We aim to clarify the operating principles of the neural circuits governing the human mind and the molecular mechanisms associated with these principles using the innovative technology of generating transgenic primates that we successfully achieved for the first time and using comparative analysis employing multiple experimental animal systems of different evolutionary stages. Owing to the successful development of techniques of generating genetically modified primates, research on human diseases and physiology and the development and safety verification of drugs using animal models similar to humans can be accelerated. In addition, it is expected that the primate model will greatly contribute to research on high-order brain functions that cannot be realized using other animal models.
In addition to techniques of generating transgenic marmosets, a technique for generating genetically modified marmosets will be developed using knock-in/knock-out technologies. Using this technique in combination with cognitive information for marmoset brain analysis, innovative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and marmoset genetic analysis, we aim to generate and analyze reporter gene transgenic marmosets, marmosets introduced with human specific genes, and primate models of cognitive impairments and mental disorders. Our research group can also develop marmoset models suitable for research on human diseases, neurophysiology, cognitive science, and high-order brain functions. We think that we can carry out neurobiological research based on innovative approaches that have never been tried by other research groups throughout the world using such cutting-edge technologies and animal models, including marmosets, mice, and Heterocephalus glaber. We aim to innovatively contribute to the clarification of the biological basis of human intellectual functions and the pathology of mental diseases.
To analyze brain functions that have been conserved through evolution, a reductive approach based on gene manipulation using models, such as genetically modified rodents and fish, has been mainly used. On the other hand, to analyze high-order brain functions that are uniquely acquired only in nonhuman primates and humans, analyses of complex behaviors using, for example, a psychological approach, have been mainly adopted. However, very limited research at the molecular and cellular levels has been carried out. Therefore, both approaches have not been carried out simultaneously.
Recently, however, our research team has succeeded in generating the world's first transgenic primate using marmosets. This technological breakthrough enables researchers to analyze the above-mentioned two types of brain structure simultaneously for the first time. As a result, we are experiencing a shift in the paradigm with which researchers can analyze the brain structures that are conserved through evolution and those that uniquely developed in nonhuman primates and humans through the enlargement of the cerebral cortex simultaneously using our technological breakthrough as a starting point. We aim to clarify the operating principles of the neural circuits governing the human mind and the molecular mechanisms associated with these principles through using this innovative technology and using comparative analysis employing multiple experimental animal systems of different evolutionary stages.
