Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.
Natural science begins with interest in the subject and observation, but observation is not always easy. I am working at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) to develop a simple and accurate observation method. Let me reflect on why I, who used to be an organic chemist, am now doing research at the Institute for Ocean, Life, and Earth.
I first became interested in "seeing" when I was assigned to Eiichi Nakamura's Laboratory in the Department of Chemistry for my senior year of Faculty, and Professor Nakamura showed me his latest research on the movement of molecules in carbon nanotubes, which was photographed using an electron microscope. I was shocked to see the molecules, which had been a collection of lines and symbols on a piece of paper, moving as if they were twisting a molecular model. I took this impression to heart, and under then Assistant Professor Koji Harano, I worked on functionalizing fullerenes to self-assemble them into a bilayer vesicle structure. However, this research was abandoned after half a year, and he shifted his research focus to organic thin-film solar cells using graphene oxide. While learning about molecular self-assembly and crystallization, I encountered the scanning electron microscope (SEM), which has remained my partner to this day. I was fascinated by SEM, which has higher resolution than optical microscopy and can distinguish between the surface and the interior by manipulating the observation conditions. Later, he began to investigate the question of how molecules move and assemble, and was exposed to the transmission electron microscope (TEM), which he used to study molecular self-assembly processes and reaction rates, and to learn quantum chemical calculations and the interaction between electrons and matter. He also acquired a background in chemical reaction mechanism analysis under the supervision of Professor L. Ludwik Leibler of the Paris University of Technology, where he studied for a short period of time.
While he was struggling with his future career, he happened to attend a conference where he heard a lecture by Dr. Shigeru Deguchi, Director of JAMSTEC, and came across a mysterious shellfish called a scaly-foot, which was only a few centimeters long. It is a reef snail with scales and iron sulfide nanoparticles inside and outside the scales, but the origin of the scales is not yet known. I jumped into this new world without thinking too much about it, even though JAMSTEC was mostly composed of biological and geoscientists, and there were more than enough chemists on one hand.
Scaly foot (upper left) and enlarged view of scales (red circle) (lower left). SEM image of iron sulfide in the cross section of the scale (right, white part). The right is the surface side, and the scale is 5 µm.
After a while, however, I began to hear from researchers around me about various observation difficulties, such as the lack of appropriate observation methods, difficulties in interpreting images, and limited samples. Under the direction of Dean Takai, I am currently collaborating with many biological and geological researchers to solve these problems using chemistry + electron microscopy, for example, by developing an adhesive for cryo-SEM using graphene oxide, which I was exposed to as an undergraduate, and using it to observe cross-sections of sea-bottom organisms. I have had the opportunity to go on research cruises and deep-sea exploration aboard the Shinkai 6500, and I have tried sample preparation with a jig that I made myself, enjoying the view that can be seen only by venturing into different fields.
In recent years, research in boundary areas and fusion of different fields has been flourishing. The author's research in different fields is driven by his careful attention to the research in front of him, his refinement of techniques, and his observation of his surroundings, while cherishing each encounter (both with research and with people).