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Medical Precision Engineering Lab (Nakagawa Lab)
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A lab that uses engineering to understand life and shape the medicine of the future.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding life through engineering to create the medicine of the future.
The Medical Precision Engineering Lab combines engineering and medicine to gain a deep understanding of biological phenomena, and develops that knowledge into new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.
The lab grew out of the Medical Precision Engineering chair, the first of its kind established within a faculty of engineering in Japan.
The lab has Kobayashi, Nakagawa, and Tomii groups, working on surgical assistance robots, the interaction between acoustic waves and living bodies, ultrafast imaging, and biomeasurement that uses AI to interpret sensor signals.
Faculty members, researchers, and students from a wide range of backgrounds, including medical doctors, are part of the lab, and it is also very active in joint research with clinical medicine.
Key terms
- Catheter
- A thin tube inserted into a blood vessel or similar structure. It is used for examinations and treatments inside the body.
- Shock wave
- A strong wave that propagates while pressure changes abruptly and sharply.
- Scattering
- The spreading of light in many directions as it hits tiny particles or tissue. It is one reason light has difficulty reaching deep into the body.
NewsLab news
Associate Professor Keiichi Nakagawa received the "APBEC Young Scholar Award" (Asia Pacific Biomedical Engin…)
Project Assistant Professor Kenzo Yamamoto received the "Poster Presentation Award" (The International Society for…)
A paper by Project Assistant Professor Kenzo Yamamoto et al. was published in Acta Biomaterialia
Associate Professor Naoki Tomii received the "Grand Prix" (The University of Tokyo (UTokyo Biodesign))
Professor Etsuko Kobayashi received the "IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Summit 2…"
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to gain a deep understanding of biological phenomena by integrating engineering and medicine, and to develop that knowledge into new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. Combining precision engineering, robotics, biomeasurement engineering, and informatics, it tackles problems ranging from basic medicine to clinical medicine.
*Illustrative imageSurgical Robots and Navigation
The lab studies surgical assistance robots and automated surgery, three-dimensional measurement of organs from endoscopic images, and navigation of catheters and surgical instruments. It also works on robots that support nursing care.
*Illustrative imageStructure and Mechanics of Biological Tissue
The lab investigates the structure and mechanical properties of biological tissues such as organs and blood vessels, as well as how they deform and become damaged. Using experiments that imitate pushing, grasping, and pulling with surgical instruments, it aims to clarify the conditions for safe handling.
*Illustrative imageInteraction Between Cells and Acoustic Waves
The lab makes it directly visible how medical ultrasound and shock waves, which reach deep into the body, act on cells, and observes the cells' subsequent responses to clarify the mechanisms and effects of stimulation by sound.
*Illustrative imageAcousto-Optic Technologies for Neuroscience
Light is an indispensable tool in neuroscience, but it is scattered and absorbed by body tissue and cannot penetrate deeply. The lab develops technologies that use sound to control how light travels through the brain and other tissues, so that light can be delivered to and detected at deep locations.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Medical Precision Engineering Lab include faculty members, project researchers, collaborative researchers, academic specialists, technical assistants, temporary staff, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorEtsuko KobayashiPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorKeiichi NakagawaPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorNaoki TomiiPublications ↗
- Project LecturerMaina SogabePublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorKenzo YamamotoPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
Compiled from answers by students who were in the lab. Ratings and reviews reflect individual students' experiences, not the lab's official views.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
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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: “HIFU Transducers Compared with Cardiac Imaging Probe” Chris Adams / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Surgical Robots and Navigation: “CTWristImage” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sjschen / Public domain (cropped)
- Structure and Mechanics of Biological Tissue: “Polymer during tensile test” Skatesandy / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Interaction Between Cells and Acoustic Waves: “Actin Filaments in a Neuroblastoma cell Line” Howard Vindin / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Acousto-Optic Technologies for Neuroscience: “Warholian Hippocampi” AlmudenaFM / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Qi An研究室): “Biomechanics lab with force plate” Apfriesen / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (神保小谷研究室): “Axons Al Dente” MikeRoscopy / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (マイクロシステム実装研究室): “CSIRO ScienceImage 3876 A remote sensing node part of CSIROs Fleck wireless sensor network technology” Stephan Brosnan, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (金秀研究室): “Lab on a Chip ( )” National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain (cropped)
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