Members

Prof.
Osamu ONODERA
Assoc. Prof.
Masato KANAZAWA
Assist. Prof.
Shintaro TSUBOGUCHI

Lecturer
Akihiro SUGAI
Assist. Prof.
Shoichiro ANDO
Assist. Prof.
Takanobu ISHIGURO
Assist. Prof.
Akihiro NAKAJIMA
Clinical Assist. Prof.
Takuma YAMAGISHI
Clinical Assist. Prof.
Yutaka OTSU
Specially Appointed Assist. Prof.
Hideki HAYASHI
Specially Appointed Assoc. Prof.
Advanced Treatment of Neurological Diseases Branch

Tomohiko ISHIHARA

Research Focus

The Niigata University Brain Research Institute possesses not only a basic neuroscience branch but also a clinical neuroscience branch: Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery. Thus, the aim of our Institute is to overcome brain diseases. We study a wide variety of brain diseases by using genetic, biochemical, cell biological, histological, and imaging approaches, in collaboration with other departments in the Institute.
In the past 50 years, we have produced favorable results of clinical and basic research. In the beginning, we revealed Niigata Minamata and SMON diseases, which are caused by toxic reagents, making us to have profound connections with society. Up to now, we established entities of novel brain diseases and elucidated their etiologies and disease mechanisms by genetic, biochemical, and histological approaches.

We have also educated a large number of neurologists. Careful observation of patients by the excellent neurologists brought us fruitful success in a new discovery. Our research is attributable to the support of patients and clinicians, and we will keep tight connection with them.

Neurologists need comprehensive knowledge of medicine and a wide range of social skills including communication, leadership, and problemsolving skills. We actively train young doctors to acquire the knowledge and skills to become a specialist in various fields from a cutting-edge basic neuroscience to practical neurology. We are professional for brain diseases and will ensure the best possible support for our patients.

We conducted a multicenter, investigator-initiated clinical trial from 2020 to 2022 to evaluate a treatment for spinocerebellar degeneration type 6 (SCA6), an inherited disorder that commonly occurs in Japan and for which the development of an effective treatment is anticipated. The clinical trial has been successfully completed according to the planned timeline, and the results will be published in due course.
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