My research began in the snowy mountains
As a child, I had no particular interest in science, and my grades were far from good. What set me on the path to research was my undergraduate thesis project in my final year at university.
With my thesis presentation fast approaching, I was analysing bacterial motility at a lodge near a ski resort when I captured a movement that stopped and moved forward again and again — as if the cell were walking. Each step looked to me like a heartbeat of life. I still vividly remember explaining it, breathless with excitement, to a friend from the humanities who was sitting next to me.
Discovering a world I had not known, and sharing that wonder with someone.
In that moment, through the act of knowing, I felt truly alive. That is where I began as a researcher.
Since then, I have explored, from the perspective of physics, the molecular mechanisms behind how microbes move, sense their environment and defend themselves. If I cannot see what I want to see, I build the technology to measure it. If there is something I want to know, I design the experiment and reconstitute the phenomenon. For me, developing experimental techniques is an essential way of reaching the unknown.
Working with many people today, I have found another kind of joy: a small discovery made by one person deepens through conversation with others and leads to new questions and new findings.
The pursuit of truth is not a solitary journey.
People with different experiences and values come together, share their surprise, and step into the unknown together. I believe science is that kind of open endeavour.
I do not want research to belong only to people with special talent. Just as I, once indifferent to science, was captivated by the movement of a single bacterium, everyone can have a moment when the way they see the world changes. That is why, through precise measurement and the automation — and ultimately autonomy — of experiments, I want to build a research environment that lowers the barriers of skill and manual labour, so that anyone can engage with fundamental questions and discoveries.
A curiosity that takes one step forward opens up worlds no one has yet seen.
Holding on to the excitement I felt that day in the mountain hut, I will keep pursuing the wonders of life.
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