Toko Kikuchi joined the Wyss Center in October 2022 as a Junior Research Scientist in neuroscience bringing expertise in miniature endoscopy in vivo imaging combined with cognitive tasks. She mainly works with academic collaborators on the project aiming to understand the control mechanism of population astrocytes in regulating neuronal firing patterns and memory functions.

Toko holds a MEng in General Engineering from Ecole Central de Lyon (France) and a MSc in Molecular Biology from Keio University (Japan). She had the unique opportunity to join in Prof. Javier DeFelipe’s lab in Technical University of Madrid (Spain) as a Visiting Researcher during her master’s project to study neuroanatomy. Toko received her PhD in Neuroscience in 2022 from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), where she studied astrocyte physiology and their modulatory impact on neuronal network during the high vigilance state.