Supporting our research
The Department of Neurophysiology studies how sleep shapes memory, and how that understanding can be carried into care for people living with the long aftermath of trauma. Gifts from members of the public, received through Kobe University’s formal donation process, help us pursue this work over the long horizon it requires.
Our focus — sleep, PTSD, and the development of SES
Our research rests on three pillars: the basic mechanisms by which sleep supports memory dynamics; the pathophysiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the development of Sound Exposure during Sleep (SES) as a sleep-based therapeutic technology; and the use of sleep-related brain rhythms in regenerative approaches to the nervous system. Donations to the lab help all three, but at this moment they matter most for the second — the PTSD and SES programme.
Doing PTSD research in Kobe carries a particular responsibility for us. In 1995, this city lived through the Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake, and many residents have carried lasting wounds since. As a laboratory rooted here, we take seriously the work of understanding trauma-related conditions and developing the technology that may one day help.
Why support is needed now
Sound Exposure during Sleep is an exploratory-stage platform technology. We have completed a physician-initiated First-in-Human feasibility study (jRCT1030230706), which supported the feasibility and tolerability of delivering individualised sounds during sleep in the clinical setting. The study period has ended.
The next phase — designing and conducting larger, longer, multi-site clinical research — will take years of careful work. Public research grants cover much of what we do, but they rarely stretch to every part of a programme of this kind. Philanthropic support helps us cover the gaps, with steadier footing for planning across years rather than single grant cycles.
Where gifts are most useful right now:
- Designing the next clinical research — protocol development, statistical planning, and the documentation required for multi-site studies.
- Refining the SES apparatus — technical improvements to the hardware and software used in the sleep laboratory.
- Expanding training datasets — building the curated, well-annotated sleep and acoustic datasets that the underlying algorithms learn from.
- People — salary support for early-career researchers, study nurses, and the analysts who make this work possible.
- Outreach — explaining the science to the public, in plain language and without overstatement.
We are deliberate about what we promise. Our work is at an early stage; this page does not claim a therapy, and SES is not offered as care. What your gift supports is the careful, slow work that has to happen before any such question can be properly answered.
How gifts are received — and tax benefits
Gifts to the Department of Neurophysiology are received through Kobe University’s formal donation process. Donations are received and accounted for by Kobe University as an institution, and are managed through the university’s accounting office; we do not accept transfers to personal accounts. An official donation receipt is issued by the university in the month following receipt of your gift.
For taxpayers in Japan, donations to Kobe University (a national university corporation) qualify for tax benefits:
- Individuals — gifts are eligible for the income-tax donation deduction. Residents of prefectures and municipalities that designate Kobe University by ordinance — including Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe City — may also receive a deduction on their individual inhabitant tax.
- Corporations — the full amount of the donation may be treated as a deductible expense.
Details depend on your circumstances; please consult your local tax office or a tax professional.
How to give
There are two ways to make a gift. In either case, our office prepares the formal donation paperwork on your behalf and submits it through the university’s administrative process; the university will then contact you with bank-transfer details. Please note that the application form and online form are in Japanese — if you would prefer to proceed in English, simply e-mail the PI (below) and we will guide you through each step.
1. Online form
Donation application form (Google Forms, in Japanese)
Fill in the form, and we will take care of the rest of the paperwork with the university.
2. By post
Download the donation application form, fill it in (the annotated example may help), and post it to the address below.
Prof. Masanori Sakaguchi
Division of Neurophysiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine
7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan
Please write “Donation application enclosed” (寄附申込書在中) in red on the envelope.
Questions
Masanori Sakaguchi, MD, PhD — Principal Investigator
masakagu [at] med.kobe-u.ac.jp
Subject line: Donation inquiry — PTSD/SES programme
We are happy to discuss amount, frequency, anonymity, and any wishes you may have about how your gift is used within the lab’s scope.
Transparency & reporting
Donations are used to support the running of the laboratory and the activities listed above. Roughly once a year, we summarise the lab’s progress on the News page, so that supporters and the wider public can follow what the work is becoming. Donors who would prefer to remain unnamed in any acknowledgement are welcome to say so.
Important notes
This page is an invitation to support our laboratory’s research. It is not a call for participants in any clinical research, and it is not medical advice. A gift to the lab is not, and cannot be, a way to receive care; donations do not create any clinical relationship between the donor and the laboratory or the university. For the record of our completed feasibility study, please see the jRCT record (jRCT1030230706).
For any question that is not about giving — collaboration, press, or general enquiries — please see our Contact page.