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Integrative Animal Physiology Lab
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A lab that explores the mechanisms behind animals' seasonal, monthly, and daily rhythms.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering the ingenious survival strategies of animals
The Integrative Animal Physiology Lab studies the ingenious mechanisms by which animals adapt to environmental change, using a variety of animals.
The subjects include mammals such as mice and hamsters, birds such as chickens and quails, and fish such as medaka and zebrafish.
Working with organic synthetic chemists, the lab also develops molecules that can contribute to increasing food production and overcoming human diseases.
The lab is split between two buildings: the School of Agricultural Sciences and the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules.
Key terms
- Circannual clock
- A clock that keeps time on a cycle of about one year. Animals are thought to use it to adapt to the changing seasons.
- Circadian clock
- A clock inside the body that keeps time on a cycle of about 24 hours. It controls rhythms such as the sleep-wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, and hormone secretion.
- Pheromone
- A substance this lab discovered that triggers group spawning in grass puffers.
NewsLab news
Professor Takashi Yoshimura received the Naito Memorial Science Promotion Award.
A doctoral student received a Company Award at the ITbM/GTR Consortium Workshop.
A master's student received the Outstanding Presentation Award at the Japanese Society for Chronobiology.
Project Lecturer Tomoya Nakayama received the Encouragement Award from the Japanese Society for Chronobiology.
A doctoral student received the Animal Science Research Award 2025.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies how animals keep yearly, monthly, and daily rhythms, as well as temperature adaptation in medaka and growth control in chickens. It aims to contribute to food production and to improving human health.
*Illustrative imageHow the Annual Biological Clock Works
The lab investigates how animals adapt to the four seasons using the circannual clock, which keeps time on a cycle of about one year, in medaka, quail, mice, rhesus macaques, and humans. It aims to contribute to food production and to improving human health.
*Illustrative imageHow Lunar Rhythms Work
Focusing on the grass puffer, which spawns en masse around new and full moons, the lab discovered a pheromone that triggers group spawning. Building on this result, it is working to clarify the mechanisms that drive lunar rhythms in various animals.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping Molecules That Modulate the Circadian Clock
Together with chemists, the lab develops bioactive molecules that modulate the circadian clock, which keeps time on a cycle of about 24 hours. Candidates are screened in cultured cells that show luminescence rhythms, their activity is confirmed in zebrafish and mice, and the target molecules they act on are also being sought.
*Illustrative imageTemperature Adaptation in Medaka
Medaka can adapt to temperatures from 4°C to 40°C, an exceptionally wide range even among fish. The lab investigates the molecular mechanisms using omics analysis and genome editing, aiming to apply the findings to stable food production under climate change.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Integrative Animal Physiology Lab consist of faculty, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, a secretary, and technical assistants.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakashi Yoshimura
- Associate ProfessorTaeko Nishiwaki-Ohkawa
- Assistant ProfessorAkira Tsukada
- Project LecturerTomoya Nakayama
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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: “Coturnix japonica, Yehliu, Taiwan 1” 孫鋒 林 from Taipei, Taiwan / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- How the Annual Biological Clock Works: “Comparative seasons wheel” Ccferrie / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How Lunar Rhythms Work: “Lunar Phases ( )” David Warrington from England / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Developing Molecules That Modulate the Circadian Clock: “Equipment and glassware” Belikov Maxim / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Temperature Adaptation in Medaka: “Freshwater pond at Dawlish Warren National Nature Reserve” FormularSumo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Animal Morphology Lab): “Comparative Anatomy” SkeletonsRCool / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Animal Production Science Lab): “Dairy Cattle Feeding on a Farm Saline Township Michigan” Dwight Burdette / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Animal Genetics and Breeding Lab): “Herd out to pasture - geograph.org.uk - 847953” Maurice Pullin / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Agricultural Informatics Lab): “Attendees from the 93rd Annual Agriculture Outlook Forum check field conditions during a pre-forum field trip to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) (20170222-OCE-PJK-0499)” USDAgov / Public domain (cropped)
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