Jun Takatoh
Assistant Professor
PhD, Kitasato University, Japan
Life Sciences Building
Office: Room 532
Lab Room: Room 537
Phone: (631) 632-8632
Training
Jun Takatoh received his Ph.D. in Biosciences from Kitasato University, Japan. He conducted postdoctoral research at Duke University and MIT under the mentorship of Dr. Fan Wang. In 2025, he joined Stony Brook University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior.
Research Interests
Eating is essential for our lives. Activities like sipping coffee, munching on cookies, and swallowing occur effortlessly, rarely engaging our conscious awareness.
These seemingly simple actions rely on the intricate coordination of various orofacial
structures. For example, the tongue plays a key role in manipulating liquids, moving
food between the teeth, and transporting it to the throat; the jaw crushes food into
smaller pieces; and swallowing is carefully coordinated with breathing to prevent
aspiration.
To accomplish these complex tasks, the brain generates distinct rhythmic neural activities for each oral organ that differ in phase (timing) and, in some cases, in frequency. This ensures efficient movement of each organ and binds them into smooth, coordinated eating behaviors. For example, jaw-closing and tongue-protrusion are synchronized in an alternating rhythm to enable efficient chewing while preventing tongue biting. Moreover, the sensory system continuously monitors these processes and fine-tunes movements through sensory feedback.
The autonomic nervous system is another key player in supporting eating. It facilitates saliva secretion to lubricate food for chewing and swallowing and increases blood flow to the orofacial muscles to meet their metabolic demands.
Not surprisingly, disruptions to this delicate system can cause a variety of issues—from mishaps like tongue biting and dry mouth to serious complications such as dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and aspiration pneumonia—commonly observed in older adults and those with neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Our research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms that orchestrate eating behaviors by exploring the unique contributions and interactions of sensory, motor, and autonomic nervous systems, ultimately revealing how these processes give rise to coordinated behaviors.
To tackle this challenge, we use: (1) Neuroanatomical mapping and connectivity analysis
of the peripheral and central nervous systems involved in eating behaviors, employing
whole-tissue imaging with clearing techniques and virus-based neural circuit
tracing; (2) Molecular characterization of neurons that build the neural circuits
generating eating behaviors, enabling the manipulation of specific neuronal subunits
to reveal how these units contribute to overall circuit function; (3) Targeted neural
circuit manipulations and neural activity recordings using advanced virus-based techniques,
combined with precise tracking of orofacial movements, monitoring food intake behaviors,
and physiological measurements.
Through these comprehensive approaches, we seek to uncover the fundamental principles governing eating behaviors, enhancing our understanding of the neural basis of eating and ultimately contributing to the development of new therapeutic strategies for related disorders.
Publications
Qian, K., Friedman, B., Takatoh, J., Groisman, A., Wang, F., Kleinfeld, D., and Freund, Y. (2024). CellBoost: A pipeline for machine-assisted annotation in neuroanatomy. AI Open, 5, 142–154.
Park, J., Choi, S., Takatoh, J., Zhao, S., Harrahill, A., Han, B.-X., and Wang, F. (2024). Brainstem control of vocalization and its coordination with respiration. Science, 383, eadi8081.
Tsai, N.Y.*, Wang, F.*, Toma, K., Yin, C., Takatoh, J., Pai, E.L., Wu, K., Matcham, A.C., Yin, L., Dang, E.J., Marciano, D.K., Rubenstein, J.L., Ullian, E.M., and Duan, X. (2022). Trans-Seq maps a selective mammalian retinotectal synapse instructed by Nephronectin. Nature Neuroscience, 25, 659–674. (* Equal Contribution)
Takatoh, J.* † , Prevosto, V*., Thompson, P.M., Lu, J., Chung, L., Harrahill, A., Li, S., Zhao, S., He, Z., Golomb, D., Kleinfeld, D., and Wang, F. † (2022). The whisking oscillator circuit. Nature, 609, 560–568. (* Equal Contribution, † Co-Correspondence)
Lu, J.*, Chen, B.*, Levy, M., Xu, P., Han, B.-X., Takatoh, J., Thompson, P.M., He, Z., Prevosto, V., and Wang, F. (2022). Somatosensory cortical signature of facial nociception and vibrotactile touch–induced analgesia. Science Advances, 8, eabn6530. (* Equal Contribution)
Golomb, D. † , Moore, J.D., Fassihi, A., Takatoh, J., Prevosto, V., Wang, F., and Kleinfeld, D. † (2022). Theory of hierarchically organized neuronal oscillator dynamics that mediate rodent rhythmic whisking. Neuron, 110, 3833–3851.e22. ( † Co-Correspondence)
Chen, B., Takatoh, J., and Wang, F. (2022). Using viral vectors to visualize pain-related neural circuits in mice. In Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Pain: From Molecules to Neural Networks (pp. 203–216). Springer US. (Textbook)
Takatoh, J.* † , Park, J.*, Lu, J*., Li, S., Thompson, P.M., Han, B.-X., Zhao, S., Kleinfeld, D., Friedman, B., and Wang, F. † (2021). Constructing an adult orofacial premotor atlas in Allen mouse CCF. eLife, 10, e67291. (* Equal Contribution, † Co-Correspondence)
Ryu, B., Nagappan, S., Santos-Valencia, F., Lee, P., Rodriguez, E., Lackie, M., Takatoh, J., and Franks, K.M. (2021). Chronic loss of inhibition in piriform cortex following brief, daily optogenetic stimulation. Cell Reports, 35, 109090.
