Hirofumi Fujita, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Fujita received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan, and completed his postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. He then continued to work at Johns Hopkins University as a Research Associate faculty until he joined UTSW as an Assistant Professor in 2022.

Dr. Fujita's research is defining the circuit frameworks to understand the massive input-output communication of the cerebellum with the forebrain, brainstem, and spinal cord. The long-term goal of his laboratory is to develop novel treatments for brain disorders by leveraging the cerebellum's ability to compensate for diseased brain functions by modulating the activity of specific cerebellar circuits.

• Ataxia
• Cerebellar anatomy
• Cerebellar development

Featured Publications

Catecholamine signaling that modulates cerebellar operations in cognition.

Fujita H, Carlson ES, Neuropsychopharmacology 2021 01 46 1 248-249

Regulation of autism-relevant behaviors by cerebellar-prefrontal cortical circuits.

Kelly E, Meng F, Fujita H, Morgado F, Kazemi Y, Rice LC, Ren C, Escamilla CO, Gibson JM, Sajadi S, Pendry RJ, Tan T, Ellegood J, Basson MA, Blakely RD, Dindot SV, Golzio C, Hahn MK, Katsanis N, Robins DM, Silverman JL, Singh KK, Wevrick R, Taylor MJ, Hammill C, Anagnostou E, Pfeiffer BE, Stoodley CJ, Lerch JP, du Lac S, Tsai PT, Nat Neurosci 2020 09 23 9 1102-1110

Purkinje Cell-Specific Knockout of Tyrosine Hydroxylase Impairs Cognitive Behaviors.

Locke TM, Fujita H, Hunker A, Johanson SS, Darvas M, du Lac S, Zweifel LS, Carlson ES, Front Cell Neurosci 2020 14 228

Lobular homology in cerebellar hemispheres of humans, non-human primates and rodents: a structural, axonal tracing and molecular expression analysis.

Luo Y, Fujita H, Nedelescu H, Biswas MS, Sato C, Ying S, Takahashi M, Akita K, Higashi T, Aoki I, Sugihara I Brain Struct Funct 2017 May

Detailed expression pattern of aldolase C (Aldoc) in the cerebellum, retina and other areas of the CNS studied in Aldoc-Venus knock-in mice.

Fujita H, Aoki H, Ajioka I, Yamazaki M, Abe M, Oh-Nishi A, Sakimura K, Sugihara I, PLoS One 2014 9 1 e86679

Clustered fine compartmentalization of the mouse embryonic cerebellar cortex and its rearrangement into the postnatal striped configuration.

Fujita H, Morita N, Furuichi T, Sugihara I, J Neurosci 2012 Nov 32 45 15688-703

Modular output circuits of the fastigial nucleus for diverse motor and nonmotor functions of the cerebellar vermis.

Fujita H, Kodama T, du Lac S, Elife 2020 07 9

Cerebellar modules in the olivo-cortico-nuclear loop demarcated by pcdh10 expression in the adult mouse.

Sarpong GA, Vibulyaseck S, Luo Y, Biswas MS, Fujita H, Hirano S, Sugihara I, J Comp Neurol 2018 Oct 526 15 2406-2427

Spatial rearrangement of Purkinje cell subsets forms the transverse and longitudinal compartmentalization in the mouse embryonic cerebellum.

Vibulyaseck S, Fujita H, Luo Y, Tran AK, Oh-Nishi A, Ono Y, Hirano S, Sugihara I, J Comp Neurol 2017 Oct 525 14 2971-2990

Compartmentalization of the chick cerebellar cortex based on the link between the striped expression pattern of aldolase C and the topographic olivocerebellar projection.

Vibulyaseck S, Luo Y, Fujita H, Oh-Nishi A, Ohki-Hamazaki H, Sugihara I, J Comp Neurol 2015 Sep 523 13 1886-912

 Featured Books

A computer-aided light microscopy system for three-dimensional reconstruction of axonal projections.. In Microscopy: Science, Technology, Applications and Education, Microscopy Book Series No. 4.

Sugihara I, Fujita H. (2010). Badajoz, Formatex

• Early Career Researcher Award
  Winter Symposium for The Next Generation Brain Project 2017 (2017)
• Masao Ito Prize
  Society for Research on the Cerebellum and Ataxia (2017)
• JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow for Research Abroad
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2014-2016)
• Program for seamless development of young scholarly doctors for global medical research
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2012-2012)
• The Research Award for Graduate Students
  Tokyo Medical and Dental University (2012)
• Best poster award
  CBIR (the Center for Brain Integration Research) symposium for young investigator, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (2011)
• JSPS Research Fellow
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2011-2013)

• Society for Neuroscience (2010)
• The Japan Society for Neuroscience (2009)