We work with academic groups and companies whose technologies can change how ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders are diagnosed and treated. This page explains what we bring, what we are looking for, and how to start.
More than 1,600 operations in 2025 across ear, head and neck, thyroid and salivary gland, laryngeal, sinonasal, and skull base surgery at Kobe University Hospital and ICCRC, with nine specialty clinics and a regional referral network in Hyogo Prefecture.
Our otology group holds a JST FOREST grant (2022–2028) for the realization of minimally invasive, high-resolution precision diagnosis of sensorineural hearing loss through medicine–engineering convergence, and has published with engineers on terahertz and catheter-based inner-ear imaging, a surgical robot for endoscopic ear surgery, and deep-learning analysis of surgical video.
Two clinical geneticists on the faculty, more than 300 genetic tests for hearing loss performed in our clinic, cochlear and other auditory implant surgery since 2017, and participation in Japan's national auditory implant registry.
We perform a large number of operations for head and neck cancer, including rare tumors such as external auditory canal cancer, salivary gland cancer, and olfactory neuroblastoma. Tumor tissue and other biospecimens can be obtained under approved research protocols with patient consent, and we welcome collaborations with academic groups and companies that can make use of such samples, from molecular pathology and biomarker discovery to new therapeutic targets.
We are especially interested in partners in the following fields. If your work is adjacent to these, we would still like to hear from you.
Terahertz, optical, ultrasound, and MRI approaches to visualizing the cochlea and inner ear; signal processing and reconstruction.
Manipulators and instruments for transcanal endoscopic ear surgery; haptics, control, and human–robot interaction in confined surgical spaces.
Analysis of surgical video and imaging for instrument tracking, skill assessment, intraoperative support, and swallowing studies.
Drug discovery and delivery for sensorineural hearing loss, including genetic and metabolic forms; models and biomarkers.
Hereditary and mitochondrial hearing loss, vestibular schwannoma genomics, and genotype–phenotype analysis.
Cochlear and middle-ear implants, bone-conduction devices, fitting and outcome measures, and registry-based research.
Molecular pathology, genomics, tumor immunology, and biomarker or drug-target discovery using tumor tissue and other biospecimens from head and neck cancers, including rare tumors; clinical data analysis and registry studies.
We welcome conversations with medical device, pharmaceutical, imaging, robotics, and software companies. Typical forms of engagement include:
Tell us your affiliation, the field you work in, and a short outline of what you have in mind. A few paragraphs are enough.
We will reply to arrange an online or in-person discussion with the relevant faculty member.
If there is a fit, we define the scope together and proceed through the university's research administration.
Introductions through mutual colleagues are always welcome.
Takeshi Fujita
Professor and Chair, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine
7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan
E-mail: entkobe [at] med.kobe-u.ac.jp
Please replace [at] with @. We reply in English or Japanese.
