Japanese
[Initiative Introduction] - Distinguished Professor KANDORI Hideki gives a lecture at the 251st Life Science Forum
Category：News｜Publishing : April 13, 2026
Distinguished Professor KANDORI Hideki (Life Science and Applied Chemistry Group) delivered a lecture titled "What Is Rhodopsin? What Is Optogenetics? What Is Optogenetic Vision Restoration?" at the 251st Life Science Forum (organized by the Life Science Forum Secretariat), held on January 28 at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
This forum is held as an information-sharing venue for newspaper reporters and journalists, and it provided a valuable opportunity to broadly disseminate Distinguished Professor KANDORI's research.
Distinguished Professor KANDORI has been continuously engaged in rhodopsin research since the late 1990s and has published internationally recognized results since the early days of optogenetics. He is highly regarded both in Japan and abroad as a leading figure in this field.
In his lecture, Distinguished Professor KANDORI explained the membrane protein "rhodopsin", which functions as a light sensor for vision, emphasizing the differences between animal rhodopsins and microbial rhodopsins. He highlighted that elucidating the mechanisms by which rhodopsins switch their functions in response to light is an important topic of fundamental research.
He also introduced the principles of "optogenetics", a field that has developed rapidly since the 2000s and enables the control of neural activity with light using proteins such as channelrhodopsins. In addition, he discussed the significant impact of optogenetics on brain research, presenting experimental data to illustrate these advances.
Furthermore, the lecture addressed "optogenetic vision restoration", which has attracted considerable attention as a medical application. Distinguished Professor KANDORI explained current challenges in this area as well as international trends in the development of rhodopsin-based therapeutic drugs. He also referred to highly sensitive rhodopsins that his research group has discovered and engineered, presenting the latest research findings and future prospects.
We are proud that Distinguished Professor KANDORI's research activities continue to contribute to the development of optogenetics and life sciences, and we look forward to even greater achievements in the future.