News & Topics
20th Dec 2018
Director Seki gave a lecture at the University of Tübingen in Germany.- 6th -7th Dec 2018
Director Seki and other lab members presented research results at EmboSS 2018 in Osaka. - 3rd -7th Nov 2018
Director Seki and Kubota-san presented research results at the SfN's annual meeting in San Diego, US. - 1st Sep 2018
Saeka Tomatsu-san becomes an Associate Professor in National Institute for Physiological Sciences. Congratulations !! - 18th - 20th Aug 2018
The 12th Annual Meeting of the Motor Control Society was held at Sophia University. - 26th - 29th May 2018
Director Seki and Koizumi-san joined in the 41st Annual Meeting of the Japan Neuroscience Society in Kobe. - 1st - 4th May 2018
Director Seki gave an invited talk at NCM annual meeting 2018 in Santa Fe. - 2nd April 2018
Kumiko Oida-san (veterinarian) joined us. - ９th March 2018
Director Seki gave a speech at High Intensity Focused Ultrasound: Mathematical Modeling and Clinical Applications meeting (Toronto) - 28st February 2018
Tomohiko Takei-san won a prize for the best scientific paper presented at the NCNP research workshop. - 13st February 2018
Kayo Yoshida-san joined us and started working as a secretary. - 1st December 2017
A research group has made a stimulating discussion about sensory gating in rodent and primate with Dr. Shubo Chakrabarti. - 22th November 2017
We are currently recruiting technical staffs as well as assistant administrative staffs. - 11-15th November 2017
Tomatsu-san presented research results at Neuroscience 2017 in Washington,DC. - 5th October 2017
Congratulations to Tomohiko Takei-san on becoming a Hakubi center researcher at Kyoto University. - 27-28th September 2017
UCL Prof. Shin-Ichi Ohnuma and Dr. Ed.Wild gave talks at NCNP. - 25th July 2017
A scientific paper "Neural basis for hand muscle synergies in the primate spinal cord" has been published in PNAS. - 24th July 2017
The 30th System Seminar was held at NCNP on 24th of July. - 10th July 2017
Amit Yaron-san (researcher) joined us. - 20th June 2017
The 5th Embodied-brain systems science meeting was held at NCNP. - 17th June 2017
Director Seki was interviewed on a hand spinner and that will be broadcasted by NHK Nagoya on 17 June at 7:30 a.m. - 2-5th May 2017
Director Seki presented research results at NCM(Neural Control of Movement)2017 in Dublin. - 28th Mar 2017
A scientific paper on transgenic marmoset with polyglutamine disease has been published in eNeuro. - 28th Febー1st Mar 2017
The 4th Embodied-brain systems science meeting was held in Kirishima. - 9th Feb 2017
The 29th System Neuroscience Seminar was held at NCNP. - 3th Feb 2017
Joachim Confais and Geehee Kim's paper has been published in The Journal of Neuroscience. - 6th Jan 2017
Director Seki gave a special lecture at the 3rd CU-NIPS Symposium in Thailand. - 5th Jan 2017
Yosuke Saga-san (researcher) joined us. - 22nd Dec 2016
The 28th System Neuroscience Seminar was held at NCNP. - 14th Dec 2016
Saeka Tomatsu's paper has been published at Journal of Neurophysiology. - 4-7th Dec 2016
Director Seki presented research results at the 36th annual meeting of the Australasian Neuroscience Society in Hobart. - 12-16th Nov 2016
Lab members presented research results at Neuroscience 2016 in San Diego. - 25th Oct 2016
The 27th System Neuroscience Seminar was held at NCNP. - 10th Oct 2016
Director Seki gave a speech at IROS 2016(Korea). - 4th Oct 2016
Hiroshi Yamada (Now at Tsukuba Univ)'s papar as to the method to identify area 3a of nonhuman primate using local field potentials has been published at Plos One. - 1st-3rd Sep 2016
Lab members presented research results at the 10th Japanese Society for Motor Control. - 16th Aug 2016
Director Seki gave a speech at the 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. - 20th-22nd July 2016
Lab members presented research results at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Japan Neuroscience Society. - 6th May 2016
Nobuko Ohtani-san joined us. - 1st April 2016
Akiyo KAWANOBE-san joined us.
About us
Our research focuses on the control of hand and arm movement by the brain and spinal cord. Multiple muscles needed to be activated in appropriate patterns for executing intended behaviors. How are these motor patterns generated? Every behavior generates abundant sensory flow that activates cells in the central nervous system. How does the brain and spinal cord translate this sensory information into the command for upcoming movements? We are applying a multidisciplinary approach to these questions. We record the activity of individual neurons, multiple neurons, localized groups of neurons (local field potentials), and the activity of many skeletal muscles in behaving macaque monkeys during performance of different motor behaviors. Neuron recordings are done in conjunction with stimulation and correlational techniques to identify inputs and outputs. Neurophysiological approaches of this kind will allow us to describe the mechanism of sensory-motor transformation at a cellular level. Along with basic research, we are also attempting to restore arm and finger movements by stimulating the spinal cord. Developing a chronically implantable electrode and appropriate patterns of stimulation will allow people with spinal injuries to generate naturalistic movements of their own limb. Finally, we are developing new genetic tools to address clinically challenging questions. Generating a genetically-manipulated monkey may allow us to understand the mechanisms of many neurological disorders from cellular to behavioral levels. Application of optogenetic technology in the primate brain may allow us to manipulate abnormal brain activity with finer resolution.