26 March 2025 – Beginning his academic career in cognitive sciences, Ryosuke Tanaka chose to move from human psychology to animal studies through neuroscience. “I found human behaviour research limiting, as reaching definite, mechanistic explanations is extremely difficult there”, he says. “Meanwhile, small model organisms offer real explanatory power.”
After completing a PhD at Yale University as part of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Tanaka was granted an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship and chose to move to Germany for his postdoctoral research. His work now focuses on zebrafish, where he investigates cognitive functions like memory, attention and decision-making by reverse-engineering neural circuits. The zebrafish’s small, transparent brain allows for detailed imaging and precise neural manipulation, making it an ideal system for studying cognition.
“Being in different countries has given me a higher-resolution view of how science is structured,” Tanaka notes. “I would recommend to any researcher to experience multiple environments – it is not just about the science, but also about seeing different ways of thinking and making connections.”
Ryosuke Tanaka also acknowledges that the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship has provided him with a level of independence that is rare for postdoctoral researchers allowing him to pursue his own research direction. The fellowship also strengthened his professional network, connecting him with other researchers across Europe. Tanaka is now looking at combining diverse methodologies to uncover how small neural circuits give rise to complex cognitive functions.
