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Disease Information Research Lab
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A neuroscience lab that explores how neural circuits in the brain are built and how they work.
AboutAbout the lab
Approaching the operating principles of the brain through the development of neural circuits.
The Disease Information Research Division (Imai Lab) studies how neural circuits in the brain develop and how they function.
The lab investigates neural circuits from three angles (functional dynamics, structural basis of circuits, and developmental mechanisms), aiming to clarify the principles by which the brain is built and the mechanisms by which its functions arise.
Using the mouse olfactory system and cerebral cortex as models, the lab studies neural activity with two-photon microscopy. It also independently develops tools for reading out the connectome with light microscopy, such as tissue clearing methods.
In undergraduate education, the lab is in charge of physiology, and on the lab's website it is introduced as the "Imai Lab."
Key terms
- Two-photon excitation microscope
- A microscope that can simultaneously capture the activity of many neurons deep inside the brain of a living animal
- Tissue clearing
- A method that makes brain tissue transparent while preserving its structure, so that deep parts of thick tissue can be observed with a light microscope
- Connectome
- The full set of connections in a neural circuit. The field that analyzes it is called connectomics
- Olfactory bulb
- A brain region where odor information from olfactory sensory neurons in the nose is gathered. The information is consolidated in structures called glomeruli
NewsLab news
A faculty member of the lab received the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award (Grand Prize) at the 39th Advanced Technology Award for Opening Up Originality
Professor Takeshi Imai received the 2nd Fujii Award
The development of a reagent that can make tissue transparent while it is still alive was published in Nature Methods
A paper showing synapse formation in the cerebral cortex during adolescence was published in Science Advances
A method for labeling the wiring of neurites in many colors and analyzing it automatically was published in Nature Communications
ResearchResearch themes
The brain is a complex network formed by about 100 billion neurons, and the lab aims to approach the origins of brain function by studying how neural circuits develop. To this end, it examines how circuits operate with two-photon microscopy, circuit structure through connectome analysis (the study of the full set of circuit connections) using tissue clearing and other methods, and the principles of circuit formation with genetics and functional imaging.
*Illustrative imageHow circuits process sensory information
Covering everything from the olfactory epithelium in the nose to the olfactory bulb in the brain, the lab studies how odor information is processed in living animals. It has revealed how circuits respond to odor mixtures and how temporal patterns of neural activity carry odor information.
*Illustrative imageCircuit structure seen with light microscopy
The lab developed the tissue clearing methods SeeDB and SeeDB2, and uses light microscopy to examine the overall picture of neural circuits and the distribution of synapses. It is also developing methods to label many neurons in different colors and automatically reconstruct circuits from microscope images.
*Illustrative imageHow circuits take shape
Mitral cells in the olfactory bulb receive odor information from multiple glomeruli right after birth, but eventually connect with only a single glomerulus. The lab found that lateral inhibition dependent on synaptic input contributes to the formation of receptive fields, and is investigating the detailed molecular mechanisms.
*Illustrative imageDamaged olfactory nerves and parosmia
When the axons of olfactory sensory neurons are severed, the regenerated axons fail to connect correctly to the olfactory bulb, causing parosmia, in which odors cannot be smelled correctly. The lab created a mouse model of parosmia and identified the cause in a 2016 paper. This is joint research with the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Okayama University.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Imai Lab consist of faculty, researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and technical staff.As of 2026
- Professor (Senior Chief Professor)Takeshi Imai
- LecturerShigenori Inagaki
- Assistant ProfessorSatoshi Fujimoto
- Assistant ProfessorTakahiro Noda
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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: “Respiratory system - Olfactory bulb 1 -- Smart-Servier” Laboratoires Servier / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- How circuits process sensory information: “Autism Aspect Sensory Sensitivity 1” MissLunaRose12 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Circuit structure seen with light microscopy: “Corte cerebro pez cebra visto con microscopio confocal” Brandon Antonio Segura Torres & Priscilla Vieto Bonilla / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How circuits take shape: “Neuron cluster” M. Oktar Guloglu / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Damaged olfactory nerves and parosmia: “Head Olfactory Nerve Labeled” Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Neuroanatomy Lab): “Sagittal brain slice, UB Museum of Neuroanatomy, Buffalo, New York” Caldwbr / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Neuropsychiatry Lab): “Rat primary cortical neuron culture, 3D reconstruction ( )” ZEISS Microscopy from Germany / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Systematic Anatomy Lab): “Giant Puffer fish skin pattern” Chiswick Chap / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Cell Physiology Lab): “Epithelioid cells of mice in the cell culture” ArkhipovSergey / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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