Appointments:
Professor of Neurosciences
Affiliations:
Division of BioMedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Research Interests:
Cancer neuroscience, cognitive impairment, anorexia, electrophysiology, animal behavior
The overarching goal of our cancer research is to understand the neuronal aspects of common symptoms of cancer and cancer therapies.
Project 1: Cancer anorexia and weight loss. Using a tumor-bearing mouse model, we are investigating the neural mechanism of cancer anorexia and cachexia, with a focus on the hypothalamus, a brain region that controls body weight and food intake.
Project 2: Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (chemobrain). We aim to understand how chemotherapy drugs induce chemobrain by affecting communications between neurons that are involved in cognitive functions.
What brought you to your current institution? I was recruited to the Neuroscience research group at Memorial University in 2003 following postdoctoral training at University of Calgary.
Hometown: I am from Tokyo, Japan.
Why are you interested in your area of research? I would like to help cancer patients and survivors who are struggling with neurological effects of cancer and cancer therapies.
Involvement with BHCRI to date:
I joined BHCRI as an associate member in 2021.