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Oct. 15, 2004 A Summer's Work Experience at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Tokyo Michi Wong, Cambridge University

Last summer I visited the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Tokyo for a month. Having just completed my second year of medical school at Cambridge University in the UK, I was eager to experience medical research at a world famous university. I chose to visit Japan, my mother's home country. Japan was not new to me, but it was only until recently that I began to meet members of the medical profession there, and every time I find these experiences stimulating and enjoyable. When I first arrived at the Hongo campus on a very hot July day I had no idea what I would be doing for a month. I first met Assistant Professor Mizuguchi, who kindly discussed with me the possibilities - research, clinical experience, or both. I chose to focus on research, mainly because that was the primary aim of my visit this year, and partly because I was unable to do any substantive clinical work, since I was still in the pre-clinical stage of my education. Dr. Mizuguchi then arranged me a visit to the research laboratories at the Department, where I eventually spent the month helping researchers carrying out various experiments. During my first days of visit, I met Professor Igarashi, Professor of the Department of Paediatrics. Prior to my visit to the University, I had contacted Professor Igarashi by email, and was given the opportunity to visit the department. Professor Igarashi identified the Japanese variant of Dent's Disease, a renal tubular disease that is caused by mutation in a chloride channel. Despite his busy schedule, Professor Igarashi was very kind to spend quite some time with me to talk about his research and his visit at the Hammersmith Hospital in London. We also discussed the differences in medical education in Japan and the UK, and various other topics related to medicine. I found the conversations very stimulating and I had the chance to ask questions related to research, which was very rewarding. At 'Ni-ken', the Second Laboratory of the Department of Paediatrics, I met Dr Takita, who showed me around the lab and introduced me to the researchers. I eventually worked for Dr Chen, a researcher from Shanghai, China. This arrangement posed me interesting tasks. I was brought up multilingually at home (Cantonese, Japanese and English), and received primary and secondary education in a multilingual environment in Hong Kong (Cantonese, English and Mandarin). And now I am studying in England. Therefore, Cantonese is my most fluent language, English is my academic language, Japanese and Mandarin had been the least frequently used ones in my life until then. The unexpected need to speak Mandarin and Japanese was at first quite challenging for me, but I got used to it and now I think it was indeed a great opportunity to communicate in them in the authentic professional contexts which I will be in the future! For the following month, I began familiarizing myself with the various techniques used in genetic research. Techniques such as PCR and sequencing help to find out the sequence of genetic material in a particular region of the DNA, thus making it possible to find mutations in particular genes. Dr Chen taught me the importance of avoiding contamination and the careful considerations in setting up an experiment. Although I had during my course at Cambridge done experiments with PCR, at Ni-ken I was able to carry out an experiment over a longer period of time, which allowed me to perfect techniques such as properly handling a pipette. By the end of the month I have had many chances of applying these techniques and I was quite happy to find that I was able to help the research team. Apart from assisting Dr Chen, I also worked with Ms Souma, the laboratory technician, in extracting and purifying DNA, RNA, and lymphocytes. I was impressed by the meticulousness of the researchers and technicians, and the experiences I had in 'Ni-ken' will definitely contribute to my research projects later in my studies. The month at the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Tokyo passed by really quickly, and it was a bit sad to say goodbye to its staff members. The month's visit left me with a file of notes and research papers, together with newly acquired knowledge and skills, precious personal network and good memories. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Noboru Kobayashi, CRN Director, who had given me the wonderful opportunity to visit the Department of Paediatrics. Let us hear your comment at Let's Talk!

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