00:11
Alright, hello! Today we are doing something slightly different than usual. We have a guest
today from my grad school friends. Masako is busy with, you know, the usual scientist things, so
I enlisted my friend Yusuke to be... I don't know, not replace Masako, but just...
Yeah, and we also wanted to catch up, so hey Yusuke! Hey, it's good to catch up with you.
Yeah, yeah. Do you wanna talk about who you are, you know, how we met?
Yeah, sure, sure, sure. So I'm Yusuke. I'm a cancer biologist. Yeah, I was at the same grad
school as Asami was. Yeah, that's how we met. Yeah, that's how we met. Yeah, there weren't that
many Japanese people in our general area, I guess, so it was pretty easy to spot one another.
But I guess, do you remember the very, very first time I actually, like, recognized you is when
I was selling my stuff because I was moving.
Yeah, I remember that. And you wanted to buy my kitchen knives or some other things.
Yeah, I think it was Tupperware, and I ended up getting the kitchen knife, which
was really good. Yeah, no, I had to, due to very unusual circumstances of a tree falling
onto my apartment and me having to move out in a week, I was selling a bunch of stuff because
I was moving into a furnished place, and I was just, like, telling everybody at school, you know,
the school keiji-van type stuff, and be like, I'm selling everything, name your price, I don't care
how much you pay, just come through. And you came, and we found out that your former boss is my boss's
former student, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a really, really cool incident. And then we started
to talk about research a little bit. Yeah, we were like, oh, wait, you're Japanese? Yeah, cool. I don't
know many Japanese people. I'd be like, you speak Japanese? Yeah. And then we went, oh, which
department? And like, oh, I study a chemistry department. It's like, yeah, and then chatted
about, you know, my boss, and be like, wait, hold on, that name sounds familiar. Like, is it so and
so by any chance? And, um, yeah, so weird, weird, small world, I guess. But you're doing something
else entirely now, right? What are you doing now? What do you study now? Oh, yeah, it's completely
03:02
different. Because, yeah, chemistry, but mine was more biology. And then, um, yeah, I'm developing
treatment for pediatric brain tumor. Yeah, that's what I'm working on as a postdoc.
Shoni, right? Yeah, Shoni. Yes. Yeah, for kids. Is it that different? Like for kids versus for adults?
Oh, yeah, it's completely different. Yeah. May I ask?
Yeah, there's some similarity. But if you look at genetics, like, I would say like, yeah,
there is a debate, but I would say 30 to 70% difference between kids and
adults. Okay. Yeah, it's a huge range. Yeah. So there are actually a lot of for brain tumor,
there are a lot of treatment that has been developed for adults. Yeah, none of them works for
kids. So, yeah, particularly for brain tumor is pretty difficult. And I'd imagine just by, you
know, a sheer number of kids available for studying, which is probably very limited compared
to, you know, everyone that's 20 years and above or something, right? The research is pretty hard.
Yeah, cases are very rare. And also the survival rate is rare, too. So yeah, because of that,
yeah, sample number is in general, it's rare. So there are several places, I would say like three
places, including where I work is the one that have a lot of some relatively a lot of samples.
Your lab is like attached to the hospital.
Right, right, right. I work at the hospital. I work at the hospital while my
building is a research institute by the part of hospital to Children's Hospital.
I see. Wow. Like how is it you showing on wasn't exactly what you're doing in grad school either,
right? Well, it was, yeah, part of it. Yes, I was developing treatment mainly for
adults brain tumor.
Right, I remember your glia trap.
Yes. That's not the only thing I remember for your defense.
No, that's good. That's good. Good memory. Yeah. So yeah, I was developing for adults,
but I also was testing a little bit for kids.
Oh, okay. And have you always wanted to study pediatric cancer more than adults cancer?
Oh, no, actually, because of this project, the where Yeah, when I started to know about
more about no more about the pediatric brain tumor, I find it very interesting and also very,
06:08
how do I say like, very mission driven, like there is a higher needs for kids. So that's where
I decided to, I decided to switch.
Oh, well, maybe, maybe let's track back like, how, how did you get interested in science
to begin with? And like, how did you get to, you know, where you are today, like,
studying pediatrics, brain tumor cancer?
Oh, that that's like, yeah, going back a lot.
That's okay. We've got time. We've got time.
Yeah, I think it was when I was in elementary school, I attended
No Yori, No Yori Kyoju, the one that received Nobel Prize.
On?
On the priority. So like,
yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was at Kahaku in Ueno. So he gave a lecture.
