Principal Investigator
Human/Clinical
Professor
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
Neuroimaging and Clinical Neurophysiology in Psychiatric Disorders
Research
My research focuses on the biological mechanisms underlying psychosis onset and the development of effective early intervention strategies. Our group’s expertise includes a wide range of neuroimaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MR spectroscopy, EEG, MEG, and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). We extended our studies to adolescent brain neuroscience via the launch of the Tokyo TEEN Cohort in 2012, which is the first large-scale population-based cohort study of adolescents in Asia. I am also a principal investigator of the clinical research group of Japan’s national brain project called Brain/MINDS, organizing an all-Japan multi-site MRI research framework in psychiatric disorders, applying EEG methodology to non-human primates.
Publications
Kasai K, et al: Strengthening community mental health services in Japan. Lancet Psychiatry 4: 268-270, 2017. (Viewpoint)
Kasai K, Fukuda M: Science of recovery in schizophrenia research: brain and psychological substrates of personalized value. npj Schizophrenia 3: 14, 2017. (editorial)
Okano H, et al: Brain/MINDS: A Japanese national brain project for marmoset neuroscience. Neuron 92: 582-590, 2016. (Viewpoint)
Okada N, et al: Abnormal asymmetries in subcortical brain volume in schizophrenia. Mol Psychiatry 21: 1460-1466, 2016.
Yahata N, et al: A small number of abnormal brain connections predicts adult autism spectrum disorder. Nat Commun 7: 11254, 2016.
Takizawa R, Fukuda M, Kawasaki S, Kasai K, Mimura M, Pu S, Noda T, Niwa SI, Okazaki Y: Neuroimaging-aided differential diagnosis of the depressive state. Neuroimage. 85:498-507, 2014
Nagai T, Tada M, Kirihara K, Araki T, Jinde S, Kasai K: Mismatch negativity as a “translatable” brain marker toward early intervention for psychosis: a review. Front Psychiatry 4:1-10, 2013
Kasai K, Shenton ME, Salisbury DF, Hirayasu Y, Onitsuka T, Spencer M, Yurgelun-Todd D, Kikinis R, Jolesz FA, McCarley RW: Progressive decrease of left Heschl gyrus & planum temporale gray matter volume in first-episode schizophrenia: a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 60(8):766-775, 2003.
Biography
I earned an M.D. in 1995 and Ph.D. in Psychiatry in 2004, both from the University of Tokyo. I gained experience at the University of Tokyo Hospital and National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, before an appointment as visiting instructor at Harvard Medical School, USA, from 2000 to 2002. I returned to the University of Tokyo Hospital, Department of Neuropsychiatry in 2002 as Instructor, and was appointed Lecturer in 2003 and Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuropsychiatry in 2008. I was a recipient of the Distinguished Investigator Award from the Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry in 2003, and the Young Investigator Award from the Japan Neuroscience Society in 2008.
