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| 1/2022 Sensory representation and detection mechanisms of gut osmolality change Congratulations, Takako and Tongtong. Their work has been published in Nature. This study identified the site and mechanisms of gut osmolality sensing for thirst regulation. We provide another piece of data to understand how our body and brain work together to maintain internal environment.  Caltech News| How Gut Neurons Communicate with the Brain to Control Thirst
The New York Times
| Your Body’s Thirst Messenger Is in an Unexpected Place
NPR science | The brain science behind deciding to drink when you're thirsty is pretty complicated Niigata University News |
 Credit: Elena Galofaro Bansh |
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| 11/2021 Oka Lab Celebrates Thanksgiving Thanksgiving at the Oka household is now an annual tradition! Yuki and Mari again graciously hosted the lab at their home for a fabulous meal! |
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| 10/2021 Oka Lab Receives New Funding from NIH and the Caltech Heritage Medical Institute We appreciate essential new supports from NIH and the Caltech Heritage Medical Institute. Yuki is now appointed as an investigator of HMRI. |
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| 8/2021 Another Graduate from the Oka Lab -Takako Yamamoto Congratulations to Takako for her new position at Niigata University in Japan as an Assistant Professor! She is a master of surgery and completed a very nice study about peripheral sensory signaling. We are sad to see her leave, but could not be more excited for her in pursuing her newest chapter. |
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| 7/2021 A New PI from the Oka Lab - Prof. Allan-Hermann Pool Congratulations to Allan for becoming a new PI! Allan will open his laboratory at UT Southwestern this November. He will use transcriptomic and circuit technologies to uncover the mechanisms behind pain and analgesia! Allan will be sorely missed, but we could not be more excited for him and wish him the best of luck in his newest endeavor!  |
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| 6/2021 Oka Lab Malibu Beach Trip After a long lockdown period, we were finally able to head out to Malibu for famous lobster rolls and a day of beach games!   |
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| 4/2021 Zhe Yang Receives Postdoc Scholarship Congrats to Zhe for receiving Caltech divisional postdoctoral scholarship awards! We appreciate the generous support from the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering here at Caltech! |
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| 10/2020 All Things Considered - NPR News Feature Yuki joins reporter Jon Hamilton on popular NPR news series, All Things Considered, to discuss Allan and Tongtong's findings from their recent publication in Nature, The cellular basis of distinct thirst modalities. Read the transcript or have a listen by clicking the image below!  Krisanapong Detraphiphat/Getty Images
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| 10/2020 Caltech News Feature Yuki dicusses Allan and Tongtong's recent Nature publication, The cellular basis of distinct thirst modalities, in a feature in Caltech news. Click the link below to read the full article! Caltech News - The Brain Quenches Thirst in Different Ways |
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| 10/2020 The cellular basis of distinct thirst modalities Allan and Tongtong's paper in collaboration with UC Berkeley is now published in Nature. Congratulations to them both! This paper demonstrates that thirst is not a simple perception. Rather, different types of thirst are mediated by unique neuron classes in the brain.    7/2020 Oka Lab Celebration 2020 has been challenging and anxious year to say the least, but despite this, many of our lab members have accomplished amazing things within the past few months. Unfortunately with the pandemic, we weren't able to meet up for each new accomplishment until recently. With this, we will soon say farewell to one of our first graduate students to join our lab, Sangjun Lee, and our long time lab manager, Brittany Ho. We celebrate Yameng Zhang joining our lab, as well as Allan's work being accepted for publication! Stay tuned to find out more details! Glad to see everyone from Oka Lab is thriving! |
| 5/2020 Sangjun's Successful Defense After years of hard work, Sangjun has successfully defended his thesis work unveiling the neural basis of sodium appetite. Congratulations Dr. Sangjun Lee! |
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| 5/2020 Yuki's Tenure Granted
Congratulations to
Prof. Oka for being promoted to a full professor! The lab will work
even harder to contribute to neuroscience! |
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| 4/2020 Sloan Research Fellow Congratulations to the lab for winning the Sloan Research Fellowship! |
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| 1/2020 Neural Control and Modulation of Thirst, Sodium, Appetite, and Hunger Vinny and Sangjun's review has been published in Cell - click the figure below to learn more!   |
| 11/2019 Oka Lab Celebrates Thanksgiving! Yuki hosted a Thanksgiving gathering at his home, with him and his wife Mari providing us with a spectacular meal! One for the books! |
