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Biomechanical Engineering Laboratory, School of Frontier Engineering, Kanazawa University

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

10.24.2024
Dr. Murakoshi gave a lecture on "Patiently continuing auditory research" atthe 69th Congress of Japan Audiological Society, Tokyo.
07.12.2024
Dr. Murakoshi gave a lecture on diagnosis of conductive hearing loss in children at the 19th Annual Meeting of Japan Society for Pediatric ORL, Ise.
05.11.2024
Kishii (M1), Kitano (M1), Fukui (M1) and Dr. Murakoshi made presentations in the 36th Bioengineering Conference of the JSME, Nagoya, Japan.
04.09.2024
New lab members, Maruo (B4), Mori (B4) and MonguchiFukui (B4), joined BME Lab!
03.29.2024
Our research about middle ear diseases in toddlers has been accepted for publication in Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol Jpn. This study is conducted in collaboration with ENT Dept., Kanazawa University, Japan.
03.22.2024
Graduation ceremony was held at Kanazawa University. One graduate student, three undergraduate students and one postdoctoral researcher are moving on to new paths. We look forward to your future success!
03.22.2024
Nakagawa (M2) has been awarded the Dean's Award from the Graduate School of Natural Science & Technology, Kanazawa University, and the Outstanding Student Award from the Hokuriku Branch, the Acoustical Society of Japan!
01.26.2024
Our research about the diagnosis of ossicular chain abnormality using wideband frequency impedance (WFI) has been accepted for publication in Acta Oto-Laryngologica. This study is conducted in collaboration with ENT Dept., Kanazawa University, Japan.
12.16.2023
Tobe (M1) made an oral presentation about an auditory model in the 34th JSME Conference on Frontiers in Bioengineering, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan.
11.15.2023
Nakagawa (M2) and Niioka (M1) respectively made oral and poster presentations in the 12 the Asian-Pacific Conference on Biomechanics (AP-Biomech 2023), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
11.13.2023
We visited a collaborative researcher Dr. Kanka in Mechatronics Eng. Dept., Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Ching Mai, Thai.
11.04.2023
Dr. Murakoshi delivered a panel presentation on the social implementation of new diagnostic and treatment technologies at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Japan Otological Society
10.02.2023
We welcome Dr. Zhou to our lab!
09.19.2023
Our collaborative researcher, Dr. Shinji Hamanishi (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku Gakuin University), visited our laboratory. We discussed about experimental techniques with regard to conductive hearing loss.
09.01.2023
Nakagawa (M2) and Niioka (M1) made poster presentations in the 6th Japan-Swiss Workshop on Biomechanics, Otaru, Japan.
06.04.2023
Nakagawa (M2) and Niioka (M1) made poster presentations in the 35th Bioengineering Conference of the JSME, Sendai, Japan.
04.06.2023
We are happy to welcome new lab members, Tobe (M1), Kishii (B4), Kitano (B4) and Fukui (B4)!
03.22.2023
Graduation ceremony was held at Kanazawa University. Two graduate and three undergraduate student graduated. Congratulations!!
03.03.2023
Dr. Murakoshi made a pitch presentation at Medtech Academy Pitch Day 2023.
03.01.2023
Dr. Murakoshi received the JSME Medal for Outstanding Paper 2022.
02.27.2023
Dr. Murakoshi gave a lecture on diagnosis of conductive hearing loss at Sensor & IoT Consortium (Online), February 27, 2023.
12.17.2022
Toya (PD) and Kokubo (M2) made oral presentations about a diagnostic technique with a new probe for conductive hearing loss in the 33rd JSME Conference on Frontiers in Bioengineering, Kobe, Japan.
11.14.2022
A new project on hearing in infants and toddlers in progress!!
10.28.2022
Congratulations!! All the lab members have decided on their future careers. We went on autumn grape picking. At this time, Muscat Bailey A was in season.
10.24.2022
Our collaborative researcher, Dr. Shinji Hamanishi (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku Gakuin University), visited our laboratory. We had discussed theoretical analyses of the conductive hearing loss mechanism and so on..
10.07.2022
We made an oral presentation about a diagnostic method with a new probe tone for conductive hearing loss in the 67th Congress of Japan Audiological Society, Yamagata.
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.