Sho Horie, a student in the 4-year doctoral program in the Laboratory for Systems Neuroscience and Developmental Biology (LSNDB), Major in Pharmacy, Graduate School of Pharmacy at Ritsumeikan University, has been selected for the “2026 Cranefield Student Award” organized by the Society of General Physiologists (SGP). The announcement was made on February 22, 2026, at the “2026 JGP–SGP Mixer” held in San Francisco. Horie is the first-ever Japanese student to receive this honor.

Horie has been conducting research on TRPM1, a visual signal transduction channel in retinal ON bipolar cells. In the course of his work, he discovered a connection with visual “noise” (photopsia), a symptom that diminishes patients’ quality of life even before the onset of blindness. He also revealed that in retinas exhibiting such noise—regardless of the underlying retinal disease—the dendritic localization of TRPM1 is reduced. Furthermore, he elucidated part of the mechanism by which decreased TRPM1 localization leads to the generation of this noise. These research achievements were highly appraised and led to his selection for the award.

JGP-SGP Mixer 2026 Presentation

The Cranefield Awards were established in 2005 by the SGP, a prestigious academic society in the field of basic physiology. Each year, the awards are presented to outstanding graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are the first authors of papers published in the Journal of General Physiology, a premier academic journal in the field published by Rockefeller University Press. It is a highly respected and internationally recognized honor.

Awarded Paper

  • Title:
    A mechanism for pathological oscillations in mouse retinal ganglion cells in a model of night blindness
  • Authors:
    Sho Horie, Konan Sakuta, Keigo Tada, Haruki Tokumoto, Kento Nishimoto, Katsunori Kitano, Masao Tachibana, Chieko Koike
  • URL:
    https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.202413749

Comments from Sho Horie

I am deeply honored to receive the prestigious “2026 Cranefield Student Award” from SGP. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Professor Chieko Koike and Professor Masao Tachibana for their invaluable guidance and support throughout this research, as well as to those who have supported my daily research activities. Encouraged by this award, I am determined to devote myself even further to advancing my research.

薬学研究科 堀江 翔さん

Comments from Professor Chieko Koike, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences

In the field of retinal physiology, an area in which Japan has long led the world, patch-clamp recording from retinal tissue—often regarded as a form of expert craftsmanship—requires extraordinary patience and rigorous training. Accordingly, fewer young researchers are taking up this challenge today. Under the guidance of Professor Masao Tachibana, Mr. Horie has cultivated both strong research capabilities and advanced technical skills, and I believe it is highly meaningful that he has received such a prestigious international award as a member of Japanese academia. I wholeheartedly commend his perseverance and sustained effort in pursuing this research over many years.

Comments from Professor Masao Tachibana, Research Organization of Science and Technology

Mr. Horie has approached his research with exceptional diligence, mastering challenging experimental techniques while advancing his analysis of the mechanisms underlying the periodic spontaneous firing of retinal output cells in disease-model mice with severe visual disorders. By integrating electrophysiology, histological analysis, and computer simulations, he succeeded in elucidating part of the mechanism behind this phenomenon—an achievement of significant scientific value. I look forward to seeing him continue to refine his expertise abroad and take even greater strides in his research career.

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