2026年8月23日から9月5日までの2週間、JSTさくらサイエンスプログラムの支援を受け、国立台湾大学（NTU）生命科学院の呂昕煒（Hsin-Wei Lu）助教と学生4名を研究室に迎えました。呂博士とは2025年夏の日本神経科学学会で知り合い、共通する聴覚神経回路研究を通じて共同研究の機会を探ってきました。その後、本学とNTU生命科学院との学術交流協定も締結され、今回の招聘は交流を具体化する絶好の機会となりました。
受け入れに当たっては、本学国際課の支援のもと、動物実験・遺伝子組換え実験に必要な申請や事前教育を完了し、到着後すぐに研究活動を開始できる体制を整えました。初週には、双方のスタッフと学生が英語で研究発表を行い、研究内容や実験技術への理解を深めました。これは本研究室の学生にとっても、英語による発表と議論を経験する貴重な機会となりました。
活動前半は研究・実験の見学、後半は実践を中心としました。NTUの学生3名は、本研究室独自の脳定位手術法を熱心に練習し、納得できるまで粘り強く実験を続けました。博士課程のYao-Hsinさんは、研究室にあった装置を活用して、難易度の高いin vivo whole-cell記録系の立ち上げに挑戦しました。対象脳領域では報告例が極めて少ない手法ですが、限られた滞在期間中に見事成功し、興味深い記録を得ました。この成果は本研究室のスタッフにも大きな刺激を与えました。
実験の合間には、神経科学研究を行う学内5研究室を訪問しました。睡眠脳ダイナミクス研究室の大学院生の宮本さんは、中国語に堪能で、NTU神経科学サマースクールへの参加を通じて一行とすでに交流があり、滞在中の生活や文化体験も支援してくれました。休日には岩瀬の歴史的町並みを巡り、「おわら風の盆」も訪れるなど、富山の文化に触れる機会を設けることができました。
9月4日の最終報告会では、各学生が研修成果を発表しました。続いて、呂博士が本学総合医薬学研究科の特別大学院セミナーで講演し、医学部・理学部の教員や学生、国際機構関係者らと活発な議論を行いました。懇親会では、NTUとのさらなる交流や学生支援、共同研究の発展に向けた具体的な案も話し合われました。
NTU学生（左4名）の最終プレゼンテーション。伊藤（右上）、呂（右下）
Final presentation by NTU students (left). Discussing with Ito (right-top) and Lu (right).
大学院セミナー。謝辞のスライドで、さくらサイエンスプログラムへの言及。
Graduate school seminar. This is the acknowledgement slide with reference to Sakura Science Program.
懇親会にて。大学のトートバッグに参加者全員のサイン
At socials. Signatures of all attendees on University tote bags.
今回の招聘は、一方向の技術紹介にとどまらず、双方が刺激を受け、研究水準を高め、新たな共同研究を生み出す契機となりました。呂博士との共同研究やYao-Shinさんへの研究指導は今後も継続する予定です。この成果を本学とNTUのより高度な連携へと発展させていきたいと考えています。貴重な機会を与えてくださったJSTさくらサイエンスプログラムの皆様に、心より感謝申し上げます。
From August 23 to September 5, 2026, our laboratory hosted Assistant Professor Hsin-Wei Lu and four students from the Department of Life Science, College of Life Science at National Taiwan University (NTU), with support from the JST Sakura Science Exchange Program.
Dr. Lu and I first met at the Annual Meeting of the Japan Neuroscience Society in the summer of 2025. We quickly discovered our shared interest in auditory neural circuits and began exploring opportunities for collaboration. Earlier this year, I participated in a joint seminar for faculty members from NTU and our university and was deeply impressed by the high caliber of NTU’s students. Subsequently, with the support of our university’s international affairs organization, an academic exchange agreement was concluded between NTU’s College of Life Science and our university. The Sakura Science program therefore provided a timely opportunity to turn this growing relationship into concrete research collaboration.
With extensive assistance from our International Affairs Division, we completed all necessary preparations before the visitors arrived. Because our research involves animal experiments and genetically modified organisms, every participant had to be included in approved research protocols. Advance training enabled the students to receive authorization smoothly and begin laboratory work immediately.
During the first week, members of both laboratories gave short research presentations in English. These sessions allowed the NTU visitors to understand our research projects and experimental techniques while giving our students valuable experience presenting and discussing science internationally.
The first half of the program focused mainly on observing our laboratory’s research activities, while the second half emphasized hands-on experiments. Three NTU students practiced our stereotaxic surgery procedures, which differ from those used in their laboratory. Their perseverance was remarkable: they continued working until they were fully satisfied with their results, sometimes remaining in the laboratory until after the last bus had departed.
Yao-Hsin, a doctoral student, noticed a patch-clamp amplifier and pipette puller in our laboratory and proposed establishing an in vivo whole-cell recording system. This is an extremely challenging technique, with only a few published studies involving the brain region we investigate. Nevertheless, within the limited period available, Yao-Hsin successfully established the procedure and obtained highly interesting recordings. His achievement greatly inspired our laboratory members, particularly Assistant Professor Hase, who conducts our physiological experiments and became eager to master the technique himself.
As the University of Toyama’s Faculty of Medicine has many laboratories engaged in neuroscience research, the visitors toured five laboratories between experiments. Ms. Miyamoto, a graduate student in the Sleep and Brain Dynamics Laboratory, had already met the visitors through the NTU Neuroscience Summer School and provided invaluable support throughout their stay. This demonstrated that exchanges with NTU were already developing into a broader academic network.
Although the participants spent most days conducting experiments from morning until evening, they also experienced Toyama’s culture. They explored the historic streets of Iwase after traveling there by canal boat and attended the famous Owara Kaze-no-Bon festival, where dancers in traditional hats perform to the evocative sound of the kokyu.
On September 4, the students presented their achievements at a final research meeting. Dr. Lu then delivered a special graduate seminar attended by faculty members and students from several departments, as well as representatives of the university’s international and global research organizations. The seminar generated lively discussion, and the following reception produced several ideas for expanding exchange and collaboration with NTU.
This visit was far more than a one-way transfer of experimental techniques. It enabled researchers and students from both institutions to learn from one another, improve their research, and establish a strong foundation for joint projects. Our collaboration with Dr. Lu’s laboratory will continue, including further research guidance for Yao-Hsin. We hope to build a sustainable framework supporting students engaged in these collaborations and to develop an even stronger partnership between our university and NTU.
We sincerely thank everyone involved in the JST Sakura Science Exchange Program for providing this valuable opportunity.
[for contacting to Tetsufumi Ito, e-mail: itot<at>med.u-toyama.ac.jp (Please replace <at> with @)]