You went to the lecture as an elementary school kid?
No, but that was like a, you know, reach, reaching out. So it was
science to reach out. So it was for elementary school, middle school for high school.
Oh, okay. It was like a school event.
It was a school event.
I thought you were like, ooh, I want to go.
No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not the case. Well, even that for,
I think, yeah, even for kids, that was enough difficult. I kind of fell asleep.
Right. Yeah, I'd imagine.
I'd imagine.
So you went there?
Yeah, I went there. But I still clearly remember that, like, he was explaining this chemical
substance, that the structure is same, but like, it's in the mirror, like,
the structure is different in the left hand and the right hand.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He was talking about that, and as he explains, and he gave us a sample, and there was two vials,
and I smelled one, which smelled like a very fruity smell. And then I smelled the other one,
which is a completely different smell. It was more like, more like an alcohol type of thing.
But, yeah, I don't know what the heck that means. But I just remember that he was saying,
oh, no, these two are exactly the same chemical formula.
It's just the mirror images of each other.
Yeah. So that was, yeah, pretty interesting.
So it was actually chemistry that kind of sparked your interest first, huh?
Yeah, it did. It was actually chemistry, yeah.
Wow.
Believe it or not.
Yeah. Okay. So that started when you were in elementary school,
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and you thought chemistry was cool. Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought chemistry was cool. I also was doing this,
another activity called Hatsumei Club. So just like, yeah, I was just inventing,
inventing, you know, inventing tools. I remember I was developing Senpuki,
but like with Shudou no Senpuki, and then try to, yeah, try to store energy out of it.
I feel like that would generate more sweat than...
That's what I end up learning.
Well, you learned the most important equation, most important principle of thermodynamics is
that there's no such thing as free energy.
Yeah. So you learn by doing it, you know, that's what I end up doing.
And it was, yeah. But that was, yeah, those two are like, really,
like, even when I was a kid, very, yeah, left, left a good impression towards science.
And those are like school led things?
No, it was outside of school.
So you like, somehow found out about this club, and decided to join?
Yeah, my parents, especially my mom, yeah, found those. And then, yeah, she knew that,
I mean, even like before, even before I was very interested in, if I went back even more than when
I was three years old, I was really interested in arithmetic. Like, she was showing this, like,
card with just dots. And it's like, okay, what is this?
Oh, God, Mr. Apology.
You know, count that, you know, three, you know, six. No, no, no, that's not the case.
I don't think I was that bright when I was three. Like, what the fuck?
No, no, I think I was just like, you know, like to do what I'm interested in.
So your mom spotted that you like these science-y things, and she sort of put you in a right
environment to spark your interest further. And so you're like, okay, so that was like elementary
school, right? And middle school, high school, you just kept at it?
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, science.
Like, science was always something that you liked, something that you did well in school?
No, not really.
Oh, okay.
I mean, I liked it, but I didn't do well in school, because I...
I feel like those two are very different things, yeah.
Yeah, I was more into water polo, so I kind of didn't academically perform for a while.
But actually, so then there's another science reach out, in a way, when I was,
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when I was, I think, either ninth grade or 10th grade. This was at my school, but
college student came to my high school, and yeah, he was there explaining, like I remember
I asked him, like, oh, why do you go to school? Why do you go to college? Because at that time,
I didn't see point of going to college.
Really?
And I asked him, and then, yeah, I didn't plan to go to college.
What were you going to do?
I was going to make, become dento shokunin.
Huh? Dento shokunin?
Yeah, dento shokunin, like, you know, creating arty crafts, you know, those kind of stuff.
Oh, damn, okay, very different.
Yeah, so I mean, I like, I like creating stuff. That's what I got from my Hatsune club.
And you were always, like, a hands-on, get your hands dirty type kid.
Right, yeah, pretty much, pretty much.
I can agree with that. Like, I think I, I liked,
because I liked crafting things, yeah.
Yeah, just like that.
Okay, so, so you were like, okay, why do you even go to college? And what did the guy say?
Yeah, oh, he said he was studying mathematics, and he was, yeah, he was, like, passionately
explaining, like, oh, wow, it's so cool to study math. Like, you can, you feel like you can
understand the, like, yeah, shinri by studying math. And then he was doing research. That's
what he was explaining. And once again, like, I didn't know what the heck he was saying. But,
but I just thought that, like, oh, wow, this guy's having a blast. Like, that sounds good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's why I got to become interested in going to college.
That's it for the show today. Thanks for listening and find us
at Eigo de Science on Twitter. That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E. See you next time.
