Tatsuya Inagaki Ph.D.
About me
I was born in Aichi, Japan, and grew up in Kyoto. As a child, I spent much of my time exploring nearby forests and rivers, collecting stag beetles, rhinoceros beetles, cicadas, dragonflies, grasshoppers, butterflies, and many other insects. I especially enjoyed breeding stag beetles and watching them develop each year.
For my undergraduate studies, I entered Kyoto University and joined the Tropical Forest Resources and Environment Lab. During my first fieldwork on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, I was deeply impressed by the incredible biodiversity of the tropical forest. For my master’s and PhD, I moved to the Insect Ecology Lab at Kyoto University, where I began studying the termite gut microbiome, a community with remarkable diversity packed into a tiny gut. I completed my PhD in March 2020.
Afterward, I spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher in the Hongoh Lab at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, continuing my work on termite gut microbes. I am now a postdoctoral researcher in the Moreau Lab in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University, where I study the artificial manipulation of the protist community in termite guts.
Outside of research, I enjoy hiking, taking insect photographs, collecting insect figures, and watching movies and anime.
Photo gallery
Research activities
Hobbies
Experience in the Barro Colorado Island, Panama
News
2025.11.17
New Undergraduate student, Ren Kondo, joined our lab as my mentee!
2025.11.9-13
Presented at Entsoc 2025@Portland, Oregon
Tatsuya Inagaki, Corrie Moreau. Artificial manipulation of termite gut microbiome and its effect on host traits. Invited to the symposium "Inside and Out: Roles of Environmental and Gut Symbioses."
2025.9.1
Started to co-mentor a new undergraduate student, Ivy Ng with Dr. Peiwei Chen
2025.5.3-8
Fieldwork@Monterey Bay, California
2025.2.3
New Undergraduate student, Sera Ko, joined our lab as my mentee!
2024.8.30
I got the Presentation Award for Young Scientist (PAYS) at ICE 2024! I appreciate people coming to my talk and talking to me!
2024.8.8
I will join the ICE 2024 XXVII International Congress of Entomology in Kyoto, Japan!
Aug 26, 2:00-2:15, Room 509
Tatsuya Inagaki and Corrie Moreau. Disrupting a long-standing symbiotic relationship: artificial manipulation of protist community composition in the termite gut and its effect on host traits
As a part of "[17-2] From Digestion to Microbiome-Driven Behavior: Gut Functions and Symbiosis in Social Insects"
2024.7.26
I will join the 3rd Congress of Evolutionary Biology in Montreal, Canada!
Jul 27, 4:45-5:00, 520D
Tatsuya Inagaki and Corrie Moreau. Disrupting an intimate and long-standing symbiotic relationship: artificial manipulation of protist community composition in termite gut
As a part of "Evolutionary dynamics of animal-microbe symbioses."
2024.5.11
Co-authored paper is out in Insectes Sociaux: Nakashima et al. 2024 Ins Soc
2024.5.1
Paper about symbiotic protist dynamics during termite dispersal is out on Royal Society Open Science: Inagaki et al. 2024 R Soc Open Sci
2024.4.23
Co-authored paper was accepted on Insectes Sociaux
2024.1.25
Paper was accepted on Royal Society Open Science
2023.11.8-17
Visited ASU for talk (SIRG seminar: Dynamics of symbiotic protist community in termite gut during caste differentiation and vertical transmission) and fieldwork
Visited California for fieldwork
2023.8.31
Preprint about dynamics of protist community in termite gut during adult development is out: Inagaki et al 2023 bioRxiv
2023.8.31
Co-authored paper is out in ISME Journal! We revealed genome content and evolutionary process of parasitic Clostridia inhabiting protist cells.
Takahashi et al. 2023 ISME J
2023.7.12
Preprint about the evolution of energy parasite bacteria within protist cell is published: Takahashi et al. 2023 bioRxiv
2023.4.1
Moved to Cornell University as a postdoc (JSPS overseas research fellow)
Advisor: Prof. Corrie Moreau HP
2023.3.1
Our new paper is out in iScience! We revealed that caste fate (whether an individual becomes a reproductive or non-reproductive caste) is already determined at the egg stage in a termite.
Takata et al. 2023 iScience
2022.9.8
Our new paper is out in Insectes Sociaux! We reported the changes in symbiotic protist community, reproductive organ development, and trophallactic behavior during the neotenic differentiation of a subterranean termite, Reticulitermes speratus. Inagaki et al. 2022 Insectes Sociaux
2022.7.29
Poster presentation at ISS in Lyon, France
2022.7.22
Poster presentation at ICE in Helsinki, Finland
2022.7.10
Oral presentation and symposium organization at IUSSI in San Diego, US
2022.6.14
I will join three international conferences this summer!
July 3-7 IUSSI 2022 -International Union for the Study of Social Insects- in San Diego, US
July 17-22 XXVI International Congress of Entomology 2022 in Helsinki, Finland
July 25-29 10th International Symbiosis Society Congress in Lyon, France
2022.6.14
In IUSSI 2022 at San Diego, we organize a symposium "Exploring the intricacies of relationships between social insects and microorganisms" with Dr. Marielle Postava-Davignon and Dr. Hiroyuki Shimoji.
2022. 3. 18
生態学会にて自由集会を開催しました。視聴および議論に参加いただき、ありがとうございました！
2022.1.21
第69回生態学会(ESJ69)にて自由集会「動物と微生物の複雑な共生関係を紐解く Dig deeper into animal–microbe symbioses」を関学大の下地さんと主催します。
2022.1.21
Research page has been updated