00:11
And then you went to college. You went to undergrad.
And remind me, did you go to an... So at this point, you're in Japan, right? In high school.
High school in Japan, yeah.
Yeah, okay, okay. And then for undergrad, you went to U.S. or did you go after you joined the
Japanese university?
No, no, no. I went straight to the U.S. university.
How did... Like, why did... How did that happen?
That path, I feel like, is not that natural, especially if you weren't planning to go to
college to begin with.
Oh, yeah, it wasn't traditional. It was not... It wasn't orthodox.
Yeah, route, so... But, yeah, I went... That's because of, like, this
um, scientific journal, layperson, scientific journal called Newton. Yeah, that article kind
of changed my, I guess, pathway. So that was about... Yeah, that was about iPS cells. That's
also another...
That was all the rage, yeah, around our high school, yeah.
Right, so that's what I read. And then that was... Yeah, Newton. So I went to
Ochanomizu no Maruzen, and I just picked up this... I just picked up this journal, like,
randomly, and then... Yeah, because I still remember. I still have it. But just, like,
the cells, like, oh, wow, this looks interesting. So I just, you know, picked it and started
to read. Ended up buying it, but anyways. But I was talking about this, yeah, iPS cells
becoming neurons, all other type of cells. But one of them was particularly was talking
about making artificial neurons from iPS cells and applying that to paralytic people,
like, for treatment.
So what is that in Japanese?
Yeah, and then that was because when I was in elementary school, I tried this wheelchair
basketball at school. And then that time, I was like, damn, this is so hard. Like, yeah,
how can this... Yeah, you know, these people can do it. Like, it was... And I, you know,
they're sharing, like, very struggle to leave. And I also, myself, like, tried that. And
I even tried to go to convenience store. And it was, yeah, there was, like, a stair, like,
little tiny stairs. It's not even stairs. It was a little bump. Yeah, I couldn't even
03:05
go to convenience store. And then that just, like, the feeling kind of left in me. And
then it came back when I read this iPS about the, yeah, about the iPS.
So that's where it's sort of, like, connected. You're like, oh, I want to learn about science,
like medical science. Yeah, in college.
And then that was, yeah, and also the article was talking about the application
side is, yeah, more happening in the US. So that's why I was like, okay, I guess we'll...
And then initially, I was thinking about graduate school, but yeah, okay, might as well.
I mean, like, remind me at this point, you, like, spoke very little English, right?
Yeah, no, it's not even little. I didn't speak any English.
And you just were like, oh, let me go figure it out.
Yeah, I just figured it out.
That's so, that's so very you. Everything you do seems like, oh, I'll figure it out.
I mean, so same for me, like, I'm very yukiatari battari, so I can, I can understand.
But damn, that's, that's pretty brave. That's pretty brave. And, but so okay,
you went to US University, you studied biology?
Yeah, biology. Well, and also molecular biology, biochemistry.
Okay, so your major was in like a biochemistry, bio...
Yeah, biochemistry. Yeah.
Okay, okay. And then, and then you didn't go straight to grad school, right? You worked a
little bit. Yeah, well, I went to, I did into Pfizer a little bit.
Okay.
And then I went to, I went to master's first in neuroscience.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, so that's why I did that. So, yeah, so because like, you know, paralysis, like I was
really interested in neuroscience. So I was, I was initially thinking of going to PhD, but I
didn't get in because of lack of experience in neuroscience. So then I decided to go to,
then I decided to go to master's in neuroscience first, to just gain more experience.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And neuroscience, I feel like, is very competitive PhD program to like,
lots of, like for, for the level of access that's fairly limited to undergrads, I feel like a lot of
people want to go into neuroscience, even though as an undergrad, you don't have a ton of opportunity
to actually do neuroscience research. So that, that seems fairly understandable, but okay,
06:03
so you like were interested in neuroscience, but where, where did the switch from neuroscience to
more like, is it, is it kind of back to molecular biology? Am I right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was doing molecular biology, molecular neuroscience,
molecular cellular neuroscience. That's what I was doing during my master's.
And, and then for, yeah, for, for your PhD, you are, you were doing pharmacology, right?
Right, right, right.
So, so, I mean, I don't know the, I don't know the difference of subtleties of these
terms. Like, to me, they're all biology, but explain to me, what's the, what's the difference
going from neuroscience to pharmacology program?
Pharmacology. Well, so it depends on like, how you see to the pharmacology is basically
a field of making, yeah, making drugs, making legal drugs
for disease. So it can be neuroscience, it can be cancers.
So it's a bigger umbrella term for like medical application in biology.
Kind of.
Right, right, right, right, right.
Cool.
So as neuroscience is like, okay, it's more about brain.
It's not only brain, but like neuros, yeah, about neurons, neural nervous system.
So, okay, cool. I, you know, like neuroscience is one of those field that
I feel like I would have been interested if I didn't have an allergic reaction to biology.
Biology was too hard for me. I couldn't memorize things.
