[:en]2017: Mizuki Tabata[:]

[:en]Mizuki Tabata
Hometown in Japan: Tokyo
University in Japan: Tokyo Institute of Technology
Major & School Year: Biotechnology, B3
Host Advisor: Prof. Junghae Suh, Dept. of Bioengineering
Host Lab: Synthetic Virology Lab
Research Project: Characterizing the N-terminal S/T motif in Adeno-associated Virus Transduction (PDF)

Why TOMODACHI STEM @ Rice University?

I applied for this program because I have to decide where I want to do my Ph.D. as soon as possible. Why a Ph.D.? It is because a Ph.D. qualifies the degree holder to work in a specialized position. If I do a Ph.D. overseas, I need to prepare for the applications. However, I do not know what it is like to do a Ph.D. abroad, which makes it difficult for me to make the decision. I am sure that this program will provide me abundant information and perspective about research life in the U.S.

Also, I would like to build a network of researchers and potential collaborators with different expertise. It may bring about unprecedented collaborative work in future.

Goals

  • To decide the place where I do my Ph.D
  • To build a network for future
  • To know what I should do to survive as a researcher
  • To get accustomed to thinking in English

My favorite experience in the U.S. was…  ice skating on my last day in the U.S. because I had nothing to worry about such as preparing for the poster session.

Before I left for the U.S. I wish I had … eaten cheesecakes at Cheesecake Factory.

While I was in the U.S. I wish I had … talked more about constructive things with laboratory members.

Excerpts from Mizuki’s Weekly Reports

Week 01: Arrival in the U.S.

Cultural Reflection
I thought that cultural barriers would not be a big problem before I came here. However, my view was changed completely after arriving. I saw some exchange students behaving like “weirdo” in a Japanese context, but here I found myself behaving like that. For example, I was a little confused and upset when some clerks spoke to me about everyday subjects such as the weather. That situation is rare in Japan, so I was not comfortable making small talk in this case. I am also  starting to think about where to do a PhD, so the presentation by Japanese graduate students was helpful. It helped me understand the reality of studying in the U.S.

The most impressive events this week were the Dow Chemical Company visit and the networking brunch Ms. Donna Cole host at her house. The panel discussion at Dow convinced me of the necessity of diving into a different world. The Networking brunch blew away my fears. One of my problems was my introverted personality. It does not matter anymore because I already know how to deal with it. They taught me many other things to do for the future. I really appreciate people who provide me such wonderful opportunities.

I am adding a reagent to check the sequence of DNA. ~ Mizuki Tabata, 2017 TOMODACHI STEM

Research Internship Update
Before arriving in the U.S., I read 2 papers that my mentor suggested and researched basic knowledge regarding my research on the Internet. If you are in the wet lab, you should read the protocols. It will provide you details about your research. What I also should have done in advance is to write down some technical terms and questions.

I am in the synthetic virology lab that works on development of virus vectors for gene therapy. Gene therapy is one therapeutic approach to replace or break his/her defective genes through delivering genes by virus. Most people may think virus is dangerous, but the backbone of a virus vector does not cause disease. My research theme has not been decided yet. Currently, I am learning the requisite experiments for research. During this week, I have extracted plasmid DNA from E. coli, purified, and seen the procedure of transfection. I found it interesting to learn about a different field from what I have worked on before.

Question of the Week: Why are most Americans so friendly?
I believe this is because America is composed of many immigrants. In that society, people have to prove that they do not have hostility to other ethnic groups. Therefore, Americans have a small talk anywhere.

  • Yes, this is partially correct. Most Americans use small-talk or friendliness as a way of putting other people at ease and letting them know they are friendly and mean no harm.  In some areas of the country, particularly the South or small/rural towns, small-talk is more common but in larger cities like New York or Boston it may be less common.  For more on this see the Small Talk in the U.S. section on our Life in the U.S. Resources page.

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Week 02: First Week at Research Host Lab

On the first day, I met my professor, my mentor, and other lab members. My mentor is a postdoc. She teaches me anything until I understand the topic. Other people in my lab are really friendly. Sometimes I talk with them in person, but most of the time I only hear what they are saying. Speaking in English is much harder than listening, especially when talking about my research. I feel my speaking skill is almost the same as the first day, so I have to struggle more.

The diorama of working astronauts on the Moon. ~ Mizuki Tabata, 2017 TOMODACHI STEM

I went to NASA on Saturday. I have longed to visit NASA, so it was a great experience for me. NASA emphasizes the story that America overcame the tragic accidents of early space-flight and continues to be a leader in space exploration. I felt America’s fortitude from this story, and I was surprised because such accidents cannot be tolerated and development of science technology related with those accidents would cause delays in Japan. I wonder if technology more easily develops in the U.S. rather than in Japan?

Making samples ~ Mizuki Tabata, 2017 TOMODACHI STEM

Research Project Update
One of the protein sequences, PEST sequence, is known as a signal peptide for protein degradation. This region enriches in proline(P), glutamic acid (E), serine(S), and threonine(T). Virus proteins with PEST motifs are degraded not in nucleus but in the other place of cells. For gene therapy, it is not good because gene therapy aims for replacing or breaking patient’s defective genes in the nucleus. Thus, Mutation should be inserted in the region to modulate the transduction efficiency. Virus PEST motif has common sequence, so mutation has been inserted in that specific region. In my research, I will characterize the relevance of mutation and transduction efficiency of those viruses. In order to calculate transduction ratio, I will measure GFP(green fluorescent protein) of the viruses with flow cytometry.

 

Question of the Week:  Is America generous about the accidents caused by science technology compared to the other countries?

In comparison with Japan, yes the U.S. is more tolerant of risk overall.  There is a saying here “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”  That means that even if something is risky, if you don’t try, if you are not willing to “go out on a limb” and step beyond the safe/known place where you are today – then you won’t get anywhere. You will just be in the same place as you were before.  This may be because the U.S. is largely nation of immigrants and, historically, it was a huge risk for these immigrants to leave their homes and families, take a boat halfway around the world, and build a new life in an unseen and unknown country.  Because travel took so long many generations ago, immigrating to the U.S. also usually meant that you could never return to your home country again. Then, Americans pushed further from the East Coast all across the ‘frontier’ to the West Coast.  This was very risky as the journey was long and perilous and there was no guarantee of success. We even refer to space as the “Next Frontier”. So even in the language we use to talk about space there is an inherent accept/acknowledge that it is inherently risky to explore

You can also understand this by Geert-Hofstede’s Uncertainty Avoidance between Japan and the U.S. You can also read about a Japanese-American entrepreneur who is trying to change things in Japan so that new businesses there see the value in taking more risks. The Harvard Business Review also has an article on “How Culture Determines Your Appetite for Risk”.

The flip side, is if you take big risks you can have big failures; as has occurred with human space flight.  Japan tends to take a more incremental approach where each next step or innovation is very small, carefully researched, and almost guaranteed of success. Over time, these small and consistent improvements can lead to great innovations and success.  This was a ground-breaking idea when the West first ‘caught hold’ of it in the mid 1980’s and there are many business schools that continue teach the Kaizen approach and the value of making small, continuous, and consistent improvements.  Both approaches have merits and this is why JAXA is an important and invaluable partner to NASA in many endeavors such as the International Space Station. Remember, the goal may be the same but there are different paths to get there.

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Week 03: Interview With a Female Researcher

A female student in my lab

Academic Career Background
She is pursuing MD PhD. After graduation from Rice University, she will enter medical school. She chose biotechnology as her major because it is needed for people. She was at Princeton University and came to Rice University to do a PhD. She had some options of graduate schools, but thinking of weather and living expenses, she decided to enter Rice University.

Career Path
She is planning to get an MD PhD. After getting an MD PhD, while doing a medicine, she will continue research because she likes research.

Lab Experience
It is flexible environment. You can push forward to do your projects. Everyone is friendly. I can ask them questions freely.

International Experience
She was born in China and came when she was an elementary school student. So far, she has no international experience.

Being a Women in STEM
She feels current situation “more women in STEM”. Actually, my lab has 6 female students out of 8 graduate students. Her advice for female STEM students is “you can do it. you just need to be confident.”

My mentor (female postdoc)

Academic and Career Background
Bachelor of Science
PhD of cell biology and immunology

She thought it was fun to ask things nobody has thought of, and wanted to see if they are true, so she chose to pursue this field. She chose her undergraduate and graduate universities because they have a good reputation in Canada.

