Hiroshi Nishimune, PhD

Professor

Hiroshi Nishimune, PhD, is a School of Medicine researcher with a broad background in cellular and molecular neuroscience and specific expertise in the development and aging process of the neuromuscular system and its diseases. He has PI and co-PI experience on NIH-funded grants studying the formation and degeneration of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) during development, aging and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Dr. Nishimune was the first to successfully use light microscopy to visualize the molecular mechanism that organizes the essential structure for synaptic transmission, called the active zone, in the NMJ. Previously, this active zone was only studied using electron microscopy. The NMJ’s active zone is a subsynaptic structure of 100 nm or less, and Dr. Nishimune has expertise in the use of super-resolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy for subdiffraction-limited resolutions of 30 nm.