Yeah, well, it's not only memorization. I didn't like memorizations. I actually
didn't like pharmacology. Molecular pharmacology is not something that I liked,
because that's a pure memorization. I cannot do it either. So I, yeah, I tend to do different,
different kind of more, more, more theory based, or like more physics,
or formula based. That's one that I'm more interested in.
Hmm, interesting, because, um, so I guess, even though you like, did slightly different science,
from like, undergrad to master's to PhD to what you're doing now, I guess the through line in all
of that is that it's always been about sort of medical application, like things that would help
09:05
like, like you have patients in your mind throughout this whole thing. Am I right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, it's like a my, my life is, yeah, driven by curiosity and
mission, I guess. And, but it's it never occurred to you that you want to be like a medical doctor?
No, no, I think it's, it's, I think science, well, research is more fun.
Oh, hmm. Because I sometimes get asked that question. Like, you know, if you like chemistry,
you know, have you thought about becoming a doctor? I'm like, hell no. Like, that's like
the last thing I can do. Yeah. Don't don't trust me with somebody's lives.
Yeah, it's, yeah, I think it's more science, research is more intellectually stimulating.
So my curiosity part goes like, it drives me to more research than becoming medical doctors.
So you have just started your postdoc, right? Like a month ago? Yeah, yeah. Oh,
not even a month ago. Like, you just started. Like a month ago. Yeah. Three, four weeks ago.
Yeah. So how do you like it? How do you like Seattle so far, by the way?
Oh, yeah, I love it. I love this place. It's just so amazing. People are amazing.
Research environment is amazing. Nature. Are you gonna be one of those like West Coast people
with their Patagonia vests and tech bro vibes when I see you next time?
You're gonna be like taking calls up in a mountain and be like, hello.
That'd be fantastic. I don't mind doing that.
And now it's really amazing. And you like your lab so far? How big is your lab? Oh, yeah.
Now it's around 20, 25 or so. I heard it got smaller. It's because my PI just spun startup
and then people moved to startup. So now it's actually considered a little smaller,
but it's around like, yeah, around 20 people or so. And I remember your lab mostly consists of
postdocs, right? Yeah, postdocs, scientists, like PhD level scientists, tech. There's like a one
graduate student now. And also there is one of the postdocs was a graduate student in the lab,
12:01
but just became a postdoc. So yeah, it's like a more like not traditional academic labs.
Yeah, it sounds like it's more towards biotech, right? Yeah, it is, it is, which I like.
You know, I would say that my museum environment is also kind of somewhere in between
academia and industry, even though the science itself that I do now feels a lot closer to
application than the fundamentals that I've been doing in my PhD. And you came to my defense,
like, you know, how much of a Soken Q that was, right? That was like, so far from application.
Yeah, it's now it's a lot closer to application. Like I have to think about
like what my tools are going, how my tools are going to be used by the community that I'm hoping
to provide with. So like, it's interesting, like the concerns I have are not just of a scientific
interest. I think about user friendliness a lot when I'm developing my tools. That's been kind of
like an interesting switch. I'm also like not surrounded by scientists alone. Like there are
other people, like there are scientists in my museum, but like my team, but I have interactions
on a daily basis with conservators, registrars, like people who don't really think about science
on a daily basis. And that's been kind of interesting. But I guess your lab is more
more about science than my case, right?
Yeah, it's still science. But uh,
Do you talk to doctors and medical doctors or?
Yeah, actually, my program. Yeah, through my program, I'm going to have a clinical mentor
and biotech mentor. So I'll be I'll be working with yeah, clinic, like medical doctors. Actually,
next week, I will, yeah, I plan to meet like vet, like animal.
And I think was next week or following week, I'm going to meet patent lawyer.
Yeah, different kinds of people. I'll be working.
Wow. Okay, that'd be interesting. I find it really interesting. So far, how my like science
is influenced by people who are not scientists around me, like, I find it very, like, I haven't
15:04
yet figured out what to do with it. But I realized that my thought processes are changing. And it's
kind of interesting. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. And I have to explain a lot. I have to explain a
lot of times like what I'm doing. And whereas like, you know, in your PhD lab, you know, everyone
has the same kind of problems, same kind of questions in mind. So you can, you know, start
from halfway through the book to just start talking about it. But here I have to discuss like,
so here's the problem, right? And then like, you know,
and I have to adjust how I talk to like, depending on how much interest the other person has in
scientific part, like, maybe they're not interested in science at all. And they're
interested in the tools that I'm developing, but not about how the tool works. They just want to
know, like, what kind of tool that is. And so these are things that like, I'm kind of slowly adjusting
to. Interesting, interesting. Yeah. So I think you'll have the similar experience. You're like,
oh, I have to explain from like, ABC to this other people, because of course, why would they know
anything about my research? Right? So? Yeah, always, especially working with the lawyer is
always that's the case. Have you ever worked with lawyers? Yeah, in the past. Yeah. Because
I made a patent before. So that time, yeah, I need to explain.
Oh, yeah. Interesting. 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.
