Rate My Professor Hiroshi Nishiwaki

Hiroshi Nishiwaki is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Neurogenetics at the Center for Neurological Diseases and Cancer, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine. His research focuses on the gut microbiota in Parkinson’s disease, including meta-analyses of shotgun metagenomic sequencing data from patients across multiple countries such as Japan, the United States, Germany, China, and Taiwan. Key findings from his work include reductions in bacterial genes responsible for synthesizing riboflavin (vitamin B2) and biotin (vitamin B7) in Parkinson’s disease patients, along with decreased levels of short-chain fatty acids and polyamines in fecal metabolites. These changes are associated with increased intestinal permeability and potential contributions to neuroinflammation and alpha-synuclein aggregation.

Nishiwaki has led or contributed to studies published in journals including npj Parkinson’s Disease (2024) on meta-analysis of shotgun sequencing of gut microbiota in Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders on gut dysbiosis. His investigations explore therapeutic implications, such as potential supplementation with B vitamins to address deficiencies. He is affiliated with the Department of Pathophysiological Laboratory Sciences at the same institution and collaborates with researchers from other Japanese universities.