Curriculum Vitae
1990.3 MD degree, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
1990.5 Physician’s License No. 330849
1993.3 PhD degree, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
1993.4 Postdoctoral scholar, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine
1997.4 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
1998.4 Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
2003.1 Associate Professor and Head, Dept of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
2013.4-pres Professor and Chair, Dept of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
2016.4-pres Director, MD Scientist Training Program, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo.
Honours and awards
1993-1995 HFSP Long-Term Fellow
1999 The Watanabe Prize, Ube Research Foundation
2002-2005 HFSP Young Investigator Grant Principal Investigator
2003 Young Investigator Award of the Japanese Pharmacological Society
2004 Young Investigator Award of the Japanese Biochemical Society
2011 The Tsukahara Prize, the Japan Neuroscience Society and Brain Science Foundation
2015 AND Investigator Award, Molecular Brain
2010-2016 CREST Investigatorship, Japan Science and Technology Agency.
General administrative and organisational experience
Program Committee Chair, Annual Meeting 2017 of the Japan Neuroscience Society. Director and International Collaboration Affairs Committee Chair, Japan Neuroscience Society (2017-2019). Current other responsibilities include: Councillor: Japanese Society for Neurochemistry, Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology, Japanese Biochemical Society, Japanese Pharmacological Society. Section Editor (Cellular Neuroscience): Neuroscience Research Associate Editor: Molecular Brain, Pharmacological Research.
Research interests
My laboratory’s primary goal is to elucidate the basic signal transduction mechanisms which mediate key processes underlying various brain functions, such as learning, memory or emotion. To address these issues, we currently focus our resources into three basic aims:
1) Deciphering the signaling from synapses to the nucleus, and back from the nucleus to the synapses during learning and memory.
2) Dissecting the role of Ca2+-dependent signaling during circuit formation in the perinatal brain.
3) Developing novel gene-encoded probes and tools for elucidating neuronal circuit dynamics through hierarchical imaging and manipulation of ensembles of active synapses, neurons and engrams.
Selected Publications
1. Inoue M, Takeuchi A, Horigane S, Ohkura M, Gengyo-Ando K, Fujii H, Kamijo S, Takemoto-Kimura S, Kano M, Nakai J, Kitamura K, Bito H. (2015) Rational design of a high-affinity, fast, red calcium indicator R-CaMP2. Nature Methods, 12: 64-70.
2. Nonaka M, Kim R, Fukushima H, Sasaki K, Suzuki K, Okamura M, Ishii Y, Kawashima T, Kamijo S, TakemotoKimura S, Okuno H, Kida S, Bito H. (2014) Region-specific activation of CRTC1-CREB signaling mediates longterm fear memory. Neuron, 84: 92-106.
3. Kawashima T, Kitamura K, Suzuki K, Nonaka M, Kamijo S, Takemoto-Kimura S, Kano M, Okuno H, Ohki K, Bito H. (2013) Functional labeling of neurons and their projections using the synthetic activity-dependent promoter ESARE. Nature Methods. 10: 889-895.
4. Fujii H, Inoue M, Okuno H, Sano Y, Takemoto-Kimura S, Kitamura K, Kano M, Bito H. (2013) Nonlinear decoding and asymmetric representation of neuronal input information by CaMKIIα and calcineurin. Cell Reports. 3: 978-987.
5. Okuno H, Akashi K, Ishii Y, Yagishita-Kyo N, Suzuki K, Nonaka M, Kawashima T, Fujii H, Takemoto-Kimura S, Abe M, Natsume R, Chowdhury S, Sakimura K, Worley PF, Bito H. (2012) An inverse synaptic tagging of inactive synapses via dynamic interaction of Arc/Arg3.1 with CaMKIIbeta. Cell 149:886-898.
6. Tse D, Takeuchi T, Kakeyama M, Kajii Y, Okuno H, Tohyama C, Bito H, Morris RGM. (2011) Schema-dependent gene activation and memory encoding in neocortex. Science 333: 891-895.
7. Takemoto-Kimura S, Ageta-Ishihara N, Nonaka M, Adachi-Morishima A, Mano T, Okamura M, Fujii H, Fuse T, Hoshino M, Suzuki S, Kojima M, Mishina M, Okuno H, Bito H. (2007) Regulation of dendritogenesis via a lipid raftassociated Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase CLICK-III/CaMKIgamma. Neuron, 54: 755-770.
8. Bito H, Furuyashiki T, Ishihara H, Shibasaki Y, Ohashi K, Mizuno K, Maekawa M, Ishizaki T, Narumiya S. (2000) A critical role for a Rho-associated kinase p160ROCK in determining axon outgrowth in mammalian CNS neurons. Neuron, 26: 431–441.
9. Bito H, Deisseroth K, Tsien RW (1996). CREB phosphorylation and dephosphorylation: a Ca2+- and stimulus duration-dependent switch for hippocampal gene expression. Cell 87: 1203-1214.
10. Bito H, Nakamura M, Honda Z, Izumi T, Iwatsubo T, Seyama Y, Ogura A, Kudo Y, Shimizu T. (1992) Plateletactivating factor (PAF) receptor in rat brain: PAF mobilizes Ca2+ in hippocampal neurons. Neuron 9: 285-294.
