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Research Institute

Japanese

CAMD (Center for Development of Advanced Medicine for Dementia)

ホーム > Research > Center > Center for Development of Advanced Medicine for Dementia > Department > Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging > About the department

About the department

Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging

We research early diagnosis, pathological investigation, and determination of treatment effects for dementia and related diseases by using brain imaging technologies such as PET, SPECT, MEG, and MRI. We also aim to widely apply brain imaging technologies to the development of disease-modifying drugs for dementia.

Research focus

  1. Develop novel imaging biomarkers for dementia by creating radio-labeled drugs (PET probes).
  2. Develop novel diagnostic imaging methods and image analysis technologies for the diagnosis of dementia using new imaging biomarkers (i.e. amyloid and tau PET probes)
  3. Conduct clinical research of dementia to improve its diagnosis and treatments in clinical practice widely using new techniques of brain imaging (i.e. PET, MEG, MRI).

  4. Conduct research to apply brain imaging techniques such as MEG and functional MRI to nursing and care of dementia.

MEG (magnetoencephalography)

A technique that enables us to map brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by changes in electrical activity occurring naturally in the neuronal networks.

Functional MRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

A procedure that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow in the brain.

PET and SPECT
(positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography)

Procedures that enable us to evaluate brain activity or pathology as images. Although slightly different, the drugs used in each procedure are similar in the sense that they both use radiotracers specially designed for targets in the brain.

Members

Professor Takashi Kato
Associate professor Yasuyuki Kimura
Akinori Nakamura