Faculty profile

Rutsuko Ito

ResearcherUniversity of Toronto

This profile is built from public research funding records (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) and PubMed. We have not imported them from a University of Toronto directory, so their courses may be missing. Find their university profile.

Rutsuko Ito

Researcher

Health Sciences

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Supervision signals

Has led research grants, which requires an independent research appointment. Ask their department whether they supervise graduate students.
12 publications in the last five years, latest in 2026.
Senior (last) author on 6 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 5 research grants (3 NSERC, 2 CIHR), most recently in 2023.
Supervised 1 trainee who won CIHR awards, most recently in 2024.

These signals come from public records, including CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

Publications

Citations

h-index

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the works listed on the university profile; citation counts come from Dimensions.

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Signals and details

Research

Aversion Hippocampus Human Motivation Nucleus Accumbens Rat Reward Decision Making

Latest papers

Sex-dependent role of the ventral hippocampus, but not its projection to the medial prefrontal cortex, in a novel operant conflict-driven ethanol choice task.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026 · senior author
Anxiety and Beyond: Diversity in Ventral Hippocampus Circuits and Function.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
Hippocampal damage disrupts the latent decision-making processes underlying approach-avoidance conflict processing in humans.
PLoS biology · 2025

All 34 publications

Latest funding

Approach-Avoidance Conflict Biases and the Ventral Hippocampus-Nucleus Accumbens Circuit in Compulsive Ethanol Seeking in Male and Female Ethanol-Dependent Rats
CIHR · 2024 · Supervisor
$120,000
Cross-species investigation into the contributions of the ventral/anterior hippocampus and wider circuitry in approach-avoidance conflict decision making.
CIHR · 2023 · Nominated PI
$929,476
Resolving neuronal circuits of emotional memory with confocal microscopy
NSERC · 2023 · Co-investigator
$150,000

All 8 grants and awards

34 publications.

Sex-dependent role of the ventral hippocampus, but not its projection to the medial prefrontal cortex, in a novel operant conflict-driven ethanol choice task.

McNamara TA, Chen Y, Manoon J, Wang M, Lee AC, Ito R

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41386-026-02408-z PMID: 41992033

Anxiety and Beyond: Diversity in Ventral Hippocampus Circuits and Function.

van der Veldt S, Bagot RC, Ciocchi S, Ito R, Kheirbek MA, MacAskill AF, Amilhon B

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2025

DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1304-25.2025 PMID: 41224652

Hippocampal damage disrupts the latent decision-making processes underlying approach-avoidance conflict processing in humans.

Le Duc W, Butler CR, Argyropoulos GPD, Chu S, Hutcherson C, Ruocco AC, Ito R, Lee ACH

PLoS biology2025

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003033 PMID: 39932954

Ventral hippocampus to nucleus accumbens shell circuit regulates approach decisions during motivational conflict.

Patterson D, Khan N, Collins EA, Stewart NR, Sassaninejad K, Yeates D, Lee ACH, Ito R

PLoS biology2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002722 PMID: 39854559

Individual and sex differences in frontloading behavior and approach- avoidance conflict preference predict addiction-like ethanol seeking in rats.

McNamara TA, Weng H, Liao HY, Ito R

Scientific reports2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-82517-1 PMID: 39848982

Tyrosine Hydroxylase-Positive Nucleus Accumbens Neurons Influence Delay Discounting in a Mouse T-Maze Task.

Appings R, Botterill JJ, Zhao M, Riaz S, Kanani A, Violi F, Steininger CFD, Ito R, Arruda-Carvalho M

eNeuro2024

DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0487-24.2024 PMID: 39626950

A rat model of operant negative reinforcement in opioid-dependent males and females.

Chow JJ, Pitts KM, Chabot JM, Ito R, Shaham Y

Psychopharmacology2024

DOI: 10.1007/s00213-024-06594-w PMID: 38642101

Male rodent perirhinal cortex, but not ventral hippocampus, inhibition induces approach bias under object-based approach-avoidance conflict.

Dhawan SS, Pinter C, Lee ACH, Ito R

eLife2023Senior author

DOI: 10.7554/elife.81467 PMID: 37313833

Elucidating medial temporal and frontal lobe contributions to approach-avoidance conflict decision-making using functional MRI and the hierarchical drift diffusion model.

Chu S, Hutcherson C, Ito R, Lee ACH

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)2023

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad080 PMID: 36944537

Parallel ventral hippocampus-lateral septum pathways differentially regulate approach-avoidance conflict.

