by Atsuko Price
This summer, thanks to the support from Friends of UTokyo Inc. (FUTI), I was able to participate in a life changing internship with the University of Tokyo Research Internship Program (UTRIP). I was an intern in the Ideguchi group under Dr. Takuro IDEGUCHI, whose lab specializes in the development of optical and quantum technologies for applications in various fields such as biology, medicine chemistry, and physics. I worked closely with a grad student, Masato FUKUSHIMA, where I learned about diffraction tomography being used in microscopy. More specifically I learned to code for the reconstruction algorithms of phased-based optical diffraction tomography and intensity diffraction tomography, then compared their effectiveness across multiple simulated sample conditions. I even got to visit their physical lab and see their extensive optics set up, culture COS-7 cells, extract them and place them on a slide in order to image using the diffraction tomography techniques. This involves taking multiple “images” of the cell from different evenly spaced angles by shining it with visible light, and the camera captures how much the light perturbs due to the object. The reconstruction algorithm that was coded for is used to take this perturbed light measurement and deduce what internal structures of the cell being imaged would have resulted in a measurement like that.
Beyond the lab, I got to participate in culture enrichment hosted by UTRIP staff including a tea ceremony, flower display making, a field trip to Kamakura, trying new foods and overall just getting to experience what it’s like living independently in Japan. I gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of Japanese work culture and definitely look forward to visiting the lab again sometime.
Thanks to this internship, I got the opportunity to combine research in biology and physics, in something other than protein folding mechanics, which was an insightful experience. I really enjoyed optics research and plan on pursuing it more in the future. Words cannot express how grateful I am to have gotten this opportunity. Thank you so much.
