Research and Education

All aspects related to vision are the focus of our research laboratory. Vision is an essential sense for humans, and we conduct various studies as clinical doctors to preserve its function. Our laboratory is particularly active in the research of retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinitis pigmentosa. We investigate the pathogenesis of these diseases and explore cell therapies such as retinal vascular regeneration using stem cells and gene therapy. As part of a collaborative project between academia and industry, we have also been advancing the development and research of a next-generation fundus imaging device using adaptive optics technology. The utilization of this new device has facilitated the visualization of retinal cells and furthered our understanding of various retinal vascular diseases. We firmly believe that the scientific thinking, intuition, and sensory perception gained through thorough research activities can lead us to new frontiers as clinical doctors.

Figure 1: Revealing the fine structure of the retina using the technology of adaptive optics (Ref 4).

Figure 2: Exploring the mechanisms of neuroprotective effects of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) (Ref 3). In our department, physician-initiated clinical trials of BCAA administration for retinitis pigmentosa were also conducted (February 12, 2016, to March 31, 2020).

Recent Publications

1. Genome-wide Survival Analysis for Macular Neovascularization Development in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy Revealed Shared Genetic Susceptibility with Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy. Mori Y, Miyake M, Hosoda Y, Miki A, Takahashi A, Muraoka Y, Miyata M, Sato T, Tamura H, Ooto S, Yamada R, Yamashiro K, Nakamura M, Tajima A, Nagasaki M, Honda S, Tsujikawa A. Ophthalmology. 2022 Sep;129(9):1034-1042. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2022.04.018. Epub 2022 Apr 29. PMID: 35490733.
2. Incidence and Clinical Practice of Exudative Age-related Macular Degeneration: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study. Kido A, Miyake M, Tamura H, Hiragi S, Kimura T, Yoshida S, Takeuchi M, Ohtera S, Takahashi A, Ooto S, Kawakami K, Kuroda T, Tsujikawa A. Ophthalmol Sci. 2022 Mar 1;2(2):100125. doi: 10.1016/j.xops.2022.100125.
3. Branched Chain Amino Acids Promote ATP Production Via Translocation of Glucose Transporters. Iwai S, Hasegawa T, Ikeda HO, Tsujikawa A. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2022 Aug 2;63(9):7. doi: 10.1167/iovs.63.9.7.
4. Human Foveal Cone and M?ller Cells Examined by Adaptive Optics Optical Coherence Tomography. Kadomoto S, Muraoka Y, Uji A, Ooto S, Kawai K, Ishikura M, Nishigori N, Akagi T, Tsujikawa A. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2021 Sep 1;10(11):17. doi: 10.1167/tvst.10.11.17.
5. Novel Manifestation of Retinal Hemangioblastomas Detected by OCT Angiography in von Hippel-Lindau Disease. Takahashi A, Muraoka Y, Koyasu S, Arakawa Y, Nakamura E, Tsujikawa A. Ophthalmology. 2023 Feb 10:S0161-6420(23)00113-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2023.02.008.

Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Professor：Akitaka Tsujikawa
Associate Professor：Hanako Ohashi Ikeda
Lecturer：Tomoaki Murakami・Takanori Kameda・Manabu Miyata・Masahiro Miyake・Masanori Hata
Assistant Professor：Naoko Ueda・Yuki Muraoka・Kenji Ishihara・Kenji Suda・Ayako Takahashi・Shogo Numa
Clinical Fellow：Eri Nakano・Yuki Mori

TEL ：+81-75-751-3248
FAX ：+81-75-752-0933
e-mail ：eye@med.kyoto-u.ac.jp
URL ：http://www.ophthalmol.kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp/