A day for Takuya Nakayabu (Master's Program)

I go to school by bicycle in summer and by subway in winter from my home in Sapporo. Every Tuesday we have a seminar, and I get to school two hours earlier than other days. I’ve gotten used to getting up early for that, even when I found it hard.

I am a graduate of the Medical Technology Division of the Department of Health Sciences, the School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, where I obtained qualifications as a medical technologist. After graduation, I went on to graduate school to acquire advanced knowledge and skills and broaden my prospects and possibilities.

At the one-hour long seminar we graduate students have to present one by one in the first and last half. The photo shows me reporting the progress of my experiments. At the graduate school, I have taken part in the development of a therapeutic method to control ischemia-reperfusion injuries (ischemia reperfusion) caused when blood flow is restored in patients who have undergone small intestinal transplantation, using a new antioxidant. I also do research into how the new antioxidant functions.

In the seminar, Professor Akinobu Taketomi (right photo) gave me ideas about future direction of the experiments.

After the seminar, we break and then each of us meet with our faculty adviser. Now a full year has passed since I began my research with advice from my faculty adviser Dr. Moto Fukai (left person in the left photo), suggesting me to try research into small intestinal transplantation because there are few reports on that topic. In this time, I have identified the effects of alleviating ischemia-reperfusion injuries using new antioxidants that have started to attract attention, and presently I am studying the mechanism that results in the alleviation.

Now I’m catching my breath after redoing and improving on my experimental procedures based on advice I was given at the seminars and meetings. When I don’t have a seminar, I usually do experiments in the morning and afternoon, and work on the data analysis and statistical processing, and I also review papers between doing experiments. My faculty adviser Dr. Fukai’s instructions are, “You have to read 10 kilos of papers making a 100 cm thick pile (printed on both sides of the pages!) in the two years of the master’s program” (laugh). I am overwhelmed thinking about that amount, but I’ll do my best.

I usually go to lunch with my seniors of the lab a little before noon because the cafeteria becomes very crowded after noon. I often have ramen or a bowl of rice with something on top, but today I had Tempura-soba (noodles with some deep-fry) for a change.

Today I was conducting experiments in the afternoon. The photo shows me making microscopic observations of small intestinal epithelial cells cultured in a clean bench.

After completing the Master’s Program, I wish to find employment where I work to assist and support patients. Specifically, in duties where I visit medical institutions conducting clinical trials, and ensure (monitor) that the clinical trials are conducted properly in accordance with the regulations and rules that must be upheld, and collect clinical trial data. In such settings, the knowledge and skills I am acquiring at graduate school will be of direct and immediate use.

Many of my seniors in the lab are medical doctors, and we all regularly take part in extracurricular activities, like going drinking and fishing, in addition to the research work. For me this is a valuable experience that will be useful in the workplace where interaction with doctors is important.