Guest Editors
Takaaki Sokabe
ExCELLS and NIPS, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Takaaki Sokabe received his BS and MS degrees from the Himeji Institute of Technology in 1998 and 2000. He completed his PhD at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Medicine in 2004. Following his doctorate, he joined the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, where he worked as a research fellow, JSPS postdoctoral fellow, and project assistant professor, focusing on the molecular and physiological functions of thermosensitive TRP channels in mammals. He later moved to Craig Montell’s lab at Johns Hopkins University/University of California, Santa Barbara, to investigate sensory mechanisms using fruit flies as a model organism. Since 2017, he has been an associate professor at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences and the Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems. His current research explores the functional relationships between sensory receptors and membrane lipids, and he is also seeking novel strategies for insect pest management.
Shoma Sato
ExCELLS and NIPS, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Dr. Shoma Sato is a project assistant professor at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences and the Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems. He researched the neural mechanisms of learning and memory in fruit flies, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tokyo Metropolitan University in 2010 and 2012, respectively. In 2018, he received his PhD from the same university for his work on synaptic plasticity in fruit flies. He then joined the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, initially as a postdoctoral fellow, before becoming a project assistant professor. Currently, he is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms behind animal sensory behavior and developing pest management strategies that target insect sensory functions.
Kenichi Ishii
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Dr. Kenichi Ishii earned his PhD in 2012 from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Tokyo. From 2012 to 2015, he conducted research as a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science. He later joined Dr. Kenta Asahina’s laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies as a postdoctoral researcher, where he studied social behavior and the neurogenetic mechanisms underlying it in fruit flies. Since 2020, he has served as an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science. His current research focuses on social behavior and sensory perception, particularly nociception.
Collection Overview
Sensory-driven behaviors are fundamental to insect survival, encompassing responses that enable feeding, mating, predator avoidance, communication, and social interactions. Insects serve as valuable models for understanding the fundamental mechanisms of these sensory processes and their resulting behaviors due to their relatively simple neural circuits and stereotypical behaviors. Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) has long been a favored model organism. Other insects, such as domesticated insects, social insects, disease vectors, and agricultural pests, have also gained popularity in research.
This Methods Collection presents protocols that investigate various aspects of the sensory-to-behavior pathway in insects, including sensory reception, neural processing, and behavioral output. We welcome studies focusing on individual behaviors, inter-individual interactions, and collective behaviors in social contexts. Behavioral analyses may range from simple locomotory responses to complex cognitive processes, including learning and memory, decision-making, and social hierarchy formation.
We are seeking protocols that employ a variety of methodological approaches, including controlled sensory stimulation techniques, neural manipulation for behavioral control, methods for behavioral quantification, computational analysis tools, and experimental designs suitable for both laboratory and field studies. We also appreciate advanced AI and machine learning techniques to analyze behavioral responses.
While D. melanogaster offers powerful genetic tools for mechanistic studies, we equally encourage submissions involving diverse insect species where unique behaviors can be studied through observational and experimental approaches. Many insects exhibit specialized behaviors that provide distinct advantages for understanding specific sensory-behavioral relationships, regardless of available genetic tools.
This collection aims to enhance the comprehensive understanding of fundamental sensory-driven behaviors across different species, highlighting the importance and usefulness of insect models in research.
