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Soga Lab
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The lab uses luminescent nanoparticles to visualize deep inside the body with near-infrared light.
AboutAbout the lab
Seeing deep inside the body with luminescent nanoparticles
The Soga Lab studies how to use luminescent nanoparticles to visualize, with near-infrared light, phenomena occurring deep inside the body.
This technology is called OTN-NIR fluorescence biomedical imaging, and the lab is publishing it as a new technology for the life sciences.
The lab also works on a range of device applications, such as making transparent displays from nanoparticles.
In addition, it studies boron icosahedral cluster solids, aiming at the future discovery of new thermoelectric and superconducting materials.
Key terms
- Near-infrared light
- Light at wavelengths invisible to the eye. In OTN fluorescence imaging, the range beyond 1000 nm is used to observe living bodies.
- Fluorescence lifetime
- The time it takes for fluorescence to decay after the excitation light is turned off. It changes with the temperature around the fluorophore.
- Hyperspectral imaging
- An imaging method that acquires spectral information in 100 or more bands from each pixel of an image.
ResearchResearch themes
Starting from materials engineering such as luminescent nanoparticles, the lab expands into development projects for devices and systems for cells, small animals, and human clinical surgery, aiming to create "engineering that can actually be used." It works on observing the inside of the body with near-infrared light and on measuring temperature and lipids, and develops fluorescent probes in joint research with institutions such as the National Cancer Center Hospital East and RIKEN.
A system for seeing inside the body with near-infrared fluorescence
Near-infrared light beyond 1000 nm gives about 10 times the transparency of the wavelength range used in current biological imaging. The lab develops probes that use rare-earth-containing ceramic nanoparticles and quantum dots as fluorophores, aiming, for example, to detect small cancers.
Measuring deep-body temperature by fluorescence lifetime
The near-infrared fluorescence of rare-earth-containing ceramic particles decays when excitation stops, and its fluorescence lifetime changes with the surrounding temperature. Using this property, the lab is developing a noninvasive method for measuring temperature deep inside the body.
*Illustrative imageVisualizing lipids in the mouse liver
By combining near-infrared hyperspectral imaging with machine learning (support vector regression, SVR), the lab visualizes lipid concentration in the mouse liver and the distribution of fatty acid saturation and chain length. Going forward, it aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which liver diseases develop.
MembersFaculty
The Soga Lab consists of faculty, a secretary, and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorKohei Soga
- Assistant ProfessorTaika Takahashi
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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: “InductionPanThermography” CharlesMJames / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Visualizing lipids in the mouse liver: “Lipid extraction tests” Luis Fernando Flores LAB / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (菊池研究室): “Growing razors 01 inorganic layer growing on biomaterial” Jan Ozimek / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (世良研究室): “Cytopathology of nonkeratinizing squamous cell carcinoma, original” Ravi Mehrotra, Anurag Gupta, Mamta Singh and Rahela Ibrahim / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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