- Q: Could you explain your current research topic in an easy-to-understand way?
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My research focuses on fatty acids. Have you ever heard of "DHA" or "EPA"? These are essential nutrients called polyunsaturated fatty acids, found in large amounts in so-called "blue fish" such as mackerel and tuna. Recently, they have been gaining attention for their health benefits. The reason why fish contain so much DHA and EPA is that the fish themselves don't actually produce them. DHA and EPA are produced by microscopic creatures at the bottom of the ocean's food chain, and accumulate as they are eaten by creatures higher up the food chain. My research aims to shed more light on how DHA and EPA are actually produced in the ocean and how they are accumulated in higher-level creatures.
It's becoming clear that the microscopic organisms (especially algae) that produce DHA and EPA are strongly affected by climate change, and it's predicted that the amount of DHA and EPA produced will change significantly in the future. It's said that production will decrease particularly as water temperatures rise, making it extremely important to understand how these important substances are produced in ecosystems. Until now, it was thought that these substances were produced by extremely microscopic algae, protozoa, and bacteria, but I've focused particularly on animals that are quite low in the food chain of ecosystems. My research has revealed that these animals are actually capable of synthesizing DHA and EPA themselves. This suggests that, rather than the previously thought scenario in which microscopic algae mainly produce these substances and animals eat and accumulate them, there may in fact be ecosystems in which animals play a fairly important role. My research focuses on this possibility.
- Q: What motivated you to start your research?
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- When I was a university student, my supervisor assigned me a research topic related to fatty acids, but no matter how hard I worked, it never went well and I usually ended up with useless results. But even so, I never once thought that what I was doing wasn't fun. No matter how badly I didn't get the results I wanted, I always thought that maybe next time it would work, and continued my research with excitement. I was interested in many other things and tried them out, but I never found that I could continue enjoying them even when they didn't work out. I originally wanted to be a researcher, but I wouldn't know if I was suited to it until I tried it. At that time, it suddenly dawned on me that research can be fun, even when it's difficult, and I decided to aim to become a researcher.
- Q: What are the challenges and attractions of your research?
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It's always difficult, but it's all about how you perceive the difficulty. I think the difficulty of doing things you don't want to do and the difficulty of having too many things you want to do are quite different, even though they're both difficult. I feel that there are so many things I want to do that it's difficult when I'm doing research.
There are many ideas about what would be nice to achieve or what would be interesting, but overwhelmingly, when you actually try them out, they don't turn out that way at all, and the results you get don't support your ideas. I'd say that this pattern applies to over 90% of cases. I also give students research themes with the idea that it would be amazing if they could achieve this, but in most cases, it ends up being an emergency landing. Among them, there are those moments when lightning strikes. Sometimes these happen intentionally, but other times, research is about things happening that make you go "Wow!" out of nowhere, and once you experience such a moment, you become addicted. So, even in the midst of difficulties, I continue my research, believing that such moments will come.
- Q: Tell us about the future of this research.
: Short-term (1-2 years from now) and long-term (up to 10 years from now)
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In the short term, we are currently focusing on an ecosystem, and I believe that within two to three years we will have a general understanding of who is working in that ecosystem as the players producing DHA and EPA.
Looking further ahead over a 10-year span, I would like to expand my research beyond just a specific ecosystem and examine how it is connected to other ecosystems.
Also, while it was previously thought that only a very limited number of organisms produced DHA and EPA, we have come to realize that a much wider range of animals actually produce them. If we could cultivate such organisms or mass-produce them, we could conceivably use them as a source of DHA and EPA. Organisms taken from the wild are not easily cultivated; some are easy to cultivate and others are difficult. We won't know until we try. By examining organisms that have not received much attention until now from the perspective of whether they can synthesize EPA and DHA, we are beginning to see organisms that we think may be interesting. In fact, we are currently conducting breeding experiments on several species. - Q: Which SDGs can your research contribute to?
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"Goal 14: Protect and sustainably use the oceans and seas"
Goal 15: Protect and sustainably manage land
First of all, there is Goal 14: Life below water. Since the rest are ultimately connected in many ways, it also gives us an opportunity to think about Goal 15: Life on land.
I have just begun collaborative research with a variety of researchers, including those studying insects and forests, and even in these studies I have come to see the flow of fatty acids exchanged within the ecosystem, ultimately linking the soil to the ocean, and the soil to rivers, and I find this fascinating. - Q: What are the advantages of doing research at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology?
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- We have a highly motivated group of students who are interested in marine life, and I think that's a great thing. However, I'm concerned that their perspective may become too narrow, so I'm also careful to broaden the students' perspectives by having them do joint research with researchers in different fields or researchers who don't specialize in the ocean, and by having them speak to such people and participate in meetings and academic conferences.
- Q: What are your priorities and policies when conducting research?
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- What I value most right now is building a team. The most important thing is to support each student in a way that maximizes their desire to work hard, tailored to their individual characteristics. If we can give each student a research topic that makes them happy, efficiency will increase and they will be able to enjoy their research. When you do that, interesting data will come out surprisingly often. If you do research thinking it's boring or difficult, even if you make a great discovery, you might overlook it, thinking it's just a coincidence or, in some cases, a simple mistake. Overconfidence is not good, but what I value most right now is building a team with positive energy that always finds research interesting.
- Q: What is your method for refreshing yourself when you feel tired from your research?
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When I get tired of research, I do other research, and when I get tired of writing a paper, I try to move my hands, stare at fish, or go sampling and look for living creatures.I also listen to music or play to my heart's content with my young daughter to change my mood.
Even if I feel really down, if I get a good night's sleep I'm usually pretty cheerful the next day. But when I'm tired I tend to overlook things and my mind doesn't work as well, so I try to get enough sleep. - Q: What message would you give to people who want to become researchers?
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One thing is that I want you to listen to the guidance of many different people, the way of thinking of many different people, and the philosophies of each researcher, and rather than thinking about which is right and which is wrong, I want you to create something within yourself while being influenced by many different people.
I also think it's quite important to trust your intuition and move forward. It's best to avoid situations where you really wanted to do something but were forced to do it this way due to various circumstances. If there's something you really want to do, cherish it in your heart and do it when you're able to. When you become independent as a researcher, you'll have to create your own world. For that time, I hope you'll cherish the things you really want to do and the things that you intuitively find interesting.
