The Neuroscience Institute is now in its’ seventh year. To work towards the major aims of the NSI - ‘to elucidate the operating principles of neural networks using small model animals and to tackle the mysteries of the flexibility and plasticity of the brain in organisms including humans’ – we have made a fresh start with new research teams.
　We will further explore the invertebrate brains of nematodes, flies and other insects, and promote research on the brains of more complex vertebrates such as medaka, zebrafish and mice. We approach the mysteries of information processing and cognitive functions that emerge from the ultimate black box by using multifaceted methods (forward and reverse genetics, behavioral science, morphology, biochemistry, pharmacology, electrophysiology, live imaging, optical and chemical genetics, multi-omics, mathematical modelling and information technology)
　We aim to foster a creative research atmosphere which allows for the sharing of inspiration and ideas generated by the brains of all members from diverse backgrounds, and a forum for transcending the barriers of disciplines, model animal species, and generations. We will resume NSI seminars and international workshops, research exchange activities interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, for students and researchers to meet face-to-face with invited researchers from home and abroad. Utilizing a hybrid conference system, a by-product of the pandemic, and AI-based subtitling and simultaneous interpretation technology will help promote our neuroscience to high school and university students and young researchers, transcending distance, national borders and language barriers.
　On campus, as a member of the Transdisciplinary Life Science-Medicine co-creation Platform, and in cooperation with the Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Institute for Transformative Biomolecular Research, the Institute of Environmental Medicine, the Graduate School of Medicine and others, the NSI will contribute to strengthening the international research capabilities of Nagoya University/Tokai National University Organization.

Makoto Kinoshita, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Neuroscience Institute of the Graduate School of Science
Professor, Group of Molecular Neurobiology, Division of Biological Science
Nagoya University

NSI is a unique neuroscience institute in that it aims to understand animal behaviors comprehensively and thoroughly from the level of sub-cellular neuronal functions. Towards this end, NSI takes advantage of small-scale brains extensively to study neuronal functions at high-spatiotemporal resolution. Model organisms studied in NSI, nematodes, fruit flies and small fishes, are available for intense application of state-of-the-art techniques in genetics, molecular biology, neuronal imaging and optogenetics. By promoting these experimental investigations together with large-scale image analysis and theoretical neuroscience based on mathematical modeling, NSI will lead the understanding of flexible information processing exerted by our brain.