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| 10/2019 NYSCF - Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Award Yuki recieved 1.5 million in funding from the New York Stem Cell Foundation! This award is given every 5 years and to only 3 early career neuroscience researchers internationally. NYSCF | NYSCF Announces 2019 Class of NYSCF - Robertson Investigators Caltech | Oka Recieves Grant to Study Innante Brain Circuits |
| 10/2019 Multimodal Analysis of Cell Types in a Hypothalmic Node Controlling Social Behavior Our collaboration paper has been published in Cell! This work was done in David Anderson's lab at Caltech. |
| 6/2019 Caltech 2019 Graduation A few of our students received their degrees this past Friday! Congrats to Vinny Augustine, Ph.D., Sangjun Lee, M.S., and Madelyn Stroder, B.S.! Vinny will be starting his own lab at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego in August and Madelyn will be beginning medical school at the University of Missouri this fall. Sangjun will be sticking with us to finish up his Ph.D. We couldn't be more proud!   |
| 6/2019 Best Thesis Award in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering Vinny has been awarded the Lawrence L. and Audrey W. Ferguson Prize for his thesis work on the neural architecture underlying thirst regulation. Congratulations Vinny!  |
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| 5/2019 Temporally and spatially distinct thirst satiation signals Vinny's and Haruka's work has been published in Neuron! Check out the articles below to learn more. Caltech | Being Refreshed Is Not The Same As Being Hydrated Scientific American | Does Thirst Start in the Mouth or the Gut? The New York Times | Why Gulping Down a Cold Drink Feels So Rewarding   |
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| 3/2019 Chemosensory modulation of neural circuits for sodium appetite Sangjun's work has been published in Nature! Check out the links below to learn more. Caltech | The Salt-Craving Neurons
NPR | Blech! Brain Science
Explains Why You're Not Thirsty For Salt Water
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| 3/2019 Neural populations for maintaining body fluid balance Takako's review paper has been published in Current Opinion in Neurobiology!   |
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| 6/2018 Della Martin Fellowship in Mental Illness Dr. Takako Ichiki-Yamamoto was awarded the Della Martin Fellowship in Mental Illness! |
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| 6/2018 Peripheral and central nutrient sensing underlying appetite regulation Vinny's review paper has been published in Trends in Neurosciences!  |
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| 4/2018 2018 Young Investigator Award Congratulations to Yuki on being awarded the 2018 Young Investigator Award for emerging leaders in the field of Gustation or Oral Chemosensation! |
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| 2/2018 Hierarchical neural architecture underlying thirst regulation Vinny's work has been published in Nature! Check out the links below to learn more. Caltech | Mapping the Neural Circuit
Governing Thirst
The New York Times
| You Get Thirsty
and Drink. How Does Your Brain Signal You've Had Enough?
NIH News | Scientistc show how thte brain may be wired for drinking fluids    |
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| 2/2018 Vinny successfully completed his pre-defense! Congratulations Vinny!  |
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| 5/2017 The cellular mechanisms for water detection in the mammalian taste system Dhruv's work has been published in Nature Neuroscience! Check out the links below to learn more. Caltech | Sour Taste Cells Detect Water Science News | Tongues 'taste' water by sensing sour Science | Scientists discover a sixth sense on the tongue-for water   |
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| 5/2017 Uehara Foundation Fellowship Our postdocs, Dr. Takako Ichiki-Yamamoto and Dr. Haruka Ebisu, were both awarded the Uehara Foundation Fellowship! |
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| 4/2017 Della Martin Fellowship in Mental Illness Dr. Sertan Kutal Gokce was awarded the Della Martin Fellowship in Mental Illness! |
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| 6/2016 Sangjun passed his candidacy exam! Congratulations Sangjun!  |
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| 5/2016 McKnight Scholar Award Yuki has been selected among six neuroscientists to recieve the 2016 McKnight Scholar Award! |
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| 10/2015 Okawa Foundation Grant Award Yuki has received The Okawa Foundation for Information and Telecommunications Research Grant! |
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| 9/2015 Edward Mallinckrodt, JR Foundation Grant Yuki received the Edward Mallinckrodt, JR Foundation Grant! |
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| 4/2015 Searle Scholar Yuki has been named a 2015 Searle Scholar! |
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| 1/2015 Thirst driving and supressing signals encoded by distinct neural populations in the brain Yuki's work has been published in Nature! The paper describes mind-controlling experiments using optogenetics. The Scientist | Thirst Neurons Found   |
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Oka
Lab |
California
Institute of Technology |
Division
of Biology and Biological Engineering 1200 East California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125 |
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