![](\"https:\/\/ircn.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/H-Kasai-2.png\")
\nOn March 14, 2022, Prof. Haruo Kasai, IRCN Principal Investigator and Professor in the School of Medicine at The University of Tokyo, received the Imperial Prize and the Japan Academy Prize, which are bestowed upon academic scholars who have achieved notable research landmarks and authored particularly outstanding academic papers or books. In Prof. Kasai's distinguished academic career, he and the colleagues, trainees, and collaborators of his laboratory group, pioneered the field of structural synaptic plasticity, wherein the electrical or mechanical activity in the brain's cells, called neurons, alters their shape and function, particularly in the intercellular communication and memory compartments called dendritic spine synapses. This work advances a general scientific understanding of the brain.
\nSubject: Discovery of Principles of Structural Plasticity in Brain Spine Synapses<\/p>\n