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Kamikouchi Lab
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A research group exploring animal courtship and instinctive behavior through the workings of the brain.
AboutAbout the lab
Decoding the courtship brain through sound
The Kamikouchi Lab uses fruit flies and mosquitoes to study the brain mechanisms that make communication with a mating partner possible.
The lab investigates how the brain recognizes the courtship song, a sound signal emitted by a partner, and extracts its meaning.
It also works on how instinctive behaviors, which differ from species to species, have diversified over the course of evolution.
On the page of the Department of Biological Science, School of Science at Nagoya University, the lab is introduced under the name "Brain Circuit Structure Lab."
Key terms
- Courtship song
- A species-specific sound signal produced as part of courtship behavior. The receiver evaluates it and decides whether to accept the partner
- Fruit fly (Drosophila)
- An insect with a simple brain that is easy to observe and use in experiments. This lab uses it as a model for studying how the brain works
- Instinctive behavior
- Behavior that insects are innately equipped with for reproduction. This lab focuses on courtship, mating, and aggregation
NewsLab news
Lecturer Ryoya Tanaka receives the Young Scientists' Award in the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, FY2026 (Reiwa 8)
Professor Azusa Kamikouchi receives the 40th Nakaakira Tsukahara Memorial Award
Research results by a doctoral student and Prof. Kamikouchi and colleagues are published in Science Advances
Professor Azusa Kamikouchi receives the 45th Saruhashi Prize
ResearchResearch themes
Mating behavior is a phenomenon widely seen in animals. Using fruit flies and mosquitoes, the lab investigates the brain mechanisms that make communication with a mating partner possible, and how this sensory processing has diverged across species.
*Illustrative imageNeural mechanisms of auditory communication
The lab studies how the brain recognizes the courtship song, a species-specific sound signal. It aims to clarify the properties of the neurons that evaluate sound and the structure of the neural circuits, and to apply the findings to mosquitoes in order to control the reproduction of disease-carrying mosquitoes.
*Illustrative imageNeural mechanisms of instinctive behavior in insects
Focusing on species of the family Drosophilidae, the lab looks at three behaviors: courtship, mating, and aggregation. Using the model species Drosophila melanogaster as a point of comparison, it compares genes and neural circuits across species, with the aim of clarifying the mechanisms that drive the evolution of instinctive behavior.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Kamikouchi Lab are faculty, collaborating researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and researchers.
- ProfessorAzusa Kamikouchi
- LecturerRyoya Tanaka
VoicesStudent voices
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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: “P )” Robert Cudmore from Marseille, France / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Neural mechanisms of auditory communication: “Diptera - Mosquito - Culex cf pipiens ( )” Mick Talbot from Lincoln (U.K.), England / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Neural mechanisms of instinctive behavior in insects: “Mating fruit fly” Kramthenik27 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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