[No. 133] Hajime Seki

Perhaps because both of my parents are in the medical field, I have been interested in science subjects since I was young. Also, my father strictly told me to study English properly, so in high school, I was a student who liked English, chemistry, and mathematics. I was especially interested in chemistry, more so than others, due to the influence of my Juku (cram school) teacher, and I entered the Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology in 2002 with the intention of majoring in a chemistry-related department.

Soon after enrolling, I happened to learn about the university's short-term study abroad program, and when I applied on a whim, I was lucky enough to be able to participate. That summer, I spent two weeks with about 40 other participants at the College of William & Mary on the East Coast of the United States and its vicinity. Although it was a short period, it was a very fulfilling, event-packed program. I experienced firsthand the frustration of not being able to communicate as well as I wanted with people from other countries, but on the other hand, I was strongly attracted to the free and diverse culture, which was different from Japan, and my desire to go abroad grew stronger. The following summer, during my second year of undergraduate studies, I participated in UCLA's summer program on my own, took an organic chemistry class with local students, and began to seriously consider pursuing graduate studies abroad.

At the beginning of my fourth year of undergraduate studies, we were assigned to laboratories, and I decided to join the laboratory of Professor Fumitoshi Kakiuchi, who had moved from Osaka University that year. The reasons were my interest in organometallic chemistry and the professor's personality. As we were the first class of students, we all set up the laboratory together. The experiments began in earnest around May, and I, who could hardly be called skilled at experiments, learned the ABCs of experimentation from scratch in the Kakiuchi lab. My research was mainly focused on catalytically activating C-H bonds to directly convert them into C-C bonds.

While I was swamped with experiments, my desire to go to graduate school abroad had not faded. When I happened to confide in my professor, he casually said, "I'll write as many letters of recommendation as you need, so go for it." I remember that the following six months were incredibly tough, as I was busy with my graduation research and preparing applications for graduate schools in the United States. Still, driven by my desire to study chemistry abroad, I desperately sent out applications, and in the winter of 2006, an acceptance letter from the University of Minnesota arrived in the mail. When I reported it to my professor, he said, "You really did a great job!" (The epilogue to this story is that he apparently never thought I would actually get in).

After moving to the U.S. in the summer of 2006, I enrolled in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, and for the first two years, I spent my time taking classes and serving as a teaching assistant (TA), supervising student experiments. Teaching experiments as a TA was very enjoyable, and my English improved by communicating with the local students. After that, I decided to join the laboratory of Professor Georg, who had moved from the University of Kansas, and started my research life. In American laboratories, there is not the same kind of detailed guidance as in Japan, and everyone is placed in an environment where they must solve their own problems as independent scientists. However, thanks to the perseverance and experimental techniques I had developed in the Kakiuchi Laboratory, I successfully obtained my Ph.D. in 2011.

During my Ph.D. course, I started playing badminton under the influence of a Vietnamese classmate. I had never played it at all when I was in Japan, but I enjoyed how I could naturally make more friends at the gym without exchanging words, and I became completely absorbed in it. In my research life, many things didn't go well and stress built up, so there were many situations where badminton saved me.

After graduating from university, I wanted to learn something a little different, so I conducted research in the field of chemical biology under Professor Janda at The Scripps Research Institute on the West Coast. I learned about biochemical assays and proteomics, and just as I was thinking about deciding my future career path, I was approached by someone from Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma at a job fair in Boston and received an offer. Currently, I am working as a chemist at the Research Centers and Institutes in Osaka, where I am in charge of the initial stages of drug discovery, such as concept validation and lead compound generation. Although it has been less than a year since I joined the company, I find the work of creating something from scratch rewarding and interesting, as it allows me to add my own originality.

Looking back on my career path so far, I realize that I haven't been one to draw up long-term plans; rather, I have made decisions at each career crossroads based on my own interests and intuition. I am very humbled to have been given this opportunity to write, as I have only recently joined the workforce, but I hope that for those aiming for the Faculty of Science and Technology, this can serve as a reference for an unconventional career path like mine.

Finally, during my time at Keio University, I met a variety of people and was greatly inspired. I was truly blessed with the unique friends from the summer program and classmates who worked hard on their research in the department and laboratory. And I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Kakiuchi, who fully supported my decision to study abroad for graduate school, despite being in a newly established laboratory that needed all the hands it could get.