures. Finally, he synthesizes the molecules and investigates the biological phenomena they cause.  Dr. Matsubayashi has established this process as his original research style. It is in the reverse order to the normal molecule hunter¡¯s approach, which uses biological phenomena as a starting point.

¡°Ideas spread in an instant, but skills cannot be easily copied,¡± Dr. Matsubayashi explains.  ¡°Researchers need both ideas and skills, but I believe that skills are just as important, if not more so, than ideas.¡±

His discovery of a receptor defied the common wisdom in the world

If a hormone is compared to a ball, it needs a receptor, just as a ball needs a glove.

¡°Looking back, I think I did a great job,¡± Dr. Matsubayashi recollects. ¡°After the discovery, I started to get recognized little by little.¡±

At the time, the world was still skeptical about recognizing PSK as a hormone. In fact, Science passed to publish his paper on PSK at the time. The tide changed, however, in 2002, when the team of Dr. Matsubayashi discovered the receptor for PSK. He skillfully manipulated PSK to purify a PSK-binding protein, from which he derived genetic information, and he confirmed that it contained information on sites commonly found in receptors. Dr. Matsubayashi also confirmed that excessive production of this protein promoted cell proliferation. The protein proved to be the receptor for PSK. The results of this study were published in Science, and Dr. Matsubayashi was brilliantly vindicated six years after the discovery of PSK.

The skills they developed in this finding were important for subsequent research. Hormones and receptors exist in pairs. If one side of a pair is identified, that is a powerful clue to finding the other side of the pair. It is also possible to tell when and where certain cells communicate, and this knowledge is useful for elucidating specific mechanisms. For example, it was predicted at the time that two molecules, CLV1 and CLV3 (clavata 1 and 3), were involved as hormones and receptors in the continued production of the cells from which stem tips derive their leaves and flowers. However, no one had been able to prove it. Dr. Matsubayashi¡¯s research group investigated the structures of these two molecules and found that CLV3 is a peptide hormone and that CLV1 is a receptor, and they bind directly. His group had unparalleled momentum that no other research group could match.

¡°Science is art¡±: Using unique skills, Dr. Matsubayashi pursued the mystery of the peptide hormone PSY for 15 years

Of course, not all of his research projects went smoothly. One of his uphill struggles was research on the new peptide hormone PSY (plant peptide containing sulfated tyrosine). Based on the characteristics including the post-translational modification of sulfate groups, Dr. Matsubayashi made the discovery of PSY and published it in 2007. He found that PSY promotes root growth and cell proliferation, and that it has a role similar to that of PSK, the first peptide hormone he discovered. However, elucidation of PSY¡¯s specific function did not go as smoothly as expected. After a 15-year struggle, he finally got the whole picture in 2022.

¡°I was uneasy about whether it was really a hormone,¡± Dr. Matsubayashi recalls. ¡°But at the same time, I was confident. Although the function was still unknown, there was post-translational modification, and the receptor had been identified. These facts had helped me stay motivated for 15 years.¡±

When a hormone binds to its receptor, a certain function is turned on. According to this idea, for example, when the peptide hormone PSY binds to its receptor, root growth must be promoted. In fact, Arabidopsis plants that cannot properly produce PSY have shorter roots. In order to confirm the hypothesis, Dr. Matsubayashi added artificially synthesized PSY to them, and the roots grew long.

So, what happens in the case of Arabidopsis plants that have PSY but lack a receptor? The PSY has no receptor to bind to, so here again, there is no PSY-receptor pair. Despite this, the Arabidopsis plants that lacked the receptor grew roots steadily.

Is there any unknown receptor that PSY binds to? Or does PSY have another function? Then, Dr. Matsubayashi created Arabidopsis that could not produce PSY or its receptor. Again, the roots grew longer than expected. This indicated that he was missing something about the receptor. As a matter of fact, the receptor had the ability to put a “brake” on growth when it was not bound to PSY. When bound by PSY, the receptor releases the brake, allowing growth. Accordingly, when the receptor is missing, so is the brake, and in this case too, the roots grow long.

Further genetic analysis revealed that when growth is put on hold by the receptor, energy is preferentially spent to deal with stresses, such as high salt concentration, high temperature, or disease. Under normal conditions, individual cells constantly release PSY, which binds to the receptor in other cells, causing the plant to keep growing. In contrast, when a cell breaks down, the cells around it undergo a decrease in PSY concentration. Then, the receptor in these surrounding cells is unable to be bound by PSY, preparing for stress responses rather than growth. In other words, there proved to be a mechanism to detect that something strange had happened in the event of a loss of ¡°regular reports¡± between cells.

Plants have steadily evolved to adapt to various environmental changes, but such a sophisticated mechanism is beyond our imagination.  In this way, the research group led by Dr. Matsubayashi uncovered another plant mechanism that could almost be called artistic, as a result of the constant ambitious efforts they had made while believing in the skills they had built up by themselves.

Dr. Matsubayashi’s research group has a variety of unique skills, including the precise determination of molecular structures based on chemical knowledge, genetic analysis, and the search for candidate molecules that are pairs of peptide hormones and receptors. Mainly through research with members of his own group, Dr. Matsubayashi pursues what he is eager to know.

¡°To me, science is art, not business,¡± he argues. ¡°If I compare my team to a group of painters, we do not divide our work too finely, like assigning the sketching to painter A and the coloring to painter B. Each person works on what they want to depict, and they want to see it through to the end. We want to write an academic paper that we would want to frame and display. If our papers were displayed anonymously, they would probably be recognizable as ours.¡±

On May 21, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø held a ceremony to commemorate the naming of the IBIDEN Innovation Square located on the first floor of the IB Building on Higashiyama Campus. The new name was decided based on a naming rights agreement with Ibiden Co., Ltd, a company whose head office is located in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø has been expanding its use of naming rights contracts to increase revenue and enhance its educational and research activities. This is ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø¡¯s ninth naming rights partnership. The four-year agreement runs from May 21, 2026, through May 20, 2030.

Ibiden began business over 100 years ago as a hydropower company. From the outset, it sought to boost the regional economy, and it has developed alongside the local community ever since. After its transition from an energy company to a manufacturing enterprise, the company has leveraged its long-established technological expertise to create innovative products that respond to the needs of our changing society.

The ceremony was attended by Ibiden¡¯s President and CEO, Koji Kawashima, and the Manager of Human Resources, Yasuhiro Asano. Attendees from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø included President Naoshi Sugiyama, Vice President Shogo Kimura, and Dean of the School of Engineering, Tatsuya Suzuki.

Moving forward, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø will continue to utilize naming rights agreements to support education and research, enhancing student life across the university.