I am currently working as an assistant professor at the Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences.
In my fourth year of undergraduate studies, I was assigned to the Veterinary Pharmacology Laboratory, where I first came into contact with research. Unlike practical training, where the answers are clearly known in advance, I was at a loss at first to conduct research in which I had to search for answers that were not known, and I often failed, but I realised how enjoyable it was to gain new knowledge through a variety of trial-and-error processes and chose to continue my research by entering a postgraduate doctoral course. I chose to go on to a postgraduate doctoral course to continue my research.
During her doctoral studies, she researched the effects of collagen degradation products on cardiac disease. Cardiac diseases such as myocardial infarction are one of the major causes of death in Japan, but effective treatment and diagnostic methods for cardiac diseases have not yet been established. The Veterinary Pharmacology Laboratory had previously shown that canstatin, a degradation product of type IV collagen, which constitutes the basement membrane, acts protectively on cardiac component cells (cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts) through experiments using cultured cells. I therefore investigated whether canstatin could be applied as a therapeutic agent or diagnostic biomarker by studying the effects of administration and changes in expression of canstatin in animal models of cardiac disease. With the advice of many professors and senior postgraduate students, during the course of my doctoral studies, I clarified for the first time that canstatin administration acts protectively against cardiac pathology and that canstatin expression changes in the tissues and plasma of animal models of cardiac disease, demonstrating its potential for application in the development of new therapeutic agents and diagnostic methods. The potential for application to the development of new therapeutic agents and diagnostic methods was also demonstrated. Not only did he have the opportunity to contribute these research results to scientific papers and present them at many national and international conferences, he was also awarded the 2021-2022 Veterinary Science Incentive Award (see photo).
Although I experienced the pain of not getting good research results in the course of my research, I felt more strongly the pleasure of gaining new knowledge through repeated trial and error, which I had when I chose to go on to higher education. Therefore, I applied for a position as an assistant professor at the university because I wanted to continue my research after completing my doctoral studies and contribute to the development of therapeutic and diagnostic methods for diseases. I was able to prepare for my job search with the advice of my professors and graduating seniors. During my job interviews, I received a good evaluation of my research achievements to date. I was also able to give presentations on my research with confidence thanks to my many conference presentations, which ultimately led me to my current job.
In the Veterinary Pharmacology Laboratory, I was able to carry out research while receiving advice from professors and senior students and thinking independently, and experienced many conference presentations of research results and submissions to academic papers. These experiences in the postgraduate doctoral course have become the basis of my research activities, and I am very glad that I entered the doctoral course.
