Nobuo Suga

Nobuo Suga
Born	Kobe, Japan
Residence	United States
Nationality	Japanese
Fields	Biologist
Institutions	Washington University in St Louis
Alma mater	Tokyo Metropolitan University
Doctoral advisor	Yatsuji Katsuki[1]
Doctoral students	Jonathan Fritz, Philip Jen[1]

Nobuo Suga is a Japanese biologist, famous for his research on the neurophysiology of hearing, and echolocation in bats.^[2]

Life

After achieving a bachelors degree in biology at Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1958, Nobuo studied for his doctoral thesis on the neurophysiology of hearing with Yatsuji Katsuki at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University. His early research attracted the attention of Vincent Wigglesworth of Cambridge University, a prominent insect researcher, and Donald Griffin of Harvard University, who studied bats. From there, his career took him to UCLA and UC San Diego School of Medicine, before finally arriving at Washington University. Suga became a U.S. citizen in 1993, prompted by an incident at Lambert International Airport where a customs agent couldn't recognize Suga's picture on his green card, issued in 1966.^[2]

Work

Suga's work revealed much about the location and function of auditory systems in the brain. Whilst at Washington, he mapped the areas of the bat brain involved in processing doppler shift (velocity) information, and in processing distance information. Suga's work demonstrated similarities between the human visual system and bat echolocation. Recent work has focused on the plasticity of the auditory system.

Selected publications

• Suga, N. and Ma, X. (2003) Multiparametric corticofugal modulation and plasticity in the auditory system. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 4: 783-794.
• Xiao, Z. and Suga, N. (2004) Reorganization of the auditory cortex specialized for echo-delay processing in the mustached bat. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 1769-1774.
• Xiao, Z. and Suga, N. (2005) Asymmetry in corticofugal modulation of frequency-tuning in mustached bat auditory system. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102: 19162-19167.
• Ma, X. and Suga, N. (2005) Long-term plasticity evoked by electric stimulation and acetylcholine applied to the auditory cortex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102: 9335-9340.
• Ji, W., Suga, N. and Gao, E. (2005) Effects of agonists and antagonists of NMDA and ACh receptors on plasticity of bat auditory system elicited by fear conditioning. J. Neurophysiol. 94: 1199-1211.

Honors and Awards

• 1998: Membership of the United States National Academy of Sciences

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Neurotree - Nobuo Suga Details
2. ^ ^{a b} People

External links

• Profile page of Werner Reichardt
• Neurotree page

Persondata
Name	Suga, Nuobo
Alternative names
Short description	Japanese biologist
Date of birth
Place of birth	Kobe, Japan
Date of death
Place of death