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Metabolism and Behavior Regulation Lab
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The lab studies behavior and metabolism through the body clock and seasonal rhythms.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring the unknown mechanisms of biological rhythms
The Metabolism and Behavior Regulation Lab studies the mechanisms behind the behavioral and metabolic rhythms that animals show in step with daily and seasonal environmental cycles.
The lab investigates the mechanisms of winter depression (seasonal affective disorder), chrononutrition, glaucoma, and seasonal rhythms of hormone secretion, with a view to contributing to livestock farming and medicine.
The lab has an experimental group and a mathematical group, which work together to combine experiments and theory.
It belongs to the Animal Science Field of the Animal Production Science Course.
Key terms
- Circadian clock
- A biological clock that keeps a cycle of about 24 hours. It consists of a central clock in the brain and peripheral clocks in the organs.
- Photoperiodism
- Photoperiodism: a mechanism that organisms have acquired to adapt to seasonal changes on Earth.
- Chrononutrition
- Chrononutrition: the study of the interaction between the body clock and diet and nutrition.
NewsLab news
A paper explaining why intraocular pressure rises at night was published in npj Biological Timing and Sleep
A paper reporting a newly discovered mechanism by which intraocular pressure rises at night was published in Communications Biology
Associate Professor Keisuke Ikegami received the Chairperson Award at the Annual Meeting of the Japan Glaucoma Society
ResearchResearch themes
Animals show rhythms in behavior and metabolism that match natural environmental cycles such as day and night and the seasons. This lab investigates the mechanisms of the body clock and seasonal rhythms through experiments on mice and other animals, together with mathematical analysis.
*Illustrative imageSeasonal rhythms of emotion and cognitive function
Photoperiodism underlies the seasonal rhythms of mood and cognitive function. The lab studies the mechanisms in a mouse model of winter depression, and is extending its research to the links among circadian, seasonal, and reproductive rhythms.
*Illustrative imageDay length during the nursing period, growth, and brain development
Using winter depression model mice, the lab found that day length from the fetal period through the nursing period affects growth rate, brain and nervous system development, and behavior after growth. It analyzes the mechanisms through DNA methylation and other approaches, and is also running the Light Beef Project, which aims to control the meat productivity and meat quality of Japanese Black cattle.
*Illustrative imageDisrupted light-dark cycles and sex differences in the body clock
In experiments that frequently shift the light-dark cycle to induce a jet-lag-like state in mice, the lab found that the circadian clock of females is more easily disrupted than that of males. It also found that testosterone is key in males, and is now focusing on changes caused by feeding conditions.
*Illustrative imageSocial jet lag and internal desynchronization
Using model mice of "social jet lag," in which the body clock and the rhythm of social life become misaligned through staying up late on weekends and waking early on weekdays, the lab studies the misalignment of rhythms among organs and genes (desynchronization) and its relation to aging. It also aims to develop nutritional therapies and herbal medicines to prevent and improve this condition.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Metabolism and Behavior Regulation Lab consist of faculty, administrative assistants, technical assistants, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorShinobu Yasuo
- Associate ProfessorKeisuke Ikegami
- Associate ProfessorFumito Mori
- Special Project Assistant ProfessorShingo Gibo
- Special Project Assistant ProfessorTiantian Ma
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Circadian CLOCK protein” AtikaAtikawa / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Seasonal rhythms of emotion and cognitive function: “Seasonal changes to the beach landscape at Birling Gap, East Sussex - geograph.org.uk - 7389455” Andrew Diack / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Day length during the nursing period, growth, and brain development: “Katzen Bayern 09” Geoprofi Lars / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Disrupted light-dark cycles and sex differences in the body clock: “City Lights of the United States 2012” NASA Earth Observatory / Public domain (cropped)
- Social jet lag and internal desynchronization: “City Lights of Asia and Middle East 2016” NASA Earth Observatory / Public domain (cropped)
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- Related lab (Crop Science Lab): “Khndzoresk, Wheat field, Armenia” Vyacheslav Argenberg / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Aquatic Molecular Developmental Biology Lab): “Oryzias latipes(Hamamatsu,Shizuoka,Japan,2007)-2” Seotaro / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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