Not knowing the answer - this is precisely what “research” is about. Team Sendai: Continuing their challenge to compete in international competitions.
“Team Sendai” that participated in the 4th BIOMOD
Team Sendai
The new academic field of molecular robotics is a beacon of hope that will propel the future of medicine.
In the first place, what is “bio-molecular design”? Take for example, toy blocks. It’s a very familiar toy that you can use to make things with all kind of shapes by putting small blocks together. Instead of being built by humans, what will happen if the blocks have reason, and can think of and execute effective roles by themselves? In “bio-molecular design” and “molecular robotics,” the themes of BIOMOD, blocks are replaced by molecules and technologies are developed in order to control biomolecules at a nano level. While bio-molecular design spans the fields of information science, control engineering, mechanical engineering, biophysics, chemistry and others, it does not fit into any of these and is a new academic field. What kind of future is waiting for this field? We asked Eiki Ishihara, the team leader of “Team Sendai” that participated in the 2014 BIOMOD. He says, “While this is not a well-known fact, DNA is a molecule that can be freely constructed depending on its design. You can make a molecular level robot by putting various functions to a DNA. If we can create a DNA with the ability to find the diseased part of a body and to treat it by itself, the need for abdominal surgery may be eliminated.”
Not being able to decide on a theme and project delays. A battle against worries, anxiety and time.
Centered on the Murata and Kawamata/Nomura Labs of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, “Team Sendai” of 2014 was truly diverse, consisting of 13 first-year to third-year volunteer students from the School of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Agriculture and others. “My senior at high school participated in BIOMOD. I got interested in it after hearing stories about it.” “In the future, I will be competing with the rest of the world, so even from my freshman year I wanted to experience competing on a world stage.” “Since my freshman year, I decided to join the Murata Lab because I heard that we would be able to make a presentation at Harvard University.” With each of their own dreams, the students gathered in April and initiated the project. Intensive lectures held mainly by Prof. Murata and Asst. Prof. Kawamata on basic knowledge of DNA, understanding the field of molecular robotics, presentation skills and others continued until July. During the latter part, they were deciding on the theme while attending lectures but they couldn’t decide and were getting anxious. “We established that we should design a theme wherein control systems that are used in home appliances can be applied to the world of DNA. It was the development of a molecular system that can perform complex functions in a single operation. Ultimately, freshman Shota Kawakami of the Department of Applied Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering came up with the definitive idea, but it took several months until we reached that point. We were all worried whether we would be able to participate in the domestic competition,” a student said.
Continuing to “experiment” without knowing what lies ahead. This stance is precisely what “research” is about.
After deciding on the theme, the work was divided, and video / CG production, experiments, web page creation and presentation script-writing proceeded at a fast pace. Because it was a voluntary project, there were many members who had trouble with balancing it with exams and club activities. During those times, Dr. Fujiwara who was a mentor during the 2013 competition (and is now at Keio University) brought them presents to encourage them. “Right up to BIOMOD, we had extreme ups and downs, and it was a succession of progression and delays. Out of ten ideas, nine were nixed. Making progress was a real challenge. But those who already had experience with the competition became our support,” a student adds. They overcame those uncertain times by helping each other regardless of which year they were from. Another member expressed what they have gained by participating in BIOMOD this way: “The “experiments” we had done were only for confirming the answers that we already knew beforehand. This time, we were conducting real “experiments” wherein we didn’t know the results. To keep going without knowing what lies ahead - we felt that this is precisely what “research” is about.” Just as the graduates who participated in the 2011 - 2013 competitions have moved on to become successful in the world, team members of 2014 will surely take the experience of competing on a world level to continue their advancement. And they will surely hand this knowledge and passion that they have down to the next team.
Tales of the Order
-Universal Strand Generator-
Wiki YouTube video
“Team Sendai” that participated in the 4th BIOMOD
Team Sendai
| Third-year students | |
|---|---|
| Eiki Ishihara | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering Leader |
| Shunsuke Imai | Department of Applied Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering Sub-leader |
| Hayato Otaka | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering Design / experiments / presentation |
| Yuto Otaki | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering Wiki / presentation |
| Kenta Suzuki | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering YouTube video / presentation / accounting |
| Taiki Watanabe | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering Simulation / presentation |
| Second-year student | |
| Takuto Takahashi | Department of Applied Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering YouTube video / presentation |
| First-year students | |
| Sho Aradachi | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering Video production |
| Shota Kawakami | Department of Applied Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering Design / experiments |
| Daisuke Tamatsuki | Department of Medicine, School of Medicine Wiki |
| Yu-chin Chen | Department of Physics, Faculty of Science Writing the scenario for the YouTube video |
| Shogo Hiratsuka | Faculty of Agriculture Wiki / experiments |
| Hayato Yuuki | Department of Medicine, School of Medicine Wiki / experiments |
