News — Department of Neurophysiology, Kobe University

2026 · 09

Selected for Seeds S1, AMED Translational Research Program

Our project — “Regulatory approval, implementation and commercialisation of a closed-loop acoustic stimulation medical device delivering SES (Sound Exposure during Sleep) therapy”, with Masanori Sakaguchi as project leader — has been selected for Seeds S1 of the Medical Startup Support Program within the AMED Translational Research Program, hosted by the Tsukuba Clinical Research and Development Organization (T-CReDO), University of Tsukuba. The award supports three years of work toward regulatory approval and real-world delivery of Sound Exposure during Sleep (SES) as a medical device. The result is published on the host site.

2026 · 08

Patent application filed on the control of acoustic stimulation during sleep

A patent application, with Kobe University as the applicant, has been filed on a method for judging when acoustic stimulation may be delivered during sleep and for withholding it on the side of safety. The application number and technical details will be posted after publication by the Japan Patent Office.

2026 · 07

Makoh Miyakawa joins as an affiliated collaborator

Makoh Miyakawa, a third-year Neuroscience major at Colorado College (USA), joins the lab as an external, affiliated collaborator on Project Commonsound — part of our Sound Exposure during Sleep (SES) research. Working with us remotely, he contributes to the design and curation of the sound library. See the People page.

2026 · 06

Symposium talk at the 122nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology

On 18 June 2026, Masanori Sakaguchi spoke in a symposium at the 122nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (Pacifico Yokohama), presenting a sleep-based approach to PTSD — Sound Exposure during Sleep (SES) — and how basic sleep neuroscience can be translated toward clinical care.

2026 · 06

New members join the lab

In 2026, the Department of Neurophysiology welcomed three new members.

Yume Yoshida — Dentist; PhD candidate, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (Prof. Akashi’s group). Developing the trauma-memory cue sounds used in SES research, toward a treatment for dental phobia.

Izumi Yamamoto — administrative officer

Mukhamad Sunardi — MD, PhD (from Indonesia); Specially-Appointed Assistant Professor. A specialist in mouse genetic engineering, supporting research across the lab.

See the People page for details.

2026 · 05

Hiroyuki Kitagawa appointed Visiting Professor

Hiroyuki Kitagawa, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tsukuba, has been appointed Visiting Professor in the Department of Neurophysiology; the title was approved by the Faculty Council of Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine in May 2026. A specialist in databases, data engineering, and large-scale data analysis, he has long applied machine learning to sleep science, including automated sleep-stage scoring, and joins the data-science side of our sleep and memory research. See the People page.

2026 · 05

Preprint — SES first-in-human feasibility study (Ino et al., medRxiv)

Our preprint reporting a first-in-human feasibility study of Sound Exposure during Sleep (SES) for PTSD (registered as jRCT1030230706) is now available on medRxiv (Ino et al., medRxiv 2026; preprint, peer review pending). See Publications.

2026 · 04

Grant-in-Aid Kiban-A awarded

The lab received a 3-year Kiban-A grant from JSPS to study mechanisms of memory consolidation during sleep, in collaboration with Keio University, IIIS Tsukuba, and Kobe University.

2026 · 04

Publication — Nagai et al., JoVE

Kazuki Nagai and colleagues published a video-protocol article describing SNiFFer, a method for selective REM sleep deprivation, in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (see Publications).

2026 · 04

Yuto Momohara appointed Assistant Professor

Yuto Momohara joins as Assistant Professor following postdoctoral training at UTHealth (Houston).

2026 · 03

Academia Sinica symposium

Masanori Sakaguchi presented at the Academia Sinica symposium on adult neurogenesis and aging (Taipei, March 9–11). He exchanged ideas with researchers in related fields.

2026 · 01

The lab moves to Kobe University

Masanori Sakaguchi was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurophysiology at Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine. He also holds a Visiting Professorship at the University of Tsukuba (from May 2026) and a visiting researcher position at RIKEN CBS.

2025

Publication — Vergara et al., Nature Communications

A comprehensive software suite for extracting neuron signals across multiple imaging sessions (see Publications).

2025

Publication — Srinivasan et al., Nature Communications

Transient reactivation of small ensembles of adult-born neurons during REM sleep, revealed by chronic miniscope imaging (see Publications).