Dr. Takashi Daniel Yoshida Kozai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Kozai has been at Pitt since 2005, holding two positions, namely a Postdoctoral Associate and a Research Assistant Professor (Research Track), all within the Department of Bioengineering.

Dr. Kozai attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he obtained two BA degrees:  Molecular Cellular Developmental Biology, Magna Cum Laude with distinction, and Biochemistry with distinction.  While here, he also served as a Tutor and an Undergraduate Research Assistant.  He then attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, obtained both his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering.  During his tenure in Michigan, Dr. Kozai was the Co-founder, Inventor, Manager, and Owner of Fontis Biotechnologies.  Dr. Kozai holds 6 awarded patents and 2 pending patents.

Dr. Kozai’s research employs in vivo multi-photon microscopy, functionally evoked electrophysiology, post-mortem multi-channel immunohistochemistry, impedance spectroscopy, device design, and emerging biomaterial tools. The goals of the lab broadly fall into three categories: (1) Manipulation of neuronal and non-neuronal cells to influence the function of neuronal networks, and understanding how to read from or write to the brain (especially understanding what information is “lost-in-translation” between the brain and the interface); (2) Improving long-term performance of implanted electrodes and integrating man-made (engineered) technology with the human brain for the purpose of studying normal and injured/diseased nervous systems in vivo at the cellular level, as well as restoring function to patients; and (3) Understanding the role of neuroimmune cells in neuronal damage and regeneration; and using an engineering approach to understand the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative diseases as well as exploring new treatments (Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Autism).

Dr. Kozai is chairing the 2022 Gordon Research Conference on Neuroelectronic Interfaces, and serves on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Neuroscience (Neural Technology) and Journal of Neural Engineering. He is a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the Society for Neuroscience.  He serves as a reviewer for numerous journals, including: Biomaterials, Nature BME, and Advanced Materials.

View a list of Dr. Kozai’s publications here.

A link to Dr. Kozai’s laboratory is here.