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Forensic Medicine Lab
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The lab supports cause-of-death investigation and identification of remains through six divisions.
AboutAbout the lab
Clarifying the cause of death and protecting human dignity.
Forensic medicine is the field that medically determines the cause of death of deceased people and the extent of injuries sustained by living people.
The Forensic Medicine Education and Research Center, which is run together with the lab, has six core divisions: forensic pathology, forensic toxicology, forensic genetics, forensic odontology, forensic imaging, and clinical forensic medicine.
Each division works independently while collaborating with the others in education, research, and practice.
The center opened in April 2014. In addition to investigating causes of death, it works on clinical forensic medicine, a field that remains largely undeveloped in Japan.
Key terms
- Forensic autopsy
- An autopsy performed to investigate the cause and circumstances of a death that may involve a crime or an accident
- Personal identification
- Determining who a body or part of a body belongs to, based on characteristics of teeth, bones, and DNA
- DNA polymorphism
- Parts of a DNA sequence that differ from person to person. Used to confirm identity
NewsLab news
Letter of appreciation received from the head of Chiba Chuo Police Station
A Lecturer is awarded the title of JCR Fellow by the Japan College of Radiology
A doctoral student wins the Student Research Excellence Award at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Legal Medicine
ResearchResearch themes
The Forensic Medicine Education and Research Center has six core divisions that carry out education, research, and casework. While performing forensic autopsies, toxicological testing for drugs and poisons, DNA typing, and other casework, the center conducts research aimed at more accurate forensic examination and personal identification.
*Illustrative imageForensic Pathology
The lab conducts forensic autopsies at the request of the police and others, and carries out a wide range of research. Beyond the cause of death, it also determines whether an injury was caused by disease or trauma and how much time has passed since death.
*Illustrative imageForensic Toxicology
The lab performs toxicological testing for drugs and poisons to determine causes of death, and researches drugs and poisons related to forensic medicine. Its main areas are new sample preparation and analytical methods, postmortem changes in drug concentrations, and illegal drugs.
*Illustrative imageForensic Genetics
The lab performs casework such as DNA typing of unidentified bodies and paternity testing, while advancing research on DNA typing. It has developed a method that applies DNA polymorphisms of viruses and bacteria that live in the human body to estimate the region of origin of unidentified bodies.
*Illustrative imageForensic Odontology
The lab confirms a person's identity from the shape of teeth and bones and the traces of dental treatment, and estimates age and sex from components contained in teeth. Teeth are the hardest tissue in the human body and remain for a long time, so they are useful for personal identification. The lab also researches more reliable testing methods.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Forensic Medicine Lab are faculty, project researchers, technicians, administrative staff, doctoral and master's students, visiting faculty, and part-time lecturers.As of 2026
- ProfessorHirotaro Iwase
- Project ProfessorHiroyuki Inoe
- Associate ProfessorGo Inokuchi
- Associate ProfessorFumiko Chiba
- LecturerSayaka Nagasawa
- LecturerMaiko Yoshida
- LecturerYumi Hoshioka
- Assistant ProfessorNaoki Saito
- Project Assistant ProfessorAyaka Sakima
- Project Assistant ProfessorYoshikazu Yamagishi
- Project Assistant ProfessorShigeki Tsuneya
- Project Assistant ProfessorMasatoshi Kojima
- Project Assistant ProfessorHimeko Kubota
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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: “Day 253 - West Midlands Police - Forensic Science Lab ( )” West Midlands Police from West Midlands, United Kingdom / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Forensic Pathology: “Morgue” P.J.L Laurens / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Forensic Toxicology: “Toxicology Lab” Majordoc / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Forensic Genetics: “CBP chemist reads a DNA profile” James Tourtellotte, photo editor of CBP Today[1] / Public domain (cropped)
- Forensic Odontology: “X-ray of dental calculus” Jmarchn / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Medical Informatics Lab): “Libre EHR - features” Nguedia Adele / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Oncology Lab): “Radiation therapy” Dina Wakulchik from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Cardiovascular Surgery Lab): “Cardiac surgery operating room” Pfree2014 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Diagnostic Reasoning Lab): “Middle-aged female doctor talking to a patient during a video consultation at home in a cozy setting” Shixart1985 / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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