What are we aiming for?

Although our university is compact enough to allow each faculty member's activities to be seen, the scope of research is diverse. Therefore, by forming interdisciplinary research groups within the university using the common technology of "measurement and analysis" across different fields such as "life (biology and medicine) - society (medicine, humanities, and economics) - astronomy (natural sciences)" regardless of research field, we hope to nurture the seeds of innovation from new perspectives.

Why do we aim for that?

I, Kimura, have always been interested in the functioning of the brain and have been conducting research into it. In particular, my goal is to clarify the mechanism by which complex brain functions emerge when the activity of simple nerve cells is combined on a network. To that end, I have used the nematode C. elegans, whose "brain" is made up of just under 200 nerve cells, as my experimental subject, to measure brain activity and the behavior that is the output of brain activity. In the process, I have developed a robotic microscope in collaboration with engineering experts, developed a method of analyzing time series patterns with data science experts, and developed our own three-dimensional image processing method using deep learning.

In these collaborative research projects, we have seen that the challenges faced by measurement and analysis experts in various fields are very similar, and that problems in one field can be solved with general knowledge in another field, but that research exchange across different fields remains difficult.

Therefore, we decided to create a place within our university where researchers can gather casually to discuss "measurement and analysis," share ideas, and aim to create research that is unique to Nagoya City University.

Specific strategies

In order to support interdisciplinary research, we are planning the following activities:

(1) Roadmap

In the first year (2025), we will strengthen our ties as a group. Specifically, we will hold meetings every 1-2 months to share and foster knowledge in a relaxed atmosphere about who is conducting what research and who has what skills. We will also begin joint research born out of these discussions.

In the second year, we will invite guests from Japan and abroad to gain broader and deeper knowledge and to develop the collaborative research that we started in the first year.

In the third year, we will disseminate the results of the joint research we have conducted so far.

(2) Providing a place to learn

Our group does not envision providing hardware support, but mainly software support. We will of course provide the knowledge and skills necessary for measurement and analysis as needed, but we will also provide the following "learning opportunities":

・Apprenticeship: Stay in another laboratory for weeks or months and absorb various know-how.

・Training sessions: If there are multiple researchers who require similar knowledge, we will hold training sessions to provide an opportunity to more people.

Caravan: If necessary, we will visit any campus or hospital to provide the knowledge needed there.

(3) Support for international exchange

The origin of international exchange is meeting in person. However, since the COVID-19 outbreak, airfares have skyrocketed, making it difficult to travel (especially to Europe and the United States) easily. When our group is able to secure research funding, we would like to focus on supporting overseas travel expenses as much as possible.

Participants to date

We are aiming to apply for the Excellent Research Group for the next academic year. If you would like to participate in the fields of life, society, or astronomy, please contact Kimura.

【life】

Kotaro Kimura (Graduate School of Science)

Measurement: Whole-brain neural activity measurement using high-speed 3D imaging and 3D cell tracking using deep learning ( Wen et al., eLife 2021 ; Voleti et al., Nat. Meth 2019 )

Analysis: Discovery of C. elegans "decision-making" and its genetic basis using a leaky integration model ( Tanimoto et al., eLife 2017 )

【society】

[Celestial Bodies]

Kazuhiro Hata (Graduate School of Science)

measurement:

Hitoshi Miura (Graduate School of Science)

analysis: