Mika Naganawa, PhD
Research Scientist in Radiology and Biomedical ImagingDownloadHi-Res Photo
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Research Scientist in Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
Appointments
Radiology & Biomedical Imaging
Research ScientistPrimary
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Education & Training
- JSPS Research Fellow PD
- National Institute of Radiological Sciences (2008)
- JSPS Research Fellow PD
- Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (2007)
- COE Program Researcher
- Nara Institute of Science and Technology (2005)
- PhD
- University of Tokyo, Frontier Sciences (2004)
- MS
- University of Tokyo, Frontier Sciences (2001)
- BE
- University of Tokyo, Engineering (1999)
Research
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Overview
Medical Research Interests
Biomedical Engineering; Dementia; Kinetics; Nuclear Medicine; Pharmacokinetics; Positron-Emission Tomography; Radiopharmaceuticals; Receptors, Opioid, kappa; Substance-Related Disorders
Public Health Interests
Statistical Computing; Substance Use, Addiction; Mental Health; Aging; Modeling
ORCID
0000-0002-4408-2621
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Frequent collaborators of Mika Naganawa's published research.
Publications Timeline
A big-picture view of Mika Naganawa's research output by year.
Research Interests
Research topics Mika Naganawa is interested in exploring.
Richard Carson, PhD
Nabeel Nabulsi, PhD
Takuya Toyonaga, MD, PhD
Jean-Dominique Gallezot, PhD
Ming-Kai Chen, MD, PhD
David Matuskey, MD
113Publications
5,326Citations
Positron-Emission Tomography
Radiopharmaceuticals
Kinetics
Receptors, Opioid, kappa
Pharmacokinetics
Nuclear Medicine
Publications
2026
Lower synaptic density in mood circuitry underlies depression in Parkinson’s disease
Cayir S, Naganawa M, Volpi T, Sadabad F, Dias M, Yang Y, Elliott S, Ansari M, Elshahat A, Pittman B, Esterlis I, Nabulsi N, Huang Y, Sanacora G, Comley R, Finnema S, Carson R, Tinaz S, Matuskey D, Holmes S. Lower synaptic density in mood circuitry underlies depression in Parkinson’s disease. Brain Communications 2026, 8: fcag136. PMID: 42109687, PMCID: PMC13152014, DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcag136.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricConceptsAnterior cingulate cortexDepressive symptomsSynaptic densityMood-related brain regionsSeverity of depressive symptomsParkinson's diseaseDorsolateral prefrontal cortexSymptoms of depressionPrefrontal cortexCingulate cortexComorbid depressionBrain regionsBinding potentialParkinson's disease patientsDepressionSynaptic plasticitySynaptic vesicle protein 2AMoodMotor symptomsDLPFCAmygdalaHealthy controlsHippocampusEvaluation of interventionsCortexOptimized reference region and the effect on test-retest reliability and sensitivity to differences between Parkinson’s disease and control groups with [11C]UCB-J
Khattar N, Matuskey D, Gallezot J, Naganawa M, Holmes S, Sadabad F, Mayeli M, Esterlis I, van Dyck C, Mecca A, D’Souza D, Nabulsi N, Finnema S, Huang Y, Carson R, Toyonaga T. Optimized reference region and the effect on test-retest reliability and sensitivity to differences between Parkinson’s disease and control groups with [11C]UCB-J. Journal Of Cerebral Blood Flow And Metabolism : Official Journal Of The International Society Of Cerebral Blood Flow And Metabolism 2026, 0271678x261441071. PMID: 41960765, PMCID: PMC13068773, DOI: 10.1177/0271678x261441071.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricConceptsSynaptic density imaging in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia: A comparison of 18F‐SynVesT‐1 and 18F‐FDG PET
Fesharaki‐Zadeh A, Cayir S, Ibrahim W, Yang Y, Gallezot J, Naganawa M, Wu Y, Toyonaga T, Sadabad F, O'Dell R, Pittman B, Nabulsi N, Strittmatter S, Carson R, Huang Y, van Dyck C, Mecca A, Matuskey D. Synaptic density imaging in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia: A comparison of 18F‐SynVesT‐1 and 18F‐FDG PET. Alzheimer's & Dementia 2026, 22: e71283. PMID: 41954197, PMCID: PMC13063251, DOI: 10.1002/alz.71283.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchThis study investigates synaptic density imaging in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, showing that SV2A PET detects more pronounced synaptic loss than glucose hypometabolism using FDG PET, aiding early diagnosis and monitoring.Dose Reduction in Dynamic PET Imaging Using Self-Supervised Two-Step Deep Image Prior
Li A, Syed M, Naganawa M, Matuskey D, Carson R, Tang J. Dose Reduction in Dynamic PET Imaging Using Self-Supervised Two-Step Deep Image Prior. IEEE Transactions On Radiation And Plasma Medical Sciences 2026, PP: 1-1. DOI: 10.1109/trpms.2026.3671590.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsConceptsDynamic brain PET imagingBrain PET imagingDeep Image PriorNoise reductionDynamic framesSupervised deep learningImage priorsDenoising approachDeep learningAverage noise reductionPET imagingDynamic datasetsTraining datasetImage-basedDeep imagingSuperior tradeoffFine-tuningSignal-to-noisePatient radiation exposureActivity distributionRadiotracer doseDatasetDose reductionNoiseParametric imagesDose reduction for synaptic density PET imaging in Parkinson’s disease
Li A, Naganawa M, Honhar P, Fontaine K, Gravel P, Matuskey D, Carson R, Tang J. Dose reduction for synaptic density PET imaging in Parkinson’s disease. NeuroImage 2026, 331: 121853. PMID: 41833889, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.121853.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricConceptsHealthy controlsSubstantia nigraIn vivo quantificationPET imagingDeep imagingPET doseParkinson's diseaseFull-count dataSynaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2AC-UCB-JRecovery of correlationsDose reductionStandard doseNoise realizationsBrainstem nucleiRadiation exposureSynaptic densityRed nucleusMotor scoresDosePD patientsStatistical significanceClinical applicationBinding potentialDynamic PETNoninvasive Quantification of [18F]SynVesT-2 PET in Healthy Human Brains Using Simplified Reference Tissue Models
Hernández-Martín N, Balayeva T, Naganawa M, Asch R, Huang Y, Carson R, Gallezot J, Cai Z. Noninvasive Quantification of [18F]SynVesT-2 PET in Healthy Human Brains Using Simplified Reference Tissue Models. Journal Of Nuclear Medicine 2026, 67: 796-802. PMID: 41679926, PMCID: PMC13138105, DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.125.271207.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchThis study investigates simplified models for measuring brain synaptic density using SV2A PET scans, showing a 40-minute scan can reliably replace invasive methods, improving clinical feasibility.“Pseudo-reference-based Input Function Shape” (pRef-IFS): Towards a True image-derived input function for PET kinetic modeling
Volpi T, Naganawa M, Carson R, Hillmer A. “Pseudo-reference-based Input Function Shape” (pRef-IFS): Towards a True image-derived input function for PET kinetic modeling. Journal Of Cerebral Blood Flow And Metabolism : Official Journal Of The International Society Of Cerebral Blood Flow And Metabolism 2026, 46: 1238-1252. PMID: 41543053, PMCID: PMC12811094, DOI: 10.1177/0271678x251411712.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2025
Neural Signatures of Bipolar Disorder and Psychotropic Medication Effects: A Multimodal PET–MRI Study
Asch R, Fan S, Cool R, Boster S, DellaGioia N, Naganawa M, Nabulsi N, Lacadie C, Pietrzak R, Esterlis I. Neural Signatures of Bipolar Disorder and Psychotropic Medication Effects: A Multimodal PET–MRI Study. Biological Psychiatry 2025, s0006-3223(25)01664-6. PMID: 41325959, PMCID: PMC12981349, DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.11.018.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricConceptsGray matter volumeBipolar disorderMedication effectsNeural signaturesPsychotropic medicationsFronto-limbic brain regionsAssociated with greater impulsivityPositron emission tomographyC]UCB-J positron emission tomographyNeurobiology of bipolar disorderSynaptic densitySynaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2AIllness-related changesMatter volumeSV2A densityBD individualsBrain regionsFunctional MRIBrain structuresGroup differencesSynaptic deficitsNeuroimaging findingsPET-MRI studiesMedical statusIn vivo evidenceExceptional brain PET images from the NeuroEXPLORER: scans with targeted radiopharmaceuticals and comparison to HRRT
Volpi T, Toyonaga T, Khattar N, Gallezot J, Naganawa M, Vanderlinden G, Honhar P, Zeng T, Fontaine K, Mulnix T, Hu L, Sun X, Henry S, Matuskey D, Radhakrishnan R, Guo L, Hu Y, Zhang J, Zheng X, Nabulsi N, Huang Y, Badawi R, Cherry S, Hillmer A, Jones T, Liu C, Morris E, Qi J, Li H, Carson R. Exceptional brain PET images from the NeuroEXPLORER: scans with targeted radiopharmaceuticals and comparison to HRRT. European Journal Of Nuclear Medicine And Molecular Imaging 2025, 53: 2110-2121. PMID: 41177836, PMCID: PMC12860869, DOI: 10.1007/s00259-025-07605-4.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsStandardized uptake valueTargeted radiopharmaceuticalsDopamine systemMultiple cortical areasSerotonin transporterRaphe nucleusMeasurement of tracer uptakeBrain regionsBrain structuresSubcortical nucleiPositron emission tomographyCortical areasSynaptic densityPET researchFocal uptakePaired scansUptake valueTracer uptakePET systemGray matterEarly imagesEmission tomographyHealthy individualsTracer deliveryNeuroExplorerMeasuring Dopamine Transporter Availability and Synaptic Density in Parkinson's Disease: A Dual‐Tracer Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Study
Sadabad F, Volpi T, Honhar P, Tinaz S, Dias M, Toyonaga T, Naganawa M, Gallezot J, Yang Y, Ibrahim W, Pittman B, Cayir S, Radhakrishnan R, Angarita G, Holmes S, Comley R, Carson R, Finnema S, Matuskey D. Measuring Dopamine Transporter Availability and Synaptic Density in Parkinson's Disease: A Dual‐Tracer Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Study. Movement Disorders 2025, 40: 2678-2687. PMID: 41040062, DOI: 10.1002/mds.70041.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsC-UCB-JDopamine transporterHealthy controlsVentral striatumDisease stageSubstantia nigraSynaptic densityParkinson's diseaseDopamine transporter availabilityPositron emission tomography imaging studiesSynaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2AAssessment of synaptic densityDopaminergic denervationBetween-group differencesTransporter availabilityBinding potentialNigrostriatal regionDisease durationDual-tracerImaging studiesPatientsPET imagingPresynaptic degenerationPD patientsDopamine
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