Dr Liria Masuda-Nakagawa
College positions: Fellow Commoner, Director of Studies in Natural Sciences (Biological, Part IB)
University position: Visiting Researcher
Subject: Neurobiology
Dr Liria Masuda-Nakagawa is a Fellow Commoner and Director of Studies in Natural Sciences (Biological), specialising in Neurobiology.
After completing a PhD at the University of Tokyo, Dr Liria M Masuda-Nakagawa held research positions at the University of Basel, Switzerland, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan, and the Universities of Tsukuba and Tokyo. Dr Masuda-Nakagawa have been a Senior Research Associate at Cambridge since 2011.
Research Interests
- Drosophila neuronal circuitry, especially in the fields of sensory discrimination, and learning and memory.
Qualifications
- BSc, University of Chiba
- MSc, University of Tokyo
- PhD, University of Tokyo
Career/Research Highlights
- Roles of cell adhesion molecules in central nervous system regeneration
- Identification of a head-determining factor in Cnidaria
- Establishing stereotypic and random connections as a means to encode sensory information for learning
Professional Affiliations
- The Genetics Society
Dr Liria Masuda-Nakagowa: Pavlovs Maggots
KEY PUBLICATIONS
A single GABAergic neuron mediates feedback of odor-evoked signals in the mushroom body of larval Drosophila, Masuda-Nakagawa LM, Ito K, Awasaki T, O’Kane CJ
Localized olfactory representation in the mushroom bodies of Drosophila larvae, Masuda-Nakagawa LM, Gendre N, O’Kane CJ, Stocker RF – Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2009; 106, 10314-9
Stereotypic and random patterns of connectivity in the larval mushroom body calyx of Drosophila, Masuda-Nakagawa LM, Tanaka NK, O’Kane CJ – Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2005; 102, 19027-32
Octopaminergic neurons have multiple targets in Drosophila larval mushroom body calyx and can modulate behavioral odor discrimination, Wong JHY, Wan BA, Bland T, Montagnese M, McLachlan AD, O’Kane CJ, Zhang S-W, Masuda-Nakagawa LM – Learn Mem, 2021; 28, 53-71
Full list of publications available on the National Library of Medicine PubMed.