Yasunori Hayashi

Yasunori Hayashi (林 康紀) is a Japanese neuroscientist who was born in Aichi and grew up in Tokyo. He is leading his research group in RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan.

Education and research history

 * 1984–1990 MD, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine
 * 1990–1994 PhD, Institute for Immunology and Department of Pharmacology, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine
 * 1994–1996 Postdoctral Fellow, Department of Neurophysiology, Institute for Brain Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo
 * 1996–2000 Postdoctral Fellow, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
 * 2000–2009 Assistant Professor (joint), RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Research Center, The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 * 2000–2004 Senior Scientist (joint), Brain Science Institute, RIKEN
 * 2004–2009 Unit Leader (joint), Brain Science Institute, RIKEN
 * 2009 – current Team Leader, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN

Past accomplishments

 * Regulation of adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase under hypoxic condition
 * Cloning and functional analysis of prostanoid receptor
 * Pharmacological analyses of metabotropic glutamate receptor
 * Activity dependent trafficking of AMPA type glutamate receptor as a mechanism of hippocampal LTP
 * Structural plasticity of dendritic spine and its molecular mechanisms
 * Molecular cloning and analysis of motoneuron specific NMDA receptor subtype NR3B
 * Retrograde regulation of synaptic release probability by cell adhesion molecules
 * Structural elucidation of high-order structure of postsynaptic density

Awards and honors

 * 1998 Young Investigator Award from Japanese Pharmacological Society
 * 2008 JSPS Prize for Young Investigators
 * 2008 Japan Academy Medal