Yeates DCM, Leavitt D, Sujanthan S, Khan N, Alushaj D, Lee ACH, Ito R

Nature communications2022Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31082-0 PMID: 35688838

Approach-Avoidance Conflict Biases and the Ventral Hippocampus-Nucleus Accumbens Circuit in Compulsive Ethanol Seeking in Male and Female Ethanol-Dependent Rats

SupervisorCIHR2024Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Principal investigators: Collins, Emily A

Keywords: Addiction; Alcohol Use Disorder; Animal Models; Approach-Avoidance Conflict; Chemogenetics; Compulsive Ethanol Seeking; Compulsivity; Instrumental Learning; Neural Circuits; Substance Use Disorders

$120,000

Cross-species investigation into the contributions of the ventral/anterior hippocampus and wider circuitry in approach-avoidance conflict decision making.

Nominated PICIHR2023Project Grant

Principal investigators: Ito, Rutsuko; Lee, Andy

Keywords: Aversion; Decision Making; Hippocampus; Human; Medial Temporal Lobe; Motivation; Nucleus Accumbens; Prefrontal Cortex; Rat; Reward

$929,476

Resolving neuronal circuits of emotional memory with confocal microscopy

Co-investigatorNSERC2023Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: Rozeske, Robert

$150,000

Cortico-limbic-striatal network in stimulus and temporal control over adaptive behaviour

Principal investigatorNSERC2022Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Ito, Rutsuko

$141,000

Circuit Basis of Decision Making Across the Lifespan

Co-investigatorNSERC2018Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: ArrudaCarvalho, Maithe

$121,610

Hippocampal contributions to approach-avoidance conflict decision-making: a cross-species investigation into the underlying cognitive processes and wider neural circuitry

Nominated PICIHR2017Project Grant

Principal investigators: Ito, Rutsuko; Lee, Andy

Keywords: Approach-Avoidance Decision Making; Aversion; Hippocampus; Human; Medial Prefrontal Cortex; Motivation; Nucleus Accumbens; Rat; Reward

$742,050

Delineating cortico-limbic-striatal circuits in reward and punishment: segregation and integration

Principal investigatorNSERC2016Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Ito, Rutsuko

$186,000

Assessing the role of corticostriatal interactions in appetitive and aversive conditioning- relevance to addiction and schizophrenia

Principal investigatorNSERC2011Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Ito, Rutsuko

$120,000

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2023

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Aversion Dear Professor Ito, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Sex-dependent role of the ventral hippocampus, but not its projection to the medial prefrontal cortex, in a novel operant conflict-driven ethanol choice task." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "Cross-species investigation into the contributions of the ventral/anterior hippocampus and wider circuitry in approach-avoidance conflict decision making." (2023), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]

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Rutsuko Ito

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

Sex-dependent role of the ventral hippocampus, but not its projection to the medial prefrontal cortex, in a novel operant conflict-driven ethanol choice task.

Anxiety and Beyond: Diversity in Ventral Hippocampus Circuits and Function.

Hippocampal damage disrupts the latent decision-making processes underlying approach-avoidance conflict processing in humans.

Ventral hippocampus to nucleus accumbens shell circuit regulates approach decisions during motivational conflict.

Individual and sex differences in frontloading behavior and approach- avoidance conflict preference predict addiction-like ethanol seeking in rats.

Tyrosine Hydroxylase-Positive Nucleus Accumbens Neurons Influence Delay Discounting in a Mouse T-Maze Task.

A rat model of operant negative reinforcement in opioid-dependent males and females.

Male rodent perirhinal cortex, but not ventral hippocampus, inhibition induces approach bias under object-based approach-avoidance conflict.

Elucidating medial temporal and frontal lobe contributions to approach-avoidance conflict decision-making using functional MRI and the hierarchical drift diffusion model.

Parallel ventral hippocampus-lateral septum pathways differentially regulate approach-avoidance conflict.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict Biases and the Ventral Hippocampus-Nucleus Accumbens Circuit in Compulsive Ethanol Seeking in Male and Female Ethanol-Dependent Rats

Cross-species investigation into the contributions of the ventral/anterior hippocampus and wider circuitry in approach-avoidance conflict decision making.

Resolving neuronal circuits of emotional memory with confocal microscopy

Cortico-limbic-striatal network in stimulus and temporal control over adaptive behaviour

Circuit Basis of Decision Making Across the Lifespan

Hippocampal contributions to approach-avoidance conflict decision-making: a cross-species investigation into the underlying cognitive processes and wider neural circuitry

Delineating cortico-limbic-striatal circuits in reward and punishment: segregation and integration

Assessing the role of corticostriatal interactions in appetitive and aversive conditioning- relevance to addiction and schizophrenia

Frequent collaborators

Maithe Arruda Carvalho