Career Path
Fun but really stressful. To be a faculty professor, most people have to undergo postdoctoral training, so she got a job as postdoc. Also, she wants to apply viruses therapeutically so now she working on viral vectors.

 Labs
Good mix of friendliness and is also highly competitive. When she is in trouble, other lab members help her. Meanwhile, they are hard workers.

International Experience
She came from Canada to work as a postdoc. She feels people in the U.S. are conservative in terms of religion, gender, etc.

 Being a Women in STEM
Currently, women in STEM can have plenty opportunities. Academic fields are so competitive that you cannot get professional jobs unless you have patience. In late 20s to early 30s, personal life is very limiting, and balancing personal life and work life is difficult when you work in STEM.

Therefore, her advice is to decide what is important for your life as a first step.

My professor

Academic Career Background
Bachelor of chemical engineering
PhD of biomedical engineering

She applied for many schools, and selected the highest level in those she got permission of entrance. She picked up her major for her bachelor’s degree because she did not want to study all remains. However, she found biology is interesting and wanted to help people be healthier so then she changed her major.

They found her something.

Career Path
Exciting and unexpected. It is different from what she imagined. She was never interested in becoming a professor. She made efforts to become smarter because people around her ware smart. Her effort always pushed her forward. She will continue to learn and hopes to know more in the future.

Labs
Her lab has various students in terms of gender, ethnicity, etc. She wants to support people who desire to study regardless of their ethnic/cultural backgrounds.

International Experience
She came from Korea when she was 8 years old. Speaking of the U.S., the scientific field is really unique but there are always conflicting demands. On the contrary, Korea tries to catch up with America, so scientists in Korea pick small fields strategically.

Being a Women in STEM
From her personal experience, female students performed better in her classes. Therefore, she thinks it is a huge loss that female students don’t continue to be in academia. She thinks her position is flexible to bring up children.

Her advice is not for only women but both male and female students. We make decisions whether or not we feel better, but we have to get credibility. It will accumulate and help us more.

Japanese garden in Hermann Park that I found on my way from museums. ~ Mizuki Tabata, 2017 TOMODACHI STEM

Reflections on Interview:
I got some tips of the way of living from all of the interviewers. For instance, my professor was always humble but I am sure that her efforts to become smarter differentiated her from others. I will keep it mind to be diligent anytime and make this a practice in my life.

The interesting fact is that the postdoc and the professor have completely opposite thoughts about female career paths. Personally, I think that currently women are forced to prioritize until they get secure positions in workplace, especially in academia. If more women choose various career, there will be more role models and things may change to choose more career path options for women in STEM.

Question/s of the Week: I think that men and women cannot work “equally” because some women want to have a baby, and it takes some time. When can we feel that we work / live “equally”?

This is a very good question and one that I think most parents ask themselves often and at different times during their careers.  I think work-life balance will be different for each individual and each family and who you choose to be your spouse/co-parent/life partner makes a big difference in how well (or not well) you can work together to find the right balance. Also, remember that it is very difficult to be perfectly equal or perfectly in balance. Think of a seesaw or tetter totter on the playground. If you try really hard you and your partner can stay perfectly in the middle for a short period of time.  But this is not easy to do and usually you can’t stay this way for very long.  It is much easier and more common that we will at times lean more towards work and at other times lean more towards family.  How and when you make these adjustments in work-life balance or equality between you and your partner may be different at different times in your life and what works for your family may be different than what works for other families.  The key is to communicate well and work together to find the balance that works best for your family as much of the time as possible.  Just like research, life is unpredictable, and nothing is perfect but often it is the things that are most challenging in life that have the greatest rewards.

Fow cytometry – windows XP!! ~ Mizuki Tabata, 2017 TOMODACHI STEM

Research Update
My research theme is completely decided as “Characterizing the N-terminal S/T motif in Adeno-associated virus transduction”. It is related with future gene therapy. To effectively treat disease, a virus needs to deliver its gene specifically to host cells. However, many details of the infectious cycle of viruses remain unclear. AAV and some viruses has largely common sequences in the potential PEST motifs, yet there is no study describing the functional relevance of S/T motifs in virus. Thus, my research aims for deciding if S/T motif has important role in AAV transduction.

