The human ear, along with the human eye, is an important sensory organ working as an interface between humans and information in the outside world. Interestingly, the auditory system shows highly mechanical behavior from the earhole to the inner ear, such as the vibration of the tympanic membrane, the motion of the ossicles in the middle ear, the active stretching motion of the outer hair cells in the cochlea and the conformational changes of the motor protein “prestin.”
Research interests of the laboratory encompass many aspects of “hearing.” To elucidate the mechanics of hearing and to contribute to the clinical treatment of hearing disorders, our efforts are focused on the development of computer simulation models, biomicromachines and diagnostic devices, as well as on molecular-level analyses by atomic force microscopy (AFM), molecular biology, bioengineering and genetic engineering.
Information
The Biomechanical Engineering Laboratory welcomes graduate students not only from Kanazawa University but also from other universities and different fields of study. The laboratory is always open for visits. If you are interested in our laboratory, please contact us.
As for admissions, please refer to the website of the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Japan.
What's New
- 07.21.2022
- We made an oral presentation about chronological changes in dynamic behavior of the hearing system in the 17th Annual Meeting of Japan Society for Pediatric ORL, Toyama
- 06.26.2022
- Toya (PD), Mageshi (M2) and Nakagawa (M1) made poster presentations in the 34th Bioengineering Conference of the JSME, Fukuoka, Japan.
- 05.06.2022
- Our research about the motor protein prestin has received the 2021 JBSE Paper of the Year Award!.
- 04.08.2022
- We are happy to welcome Nakagawa (M1), Kanamori (B4), Semachi (B4), Niioka (B4) and Tamai (Assistant Technical Staff). A wonderful start to the new academic year!
- 03.28.2022
- Dr. Murakoshi gave a lecture on diagnosis of conductive hearing loss at the 4th Medtech Matching, AMED・LINK-J (online).
- 03.25.2022
- Our research about pendrin, which is expressed in the inner ear and related to hereditary hearing loss, has been accepted for publication in Auris Nasus Larynx．
- 03.22.2022
- What a proud day! Four students have graduated from the BME lab. Sending warm congratulations today and wishing for all your tomorrows!
- 01.06.2022
- Our research on prestin are now introduced in Latest Research News of Kanazawa University official website.
- 01.04.2022
- A Happy New Year! We welcome Dr. Toya to our lab!
- 12.16.2021
- Our paper about the inner ear motor prestin published from the Journal of Biomechanical Science and Engineering (JBSE) has been selected as Papers of the Month, Kanazawa University, Japan.
- 12.08.2021
- We made an oral presentation in The 11th Asian-Pacific Conference on Biomechanics (APBiomech 2021), online from Kyoto, Japan.
- 06.18.2021
- Koike (M2) made an oral presentation in the 60th Annual Conference of the JSMBE, online from Kyoto, Japan.
- 05.28.2021
- Our research about the motor protein prestin, which is expressed in sensory cells in the inner ear, has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Biomechanical Science and Engineering (JBSE).
- 04.12.2021
- A new academic year has just been started. We welcome three fourth-year undergraduate students!
- 03.22.2021
- AY2020 was a tough year. Today, two undergraduates successfully graduated! Happy graduation!!
- 06.15.2020
- We welcome Kokubo (M1), Kaga (B4) and Mageshi (B4) and would like to start a new academic year!
- 04.22.2020
- A paper by Kanaka (D3) about longitudinal changes in the dynamic behavior of the neonatal hearing system has been published in International Journal of Pediatric Otolaryngology.
- 01.30.2020
- Kanka (D3) and Murakoshi made poster presentations in the 43rd MidWinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), San Jose, CA, USA.
- 12.21.2019
- We made an oral presentation in the 32nd Bioengineering Conference of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), Kanazawa, Japan.
- 07.19.2019
- Kanka (D3) made an oral presentation in the 30th JSME Conference on Frontiers in Bioengineering, Kirishima, Japan.
- 06.28.2019
- We made an oral presentation in the 2019 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference (SB3C), Seven Springs, PA, USA.
- 04.08.2019
- We welcome two fourth-year undergraduate students! For details, see here.
- 04.01.2019
- Website has been started.
