[No. 234] Itsuki Anzai

I am very honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the Jukuin Raio column. After graduating from the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science and Technology, I continued on to the doctoral program and obtained my PhD. Currently, I am conducting research on viruses at the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases at Osaka University.

Looking back on my life so far, I realize that I made many casual, almost random choices. Even so, the reason my student life didn't end up full of regrets is thanks to Keio University. I would be happy if I could convey to prospective and current students that Keio University is a great place!

The catalyst that made me consider a path in the sciences was robot anime. Since elementary school, I loved looking at car engines and large machine tools operating in factories. Watching a certain anime where mobile suits fight made me want to build robots like that in the future—that was my reason for choosing the sciences.

While I was interested in physics and mechanical engineering, a turning point came in high school. I watched a movie version of an anime where boys and girls fight inside certain multipurpose humanoid decisive weapons. The world where biotechnology and robotics merged instantly pulled my interest toward bioengineering. I believe it was at this moment that the axis of my research field was set on life sciences.

You might think, "What is this guy talking about?" after I said "Keio University is a great place!" at the beginning, but when I was taking university entrance exams, I had no intention of going to Keio at all. In fact, at first, I only intended to apply to a certain national university (my first choice) and W University, and I hadn't even prepared an application for Keio. However, those around me wouldn't allow that, so I reluctantly prepared the application. Since I didn't understand the "Gakumon" system of the Faculty of Science and Technology at all, I simply chose Gakumon 3 because I was born in March.

When the entrance exams were over, I failed both the national university and W University, and only managed to get onto the waiting list for Keio Science and Technology. I was ready to head to Kawaijuku to prepare for another year of exams, but due to strong opposition from those around me, I ended up enrolling in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University.

At first, I couldn't find value in university life. I skipped many classes and was soon on the verge of repeating a year. The turning point that broke this situation was the department selection. The departments I could choose from Gakumon 3 at the time were the Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Department of Biosciences and Informatics, and Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics—a perfect lineup for someone interested in bioengineering and life sciences. When I looked up laboratories before the orientation, I found the phrase "Biophysics" in the introduction for Professor Yoshiaki Furukawa's lab, who had just started at the Department of Chemistry in 2010. I couldn't help but feel it was fate that a lab with keywords that attracted me was established the same year I entered. I headed to the Yagami Campus with excitement, but because I spent too much time accompanying a friend who wanted to join the Department of Applied Chemistry, Professor Furukawa had already gone home by the time I reached his lab. There was only one senior student (B4) left in the lab. I felt a bit disappointed, but the glowing E. coli that the senior showed me made me feel the potential of biotechnology, and I decided to proceed to the Department of Chemistry as originally planned.

The Department of Chemistry is a very small department with about 20 faculty members for every 40 students per year, meaning the distance between students and faculty is very close. The environment, surrounded by fun friends and supportive faculty, was undoubtedly the biggest factor that made me glad I was at Keio University (& helped me avoid the crisis of repeating a year). Feeling comfortable in the Department of Chemistry, I managed to earn the credits necessary for promotion and was assigned to the Furukawa Laboratory (Laboratory for Biological Chemistry).

After being assigned to the lab, I devoted myself entirely to research. I was engaged in research to clarify the abnormal structural changes of proteins seen in neurodegenerative diseases at the molecular level. For someone like me who loves both physics and biology, it was the best graduate school life. Of course, it wasn't just research; various events like academic conferences and department social gatherings were plentiful. Looking back, I feel it might have been the most enjoyable time of my life.

Spending such a fulfilling life, I suddenly found myself in the final year of my doctoral program, and I had to prepare for the dissertation hearing to obtain my PhD. The period spent preparing my doctoral thesis and hearing presentation while being encouraged (and scolded) by Professor Furukawa was an experience that became the foundation of my life as a researcher. Fortunately, I had met the completion requirements early, so I was able to proceed with writing my thesis with a relatively calm mind. The hearing ended successfully, and I obtained my degree.

After completing my doctoral program, I initially thought about getting a job at a company, so I conducted job hunting mainly for research positions during my second year. However, after a few interviews, I felt "something isn't right" and decided to stay in academia. Therefore, I stayed at Keio for a while as a JSPS Research Fellow after obtaining my degree. While looking for my next destination, I found a public recruitment for the Division of Molecular Virology at the current Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, and was successfully hired.

When I first arrived at Osaka University (August 2019), it was before the outbreak of the new coronavirus, so viruses were not as prominent a field as they are now. To be honest, I applied with a light heart, thinking, "Viruses are super-assemblies of proteins, so they are larger than the scale I'm currently researching and seem fun." I never imagined that it would become such a hot research field just a few months after I started. If you are interested in the research, please visit the lab's website ( https://watanabe-lab.biken.osaka-u.ac.jp).

I feel this precisely because I left Keio University and came to another university, but I don't think there is any other university that values human connections as much as Keio. The connections with friends and teachers I met in the Department of Chemistry still continue today. Even with teachers from other departments, faculties, or universities whom I never met as a student, we can bond over the topic of being Keio alumni, which sometimes leads to new connections like joint research.

The Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University offers not only a wide range of fields and excellent facilities but also many opportunities to gain connections with people from various backgrounds. To all of you aspiring to join the Faculty of Science and Technology, your time as undergraduate and graduate students is still a period of change. While it is important to choose thoughtfully, even in a path chosen "somehow by intuition," unexpected chemical reactions may occur by being stimulated by the surrounding environment. I believe the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University is such an environment.

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