Presented at IIBMP2026, the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Bioinformatics
A second-year master’s student presented a poster at IIBMP2026, the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Bioinformatics (Sagamihara, 26–28 August 2026).
News
Papers, presentations, grants, and other announcements.
JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) awarded (FY2026–2029)
Kajita’s project on mitochondrial ordering by active thermodynamic forces and the optimization of the intracellular ATP distribution received a JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (26K00674, April 2026 – March 2030).
Hosted the Fukui Caravan 2025 of the Japanese Society for Quantitative Biology
We hosted the Fukui Caravan 2025 of the Japanese Society for Quantitative Biology at the University of Fukui, Bunkyo Campus.
Wrote a column for the Encyclopedia of Theoretical Biology
Kajita wrote Column 11, “T cell activation,” in Chapter 6 (Medicine) of Riron Seibutsugaku Jiten [Encyclopedia of Theoretical Biology], edited by Iwasa Y, Ohtsuki H, Satake A, and Mochizuki A (Asakura Publishing, 2025; in Japanese).
Presented at the Oxford-Japan Symposium on Cell Behaviors
Kajita presented “Active thermodynamic force-driven mitochondrial alignment” at the Oxford-Japan Symposium on Cell Behaviors in Simple to Complex Environments.
Presented at the 64th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Medical and Biological Engineering
Kajita presented work on how mitochondria control their own arrangement in cells at the 64th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Takeda Science Foundation Life Science Research Grant awarded (FY2025–2029)
Kajita’s project using language models to study how the diversity of immune repertoires is controlled received a Takeda Science Foundation Life Science Research Grant (June 2025 – March 2030).
Joined a JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) as co-investigator (FY2025–2028)
Kajita joined a project funded by a JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) as a co-investigator (April 2025 – March 2029; principal investigator: Akihiko Sakurai). The project studies the biosynthetic pathway of cordycepin, an adenosine analog produced by Cordyceps.
Gave an invited talk at the 1st India-Japan Workshop on Physical Aspects of Living Systems
Kajita gave an invited talk, “Active thermodynamic force-driven mitochondrial alignment,” at the 1st India-Japan Workshop on Physical Aspects of Living Systems.
Paper published in Physical Review Research (mitochondrial alignment)
The paper “Active thermodynamic force driven mitochondrial alignment” was published as a Letter in Physical Review Research 6, L022024 (2024). doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L022024
Organized the 11th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Quantitative Biology
We organized the 11th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Quantitative Biology at the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo (6–7 January 2024), and also presented a poster.
Presented at the 7th area meeting of "Information Physics of Living Matters"
Kajita presented work on how mitochondria form equally spaced patterns in neuronal axons at the 7th area meeting (21–22 September 2023, Toki Messe Niigata Convention Center) of the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Information Physics of Living Matters” (area number 8104).
Presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology
At the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology, Kajita presented work on how an effective repulsion arising from active thermodynamic forces moves and arranges intracellular organelles. A second-year master’s student also presented a poster.
Presented at the Life Science Innovation Center research meeting (FY2023), University of Fukui
Kajita presented work on the alignment of intracellular organelles by an effective repulsion arising from active thermodynamic forces at the research exchange meeting of the Life Science Innovation Center, University of Fukui. A second-year master’s student also gave a talk.
Poster presented at CoPhEE2023
Kajita presented the poster “Active thermodynamic force driven mitochondrial alignment” at Collective Phenomena in complex systems: problems inspired by Ecology and Evolution (CoPhEE2023).
Poster presented at STATPHYS28
Kajita presented the poster “Noise-induced receptor clustering as a functional role of noise for reducing errors in target ligand detection” at the 28th International Conference on Statistical Physics (STATPHYS28).
Preprint posted on arXiv (mitochondrial alignment)
The preprint “Active thermodynamic force driven mitochondrial alignment” was posted on arXiv. arXiv:2305.05553
Presented at the 2023 Spring Meeting of the Physical Society of Japan
Kajita presented work on the movement of intracellular organelles driven by entropic forces at the 2023 Spring Meeting of the Physical Society of Japan.
