Asuka Takeishi, Ph.D.

Research Overview

We are interested in how animals make behavioral decisions. Animals are exposed to continuously changing environmental stimuli, such as temperature, odor, light and sound. We sense and integrate these environmental cues in the nervous system in order to choose appropriate behavioral responses. We are currently investigating the mechanism of multi-sensory integration in the nervous system by analyzing behavior strategies and neural circuits of C. elegans that are exposed to multiple stimuli, especially temperature and odor. In addition to this biological approach, we incorporate mathematical and computational models to reveal the evolutionally-conserved fundamental mechanism of behavioral decision.

Main Research Fields

Biological Sciences

Related Research Fields

Biology / Neurophysiology/General neuroscience / Animal physiology/Animal behavior / Molecular biology

Keywords

• Neural Circuit
• Behavioral analysis
• Chemotaxis
• Thermotaxis
• In vivo calcium imaging

Selected Publications

1. *Takeishi, A., Yu, Y.V., Hapiak, V.M., Bell, H.W., O’Leary, T. and Sengupta, P.:
   "Receptor-type guanylyl cyclases confer thermosensory responses in C. elegans"
   Neuron 90, pp. 235-244. (2016).
2. *Neal, S.J., Takeishi, A., O’Donnell, M.P., Park, J., Hong, M., Butcher, R.A., Kim, K. and Sengupta, P.:
   "Feeding state-dependent regulation of developmental plasticity via CaMKI and neuroendocrine signaling"
   eLife 10110. (2015)
3. *Obata, F., Kuranaga, E., Tomioka, K., Ming, M., Takeishi, A., Chen, CH., Soga, T., and Miura, M.:
   "Necrosis-driven systemic immune response alters SAM metabolism through the FOXO-GNMT axis"
   Cell Reports 7, pp. 821-833. (2014)
4. *Takeishi, A., Kuranaga, E., Tonoki, A., Misaki, K., Yonemura, S., Kanuka, H. and Miura, M.:
   "Homeostatic epithelial renewal in the gut is required to dampen a fatal systemic wound response in Drosophila"
   Cell Reports 3, pp. 919-930. (2013)