We made some virus with substituted amino acids in S/T motifs. Then, I measured transduction ratio and relative GFP amount with flow cytometry. Next week, I will measure the other sample and complete my research.

Question of the Week: America has a lot of town such as China town and Little Italy. Thinking of Japan, there are fewer towns where various ethnic groups gathers. The discrimination era is over (it may be superficial), so such segregation should be relaxed. Why distinct segregation still exist?

  • This is a very good and very complex question.  While you are correct these different ethnic neighborhoods developed in the past in part due to segregation over time. For example in San Francisco Chinese migrant laborers in the 1880s and 1900s were only allowed to live in one specific area, which became today’s Chinatown. It was also by choice in some cases, for example many Norwegian and German immigrants moved to the Upper Midwest because there were other Norwegians and Germans already living there.  The economies of these neighborhoods and regions would also cater to the primary ethnic group/s.  For example, there were more ethnic grocery stories or restaurants, schools that taught in the home country language, and churches, synagogues, or mosques where people could worship in their home country language. This still happens today in cities like Detroit, in Houston, and in Los Angeles with various groups. The location of these neighborhoods/regions might also change over time. For example, in Houston there was a Chinatown in Downtown and you can still see a few signs in Vietnamese or Chinese in some areas just south of Downtown Houston.  But, today, Chinatown is now in the Southwest area of the city.
  • There were legal aspects to segregation of housing/neighborhoods as well. If you weren’t from a certain ethnic group landlords would not rent to you or banks would not give you a mortgage. This was called ‘redlining’ or ‘deed restrictions’ and these policies were used to ‘keep out’ certain groups from a neighborhood; for example people who were Jewish or African-American. Today there are legal protections against redlining or deed restrictions and you can file a court case against someone if you think they are discriminating against you on the basis of race, gender, religion, disability, age, etc.
  • However, the reality is that the neighborhoods people live in America are typically less diverse than the overall composition of the city they live in or the country overall. But there are neighborhoods that are quite diverse. There are a few exceptions, for example Queens, a borough of New York City, where more languages are spoken than anywhere else in the world. In comparison, Houston is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the U.S. but yet we still see many people from the same ethnic groups tend to live near each other rather than in truly diverse/integrated neighborhoods. This is also true for most large cities in the U.S. So, even though America may be a very diverse nation in comparison with Japan, that does not always mean that where people live reflects the overall ethnic composition of the nation.
  • The desire to move and live nearby where other people from your same home country/culture live today does persist in the U.S. and this combined with the legacy of legal segregation and socioeconomic barriers does mean that overall de facto (in fact) segregation is still very apparent even though de jure (law/legal based) segregation is no longer allowed.

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Week 04: Research in the U.S. vs. Research in Japan

In my final week at Rice University, I have done all of my work in the lab, and practiced for the poster session with my mentor. My mentor is so patient and welcoming of questions that I was able to ask many questions without hesitation. This environment is what I really admire for. When my mentor was super busy, other lab members asked to help her. They were discussing about their research frequently except chatting time. This shows my lab members are friendly but highly motivated. I think that Prof. Suh contributes to the lab atmosphere as she is diligent and supportive for students who are really eager to study. I want to continue to do my research in this area, but unfortunately I will change my field completely in my senior year in Japan.

Since my explanation could not be good, I did not get many questions during the poster session. I found it difficult to explain about research to lay people. It took 1 week to prepare for verbal explanation, but I should have taken much more time.

America has a lot of town such as China town and Little Italy. Thinking of Japan, there are fewer towns where various ethnic groups gathers. The discrimination era is over (it may be superficial), so such segregation should be relaxed. Why distinct segregation still exist?

