Becoming the Researcher I Admire: Moving Toward My Goals.

  My cousin was the reason I decided to pursue pharmaceutical sciences. She is twelve years older than me and works in a research position at RIKEN. As I heard various things from her about the reality of research sites, I began to want to follow the path of a researcher by my second year of high school. I chose the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Keio University Faculty of Pharmacy from among many options because I had a strong desire to definitely become a researcher. In the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, students join a laboratory starting in their third year of undergraduate studies and can immerse themselves in research. Additionally, when choosing a laboratory in the third year after acquiring basic knowledge of pharmacy, students can choose their specialized field from biology, physics, or chemistry. This point of "being able to decide on a specialty later" was attractive to me, as I wanted to think it through carefully before deciding.  

  Currently, I have progressed to the Major in Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and belong to Professor Koji Hase's Division of Biochemistry. The reason I chose this laboratory was the immunology class taught by Professor Hase that I took in my second year of undergraduate studies. The content was about the recognition of self and non-self. For example, for a mother, a fetus is not completely a part of her own body, but the mother's body has a mechanism to control it so as not to treat the fetus as a target for attack. I became interested in immunology research after questioning why it doesn't become a target for attack regarding a phenomenon I had taken for granted since childhood, and along with that, I also became interested in the research content of the Division of Biochemistry. There was one more reason. Professor Hase often introduced his own research during class, and one of those stories was about intestinal bacteria. Results showed that mice raised in a sterile environment were more likely to gain weight than normal mice even when eating the same food, and the factor creating that difference was intestinal bacteria. In other words, a person's constitution, such as whether they gain weight easily or not, is determined by intestinal bacteria. This story left a strong impression on me, and since I also became interested in intestinal bacteria, I wanted to study under Professor Hase and chose the Division of Biochemistry.  

  My current research theme is the interaction between artificial hibernation and intestinal bacteria. In a paper published in 2020 as a joint research project between the University of Tsukuba and RIKEN, it was revealed that a state of hibernation can be artificially induced by activating Q neurons. I became interested in this paper, and research began to clarify the effects of artificial hibernation on the intestinal microbiota.

First, I collected intestinal contents from mice in which hibernation was artificially induced and investigated how intestinal bacteria change under hibernation. As a result, I found that specific bacteria showed significant increases or decreases during hibernation, and the composition of intestinal bacteria changed significantly. Furthermore, I have clarified that this change is strongly influenced by the low body temperature state, which is one of the characteristics of hibernation.

Advancing the research further, I am now investigating not only how intestinal bacteria change due to artificial hibernation but also whether the quality of artificial hibernation—for example, the degree of body temperature decrease—changes after completely removing intestinal bacteria by administering antibacterial agents.

A characteristic of the Division of Biochemistry is that there are many students in Doctoral Programs. It is a blessed environment with seniors who possess high expertise and are very helpful, where I can receive specific advice. Also, since there is a one-person-one-theme system, everyone is pursuing completely different research, and during discussions, various opinions come out from different perspectives. Another feature is that there is a lot of joint research, and there are students like me who are conducting research in collaboration with external research institutions and companies. Therefore, there are many opportunities to interact not only with researchers within the university but also with those outside, creating an environment where research can be developed from a wide range of perspectives.  

  In September 2023, I experienced oral and poster presentations at the "21st Awaji International Forum on Infection and Immunity." It was my first conference presentation as a fourth-year undergraduate, and because it was a presentation in English, I felt great pressure and was very nervous. In particular, I was unable to answer sufficiently during the Q&A session, and I felt frustrated as I realized my lack of English ability.

I was not originally good at English, and since the Division of Biochemistry I belong to holds meetings in English, I had been anxious since I was first assigned to the laboratory. However, using this first conference presentation as an opportunity, I began to devote three hours a day to English study and have gradually built up my skills. Recently, I have grown to the point where I can have discussions with foreign researchers at conferences.

For me, the feeling of not being good at English has actually become a driving force to continue my efforts. I believe it is important to clarify the challenges I need to overcome to become the person I want to be and to never stop working toward my goals.  

  My dream of becoming a researcher remains unchanged.

While corporate research is for business purposes, I believe universities focus on basic research, and the ability to thoroughly research a field I am interested in is a great attraction. My future vision is not yet concrete, but I want to think it through carefully while considering factors such as my life events and work-life balance.