LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Gotoh Lab
Machine-translated · View original
A lab studying metabolic programming, which explores the constitution of Wagyu cattle starting from inside the mother cow's womb.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring new possibilities for Japanese Black cattle
The Gotoh Lab studies livestock nutritional physiology applying epigenetics, centered on 'metabolic programming' in Japanese Black (Wagyu) cattle.
It examines how nutrition during the fetal period and right after birth affects how cattle develop, aiming to produce high-quality beef even with grazing or grass-based feeding.
In the COI-NEXT project (the Next-Generation Wagyu Production System Hub) based in Shiraoi Town, the lab works on smart grazing management using advanced ICT and space technology.
The lab accepts graduate students (master's and doctoral) and postdocs. Because the Graduate School of Environmental Science, to which it belongs, is a graduate-only school, undergraduates cannot join.
Key terms
- Metabolic programming
- The idea that nutrition in the womb and right after birth has a long-lasting effect on later constitution and growth
- Epigenetics
- Mechanisms that change how genes function without changing the DNA sequence itself
- Perinatal period
- A set period before and after birth (calving). Generally, from about 3 weeks before birth to 3 weeks after birth
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
The lab applies to Wagyu the idea of 'metabolic programming': that the nutrition of pregnant mother cows and what calves eat affect their later growth and health. It aims to raise productivity and control constitution. The research ranges widely, from laboratory-based work to field-based work.
*Illustrative imageMetabolic programming
The lab explores the mechanism of 'metabolic imprinting,' in which the nutritional environment during the fetal period has a long-lasting effect on a calf's metabolism and growth. It hypothesizes that if metabolism shifts to an energy-saving type during the fetal period, the animal will store fat more easily even on limited nutrition such as grass.
*Illustrative imageManaging grazing cattle with IoT
Aiming at beef production through grazing that makes use of domestic grass resources, the lab records the behavior of grazing cattle with GPS collars and accelerometers. It is also developing an app that estimates a cow's body weight from images taken with a smartphone.
*Illustrative imageCalf growth from the perspective of genetics and nutrition
The lab studies how innate genetic differences in calves (single nucleotide polymorphisms) and differences in the nutrition given right after birth affect later weight gain and development. It plans to use the findings for genomic breeding of cattle suited to grazing.
*Illustrative imageNutrition of mother cows and calves in the perinatal period
The time around calving greatly affects the health of the cow and calf and their later productivity. The lab studies how amino acid supplementation affects the cow and calf from late pregnancy, when the fetus grows rapidly, through early lactation.
MembersFaculty
The Gotoh Lab's members are faculty, doctoral students, and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakafumi Gotoh
VoicesStudent voices
Ratings and reviews reflect the experiences of individual current or former students, not the lab's official views. Whether a lab has reviews, or how many, says nothing about the lab itself.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
Student ratings (0 students)
--
--
--
--
--
--
Student voices answer questions like these
- What's great about this lab?
- What did you learn after joining?
- What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
- Who is this lab for?
- Where do graduates go?
Your experience can help younger students choose their lab. Your name won't be shown.
Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Gotoh Lab
Crop Physiology LabFaculty of Agriculture, Department of Bioresource ScienceCrop physiology
Botanic Garden Lab (Azuma)Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Bioresource SciencePhylogenetic analysis and morphological character evolution …
Hoshino LabFaculty of Agriculture, Department of Bioresource ScienceResearch on exploration and evaluation of wild plant genetic…
Plant Genome Science LabFaculty of Agriculture, Department of Bioresource SciencePlant genomicsThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
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: “Stock farm -Zao” の
ぽちん / CC BY 2.1 jp (cropped) - Metabolic programming: “DNA methylation” Christoph Bock, Max Planck Institute for Informatics / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Managing grazing cattle with IoT: “Yamato-ushi mitsue kogen bokujo” Uo3rt / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Calf growth from the perspective of genetics and nutrition: “Full Blood Wagyu Bull in Chile” Fernando Hartwig / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Nutrition of mother cows and calves in the perinatal period: “Bull calf and cow in Spring Creek” Kathy Zimmerman / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Crop Physiology Lab): “Cypripedium marcanthum var. rebunense” ほくなん / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Botanic Garden Lab (Azuma)): “Hylotelephium cauticolum1” KENPEI / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Hoshino Lab): “Lonicera kamtschatica” Doronenko 08:29, 9 April 2007 (UTC) / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Plant Genome Science Lab): “Glycine soja 5” Dalgial / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.