  • This is a very good and very complex question.  While you are correct these different ethnic neighborhoods developed in the past in part due to segregation over time. For example in San Francisco Chinese migrant laborers in the 1880s and 1900s were only allowed to live in one specific area, which became today’s Chinatown. It was also by choice in some cases, for example many Norwegian and German immigrants moved to the Upper Midwest because there were other Norwegians and Germans already living there.  The economies of these neighborhoods and regions would also cater to the primary ethnic group/s.  For example, there were more ethnic grocery stories or restaurants, schools that taught in the home country language, and churches, synagogues, or mosques where people could worship in their home country language. This still happens today in cities like Detroit, in Houston, and in Los Angeles with various groups. The location of these neighborhoods/regions might also change over time. For example, in Houston there was a Chinatown in Downtown and you can still see a few signs in Vietnamese or Chinese in some areas just south of Downtown Houston.  But, today, Chinatown is now in the Southwest area of the city.
  • There were legal aspects to segregation of housing/neighborhoods as well. If you weren’t from a certain ethnic group landlords would not rent to you or banks would not give you a mortgage. This was called ‘redlining’ or ‘deed restrictions’ and these policies were used to ‘keep out’ certain groups from a neighborhood; for example people who were Jewish or African-American. Today there are legal protections against redlining or deed restrictions and you can file a court case against someone if you think they are discriminating against you on the basis of race, gender, religion, disability, age, etc.
  • However, the reality is that the neighborhoods people live in America are typically less diverse than the overall composition of the city they live in or the country overall. But there are neighborhoods that are quite diverse. There are a few exceptions, for example Queens, a borough of New York City, where more languages are spoken than anywhere else in the world. In comparison, Houston is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the U.S. but yet we still see many people from the same ethnic groups tend to live near each other rather than in truly diverse/integrated neighborhoods. This is also true for most large cities in the U.S. So, even though America may be a very diverse nation in comparison with Japan, that does not always mean that where people live reflects the overall ethnic composition of the nation.
  • The desire to move and live nearby where other people from your same home country/culture live today does persist in the U.S. and this combined with the legacy of legal segregation and socioeconomic barriers does mean that overall de facto (in fact) segregation is still very apparent even though de jure (law/legal based) segregation is no longer allowed.

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Final Research Poster Presentation

Host Advisor: Prof. Junghae Suh, Dept. of Bioengineering

Host Lab: Synthetic Virology Lab

Research Project: Characterizing the N-terminal S/T motif in Adeno-associated Virus Transduction (PDF)

Introduction: My research looks toward improving efficacy in gene therapy by characterizing Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector. To know the infectious mechanism is important because it is related with gene delivery. One of the infectious process, endosomal escape, is a key for transduction. Following a drop in pH in the endosome, AAV capsid N-terminus is extruded from the virus interior. Then virus reveals enzymatic domain and allows virus to excise its way out of the endosome. In addition, within N-terminal protein, S/T motifs are conserved in many viruses. This conserved localization of S/T motifs suggests that it may have an important role in AAV transduction. However, there is no study about it. Understanding the step of endosomal escape may help to improve transduction and gene delivery. Therefore, my research goal is to characterize S/T motifs in AAV transduction.

Approach:

  1. Substitute amino acids in S/T motifs with site directed mutagenesis
  2. Make virions with transgene, AAV rep and cap protein, and Adenovirus helper protein
  3. Measure transduction index and relative GFP expression with flow cytomety

Discussion: Mutations of 1 threonine to serine (T157S) in AAV7 and AAV8 results in significant increase in transduction both in HEK293T and HeLa cells. Mutations of 1 serine to alanine and 1 alanine to serine (S156A, A157S) in AAV9 results in 3-fold decrease in transduction in HEK293T cells. Thus, N-terminal S/T motifs have significant roles in AAV transduction. Also, we succeeded in improvement in AAV7 & 8 transduction.

Future Research: 

  • Determine if S/T motif impacts cytoplasmic trafficking and nuclear entry
  • See if transduction improves in vivo.

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Week 05: Science & Technology Policy Study Tour in Washington, DC and Lehigh University

Final day in the U.S. – I went skating!! ~ Mizuki Tabata

The panel discussion at Lehigh University had the greatest impact on me. I am a little hesitant to speak to people who are working with different fields from mine. However, this session suggested that talking with people in different fields can lead me in unexpected directions. One person I met said 75% Americans use their network to get a job. Even if I have capability, I found that it is difficult to get a job in the U.S. I noticed networking is much more important than I thought. However, as I talked with the invited speakers, I noticed that the trigger of conversation was the need for general knowledge about the field to deepen the conversation. Therefore, I will keep this in mind that I should have courage to start talking about broad knowledge in any fields to network.