Tschida, K., Michael, V., Takatoh, J., Han, B.-X., Zhao, S., Sakurai, K., Mooney, R., and Wang, F. (2019). A specialized neural circuit gates social vocalizations in the mouse. Neuron, 103, 459–472.e4.
Takatoh, J., Prevosto, V., and Wang, F. (2018). Vibrissa sensory neurons: linking distinct morphology to specific physiology and function. Neuroscience, 368, 109–114. (Review)
Hunter, D.V., Smaila, B.D., Lopes, D.M., Takatoh, J., Denk, F., and Ramer, M.S. (2018). Advillin is expressed in all adult neural crest derived neurons. eNeuro, 5, ENEURO.0440-17.2018.
Bellavance, M.-A*., Takatoh, J.*, Lu, J., Demers, M., Kleinfeld, D., Wang, F., and Deschênes, M. (2017). Parallel inhibitory and excitatory trigemino-facial feedback circuitry for reflexive vibrissa movement. Neuron, 95, 673–682.e4. (* Equal Contribution)
Sakurai, K., Zhao, S., Takatoh, J., Rodriguez, E., Lu, J., Leavitt, A.D., Fu, M., Han, B.- X., and Wang, F. (2016). Capturing and manipulating activated neuronal ensembles with CANE delineates a hypothalamic social-fear circuit. Neuron, 92, 739–753.
Deschênes, M., Takatoh, J., Kurnikova, A., Moore, J.D., Demers, M., Elbaz, M., Furuta, T., Wang, F., and Kleinfeld, D. (2016). Inhibition, not excitation, drives rhythmic whisking. Neuron, 90, 374–387.
Zhang, Y., Zhao, S., Rodriguez, E., Takatoh, J., Han, B.-X., Zhou, X., and Wang, F. (2015). Identifying local and descending inputs for primary sensory neurons. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 125, 3782–3794.
Stanek IV, E., Cheng, S., Takatoh, J., Han, B.-X., and Wang, F. (2014). Monosynaptic premotor circuit tracing reveals neural substrates for oro-motor coordination. eLife, 3, e02511.
Takatoh, J., Nelson, A., Zhou, X., Bolton, M.M., Ehlers, M.D., Arenkiel, B.R., Mooney, R., and Wang, F. (2013). New modules are added to vibrissal premotor circuitry with the emergence of exploratory whisking. Neuron, 77, 346–360.
Sakurai, K., Akiyama, M., Cai, B., Scott, A., Han, B.-X., Takatoh, J., Sigrist, M., Arber, S., and Wang, F. (2013). The organization of submodality-specific touch afferent inputs in the vibrissa column. Cell Reports, 5, 87–98.
Nelson, A.*, Schneider, D.M.*, Takatoh, J., Sakurai, K., Wang, F., and Mooney, R. (2013). A circuit for motor cortical modulation of auditory cortical activity. Journal of Neuroscience, 33, 14342–14353. (* Equal Contribution)
Masubuchi, N., Shidoh, Y., Kondo, S., Takatoh, J., and Hanaoka, K. (2013). Subcellular localization of dystrophin isoforms in cardiomyocytes and phenotypic analysis of dystrophin-deficient mice reveal cardiac myopathy is predominantly caused by a deficiency in full-length dystrophin. Experimental Animals, 62, 211–217.
Takatoh, J., and Wang, F. (2012). Axonally translated SMADs link up BDNF and retrograde BMP signaling. Neuron, 74, 3–5. (Comment)
Zhou, X., Takatoh, J., and Wang, F. (2011). The mammalian class 3 PI3K (PIK3C3) is required for early embryogenesis and cell proliferation. PLOS ONE, 6, e16358.
Takatoh, J., and Hanaoka, K. (2010). Spatially and temporally regulated expression of specific heparan sulfate epitopes in the developing mouse olfactory system. Development, Growth & Differentiation, 52, 169–180.
Takatoh, J., Kudoh, H., Kondo, S., and Hanaoka, K. (2008). Loss of short dystrophin isoform Dp71 in olfactory ensheathing cells causes vomeronasal nerve defasciculation in mouse olfactory system. Experimental Neurology, 213, 36–47.
PubMed Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/jun.takatoh.1/bibliography/public/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1HcDs2kAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1