Face

Will you tell me the story of how you became a researcher?

When I was little, I would constantly ask "Why? Why?" to people around me. I heard later that my elementary teacher asked my mother to tell me to stop asking so many questions, because it interfered with the class. When I was a junior high school student, I read an article about the "Pomato," a hybrid of potato and tomato made by genetic engineering*. I was so impressed by this article. At that point I told myself, "This might be it. I want to become a scientist!" I still remember the article visually. Without encountering that article, I wonder whether I might not have become a scientist.

After completing my PhD, I left Korea for more experience in the world. I chose to go to the U.S., because they promote basic science and have many big researchers. I wanted to test my abilities there.

How was your life in America?

It was full of new challenges. I went to Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and changed my field from Plant Pathology to Plant Nutrition. I was thinking,"If it doesn't work out, I can just change back to Plant Pathology. So I'll just give it a try." At that time, I didn't expect that this new field would eventually become my specialty. The PI in the lab in Danforth Center took a chance on me. Even if I was new to the field, he thought I could be flexible enough to master it. He gave me many opportunities to work with new technologies. One important thing that I learned was, even if I'm not going to use a technique in the future, the experience can still lead to new ideas. I stayed in the same lab for 6 years and enjoyed a variety of challenges.

Generally, Americans concentrate their hard work in the regular working hours. In Asia, I think generally hard-working means working long hours. It was usual for me to work until midnight when I was in Korea. In the States, I tried the American way. I focused a lot on the work and left the lab around 7pm. I tried to do something fun outside the lab, too. For example, I took courses, like tennis and skating, in a community college. I enjoyed the life there.

I gained a lot by having lived in the States. My English skill improved, of course, but being able to actually use it and communicate with people to work together is more important than just English. To survive in a foreign environment, it is necessary to work together with people and help each other in and out of the lab. My experience in the States gave me the confidence that I can adjust to and survive in any new environment. In many ways, the foreign experience strengthened my history.

After doing a postdoc in the U.S., you moved to RIKEN as a PI. How is your research life here in RIKEN, and how does that compare to where you were before?

The English environment is okay in RIKEN, so I don't have any language trouble. It is difficult though, to get grants outside of RIKEN from the government. Government grant writing is more successful in Japanese and in Japanese style. So that language and cultural barriers exist, but they try to help me with RIKEN funds.

The best thing about working in RIKEN is the quality of researchers. All the PIs have their own strengths, so collaborating with them makes research greater. Yes, even if you are living abroad, you can become acquainted with their research through papers and subsequently make contact with them. But for collaboration it is easier that I work here, meet and talk with the PIs, and that we get to know each other personally. Other PIs here are not only doing great research, but also very kind and supportive for me. In such a place, it's easy to click together and develop collaboration. This kind of thing doesn't occur everywhere.

Danforth Center, where I worked in the States, is an institute specialized for plant science. They have huge facilities with many, many greenhouses and growth chambers. There is no trouble getting enough space for your plants. The center itself has the facilities and provides supplies, so you don't need to trouble with purchasing. In RIKEN, however, each lab has its own growth facilities and has to do everything independently. Also, there is a staff at Danforth center to care for the plants. The staff members are experts of horticulture or plant science, and you don't need to worry about bugs or disease; they can handle all these things. That was very helpful. I sometimes miss that now.

What is your research about?

In agriculture, we have been using a lot of fertilizer, but fertilizers are costly and a high percentage of the fertilizer is not taken up by plants and remains in soil and water, leading to environmental pollution. Therefore, in order to make plants more efficient in absorbing nutrients and growing, my team is trying to understand how plants sense and uptake nutrients, and grow. Plants that can grow more efficiently and produce more food with less fertilizer will be beneficial to agriculture. This will lead not only to increasing the yield and reducing the cost of fertilizer, but also to preserving the resources for producing fertilizer, preventing environmental pollution, and making agriculture more environmentally friendly. To this end, we hope to reveal the mechanisms that underlie nutrient uptake and growth in plants.

Lastly, do you have advice for younger generations?

Being a researcher is not easy. You need enough patience for mistakes and failures to keep making effort. But sometimes, you also need to be flexible enough to give up your own ideas and listen to the opinions of others. Knowing when to give up can determine your success, too. It is difficult, but you should be open to changing your ideas or hypotheses, and sometimes even to quitting the current experiment or research project. Although it's not easy, I can guarantee that you'll never get bored in this job. As soon as one question is solved, a new question will appear. You'll have an exciting life.

I don't think you need to worry too much about your future. Meeting the article about the pomato was what motivated me to become a scientist, but I didn't know even the terms like "molecular biology" or "plant biotechnology" then. It is such a coincidence that I am now studying the very same field that the article was about. I was drawn to plant science because I liked a professor very much whose major was plant pathology. The new field I happened to meet and challenged in the States has become my research specialty. I had never considered living in Japan either. I don't know what and where my future will be, but I just do my best in my present situation and see what will happen. Many of the big events in our lives are beyond our expectation and imagination, and we might not be able to plan them anyway.

Lastly, some advice for those who want to study plant science; communicating with your plants is important, too. I always say "hi" to my plants and apologize to them if I've been apart from them for a business trip or missed seeing them for a while. If you go to see them every day, to take care of and talk to them, you will see the plants look happier. Communication is one important tip. Try it!

* Pomato was engineered by cell fusion which is, in a narrow ense, not included in genetic engineering. However, cell fusion technique combines cells of different species that results in the creation of a new species with novel genetic combinations. Therefore, it is interpreted as one of genetic engineering techniques here.

February 2012, Interviewed by Shoko Nakasone Lee