By Maria Lewis
Hello! My name is Maria Lewis and I’m a junior at Johns Hopkins University studying neuroscience and psychology on the pre-med path. I’m originally from St. Paul, MN in the US, but thanks to the gracious support of the Friends of UTokyo, I had the privilege this summer of being a part of UTRIP and interning in the lab of Professor Goda-san studying aging cells.
I first became interested in age-related research last summer when I had the privilege to conduct research at Yale University in the lab of Dr. Rong Fan. This was my first research experience and since that moment I’ve been fascinated by age-related research and cellular senescence. Cellular senescence is when cells stop dividing typically in response to DNA damage. In Goda Lab, I was privileged enough to continue my work with cellular senescence, but from a different perspective than what I’ve worked with before. This sounded like an incredible opportunity for me to expand on my overall knowledge of this topic that is still beginning to be discussed more widely.
This summer, I worked with groundbreaking technology developed in the lab of Professor Goda- san, such as VIFFI and IACS. VIFFI virtually freezes the motion of flowing cells, which allows for the imaging of fine morphological and structural features of single cells. Similarly, IACS sorts cells with different chemical, spatial, and morphological traits. I have basic experience with coding and using technology for research, but I’m still fairly new at this topic, so I loved being able to expand on my skills and learn more about the benefit technology can have in regards to cellular research. The first, smaller, goal of my project was to find the ideal concentration of etoposide, a chemotherapy drug, that onsets senescence in HaCaT cells. Overall though, the main goal was to determine the effect certain drug treatments have on cellular senescence and translate it to the effect on humans. I was able to use confocal microscopy, VIFFI, and IACS to detect these senescent cells through a biomarker of senescence, SA-beta GAL.
Because of UTRIP and the FUTI Scholarship, I’ve made connections with people all over the world now in Tokyo, the UK, Mongolia, and many other places. However, this is not just connections that I’ve made, but also friends. I’ve had the privilege to build this international network where I can share my ideas with others talk about our different research endeavors. Everyday after I finished my research, I enjoyed being able to talk with the other interns about our different research topics and explore these new ideas and concepts that are so fascinating to me and so groundbreaking for the research world.
Outside of my research, I’ve loved the cultural exploration I’ve been able to do both on my own and supported by the UTRIP field trips. I’ve had the privilege to learn a bit of Japanese and participate in a Japanese tea ceremony, wear a Yukata, practice calligraphy, and visit numerous museums and shrines to truly immerse myself in Japanese culture. I’ve loved every minute of my time in Japan. The culture here is so rich and defined and I love that I’ve had the opportunity to be welcomed into it. I’ve also been able to physically explore Japan like Kyoto where I bought too much matcha, the beauty of Kamakura, and the numerous areas in Tokyo such as Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku, and many other places. I often joke with the interns when I’ll be back to Japan after this internship and it’s looking like it will be soon because I don’t think I can wait long to come back to a place so beautiful and special to me now. This opportunity has been truly unforgettable and I’m so grateful for the friends I’ve made and the research I’ve had a privilege to be a part of.
