Rate My Professor Takuya Takahashi

Professor Takuya Takahashi is a Professor in the Department of Physiology at the Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University. He obtained his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2000 and joined Yokohama City University in 2006, where he serves as a full Professor. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic functions and their clinical applications, with a primary emphasis on AMPA receptors and synaptic plasticity. Takahashi has investigated how experience and learning drive AMPA receptor trafficking into synapses, the effects of neonatal maltreatment on synaptic AMPA receptor dynamics, and the development of techniques for optical inactivation of AMPA receptors in vivo. His work extends to human applications, including collaborations that identified compounds facilitating synaptic AMPA receptor delivery to accelerate motor function recovery after brain injury, as demonstrated in rodent and non-human primate models. He has also developed PET imaging probes for AMPA receptors, enabling visualization in living brains and studies in patients with neurological and psychiatric conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, addiction, epilepsy, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Takahashi leads research on the molecular basis of Long COVID brain fog, demonstrating systemic increases in AMPA receptor density correlated with cognitive impairment severity using novel [11C]K-2 AMPAR PET imaging. His team has explored AMPA receptor roles in ketamine's antidepressant effects and rehabilitation after spinal cord injury. With over 60 publications on these topics, Takahashi's contributions advance understanding of synaptic plasticity in health and disease, supporting potential diagnostic and therapeutic developments in neuroscience and clinical medicine.