Presented at the 7th Workshop on Theoretical Immunology
Kajita presented work on estimating disease progression from patients’ gene expression data, and its applications, at the 7th Workshop on Theoretical Immunology.
Presented posters at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Quantitative Biology
At the 10th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Quantitative Biology, Kajita presented a poster on a mathematical model of the spatial dynamics of transcription. A second-year master’s student also presented a poster.
Paper published in npj Systems Biology and Applications (CML treatment response)
The paper “Early dynamics of chronic myeloid leukemia on nilotinib predicts deep molecular response” was published in npj Systems Biology and Applications 8, 39 (2022). doi:10.1038/s41540-022-00248-3
Paper published in Cancers
The paper “Time-series clustering of single-cell trajectories in collective cell migration” was published in Cancers 14 (19), 4587 (2022). doi:10.3390/cancers14194587
Presented at a workshop at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Genetics Society of Japan
In a workshop at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Genetics Society of Japan, Kajita presented on how to start mathematical and data-science research in the life and medical sciences.
Presented at the Life Science Innovation Center research meeting (FY2022), University of Fukui
Kajita presented work on inferring biological networks from multivariate data with machine learning at the research exchange meeting of the Life Science Innovation Center, University of Fukui.
Presented at the 6th Workshop on Theoretical Immunology
Kajita presented work on early, patient-specific prediction of treatment response in chronic myeloid leukemia from disease dynamics at the 6th Workshop on Theoretical Immunology.
Paper published in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience (mitochondria in axons)
The paper “Intermitochondrial signaling regulates the uniform distribution of stationary mitochondria in axons” was published in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 119, 103704 (2022). doi:10.1016/j.mcn.2022.103704
Presented at the 39th Chromosome Workshop
At the 39th Chromosome Workshop and the 20th Nuclear Dynamics Meeting, Kajita presented work on combining a mathematical model of RNA polymerase II movement along genes with experimental data.
Gave an invited talk at the Life Science Innovation Center research meeting (FY2021), University of Fukui
Kajita gave an invited talk on data-driven mathematical modeling of disease dynamics toward personalized medicine at the research exchange meeting of the Life Science Innovation Center, University of Fukui.
Presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology
Kajita presented a mathematical model of the spatial distribution of mitochondria in axons at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology.
Presented at the joint Moonshot projects workshop
Kajita presented a mathematical approach to immune and neural functions arising from changes in intracellular localization at the joint workshop of the Aihara and Murakami Moonshot projects.
JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists awarded (FY2021–2025)
Kajita’s project on a cell-differentiation model based on the dynamics of transcriptional enzymes along genes, and on testing it against measured data, received a JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (April 2021 – March 2026).
Preprint posted on bioRxiv (CML treatment response)
The preprint “Early dynamics of chronic myeloid leukemia on nilotinib predicts deep molecular response” was posted on bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/2021.02.17.431221
Paper published in JRNAL
The paper “An error correction mechanism for reliable chemical communication systems” was published in the Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life 7 (1), 52–57 (2020). doi:10.2991/jrnal.k.200512.011
Moved to the University of Fukui
Kajita moved from the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, to the University of Fukui as an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering.
Paper published in Chaos (ligand detection by receptor clusters)
The paper “Reliable target ligand detection by noise-induced receptor cluster formation” was published in Chaos 30 (1), 011104 (2020). doi:10.1063/1.5140714
Review published in Seisan Kenkyu (antigen discrimination by T cells)
The review “Quantitative biology of ligand discrimination by immune T cells” was published in Seisan Kenkyu 71 (2), 125–132 (2019) (in Japanese). doi:10.11188/seisankenkyu.71.125
Paper published in Physical Review E (zero-order ultraspecificity)
The paper “Balancing specificity, sensitivity, and speed of ligand discrimination by zero-order ultraspecificity” was published in Physical Review E 96, 012405 (2017). doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.96.012405
Review published in Biophysics (antigen discrimination by T cells)
The review “Experimental and theoretical bases for mechanisms of antigen discrimination by T cells” was published in Biophysics 11, 85–92 (2015). doi:10.2142/biophysics.11.85