Japan also has the movement to promote women in STEM, but I feel most of them do not explain why this is so important. Additionally, having ambition to get a good position is regarded as an arrogant way of thinking because modesty is Japanese virtue. This is a deeply rooted thought in Japan so it takes more time to increase the number of female leaders as much as those in other countries. Japan is a hierarchical society, which makes the problem more complicated.

This White House was smaller than I thought. ~ Mizuki Tabata

The most common daily frustration in the U.S. was using English. I can think logically in Japanese but in English my brain became messy and could not always see what I was heading for in conclusion. Learning another language is painful. I feel like I was an elementary school student when speaking English. I know I cannot understand English 100% because English is my second language. However, I was afraid of asking about what I did not understand. Without overcoming this hurdle, I cannot use English. It is truism, but I learned that learning other languages requires patience.

I really want to go to graduate school in the U.S. but Japan also has good graduate schools such as the Okinawa Institutue of Science and Technology. The purpose to go to a graduate school is to be a researcher, not to go to the U.S., so I will determine which school to go taking it into account that where provides good education.

I miss the days in the U.S., but I was happy to come back to Japan because I finally ate Japanese food. I like American food too, but I am sure that rice and miso soup are the best food for Japanese.

Question of the Week: Why is it so important to ask questions in the U.S.? In Japan, we always make quick responses more frequently than in American. When Japanese response many times, American feel being interrupted. Why only questions are allowed to interrupt talking?

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Final Report & Tips for Future Participants

Through this program, I learned the importance of networking. I am an introverted person and feel afraid of talking to new people. However, through this program, I changed my thought to be more open to conversation. A professor said “conversations will bring you in unexpected directions.” From these words, I noticed that conversations play a more important role than I thought. Although being conversational is outside of my comfort zone, I realized that I have to do it.

Fortunately, during the program, my professor gave me the opportunity for an interview. In the interview, she shared how she studied hard to keep up with other smart students when she was an undergraduate and a graduate student. She said that it was only what she did. I know that being diligent all the time is not easy. From that interview, I found that diligence is a driving force to get the next chance.

I got many important things in this program, but speaking of academic research, I want to mention about a series of classes we had on how to present a poster session. These classes provided me with some idea about how to start making a poster. It was helpful because I had no idea what to do first. Another thing that I want to pick up is that I can choose a laboratory freely. This will be a good for undergraduate students to think about the problems they will work on when they become senior students.

Tips for Future Participants

Pre Departure Tips: In terms of packing, I think the light and compact jackets help you a lot when traveling through the U.S.

Working With your Research Lab Tips: I regret that I did not read review papers seriously in advance. They give you a big picture of the specific research area that your lab is working on. Thus, as least you should read them. Furthermore, you should remember technical terms in your field. I knew the technical terms in biology so I had little trouble as for the scientific communication, but if you do not know, you should memorize them. Otherwise, it will be more difficult for you to conduct a research and to make a poster in English.

Living in Houston and Rice University: If your luggage is not overweight, I recommend to bring miso soup with you. Miso soup is the one thing that I missed in the U.S. Otherwise, I did not encounter uncomfortable experience regarding housing.

Language Study Tips: I should have memorized useful phrases prior to departure. I sometimes could not put my thoughts into words and felt frustrated. Thus, I think it is good to review stock phrases in English for everyday use. In addition, I found that Americans have a different style of communication. Americans’ reply is really long, whereas Japanese’s reply is short and I have heard why the difference arises. English put emphasis on speakers. On the other hand Japanese focus more on listener’s ability. Thus, for example, in Japan you should refrain from questions without deep thoughts because they shows your lack of comprehension. However, in the U.S., speakers are important in conversation so it just happens for speakers reply longer sentence. Therefore, I try not to skip logic when speaking in English.

What to eat in the U.S.: Mac and cheese. It was delicious and I think it is like American. I also found that you can drink flat white in the U.S. Starbucks, which you cannot drink in Japan. It is not a souvenir, but I highly recommend you to drink it.

Final Question: In the U.S., is globalization regarded as important as in Japan? I think Trump administration focuses on more domestic affairs. I guess that the movement of globalization will shrink because of that political issue. Additionally, I am wondering if Americans go out from their countries.

 

 

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