iGEM, A Journey

こんにちは。iGEM Grand Tokyo で wet と education 担当した小澤美咲です。
日本語で体験談を書こうと思っていたのですが、、、
うまく表現できなかったところが多かったので、英語で書きます。
よろしくお願いします。

Hi, 
I am Misaki Ozawa, and I took part in the wet lab and education for iGEM Grand Tokyo. 

I thought I would share my 7 months of being an iGEM team member. 

My initial contact with iGEM took place when my science teacher at school was telling us about it. He told us about how cool iGEM is, yet also told us that we need to prepare a lot and that as a school, we are not ready to form a team. 

But the thing about me is that once I get interested in something, it gets fixated into my head and I have to go through with it or else the fact that I didn’t do it bothers me for some time. 

I think in Japanese, it would be やらない後悔. I disliked やらない後悔 over anything else because you are basically choosing not to do something when you are given the opportunity to. We feel like we made the right choice by protecting ourselves, but how would we ever know? I love to challenge myself and the limits I can push. 

Ironically (luckily), I was scrolling through twitter as I always do and saw this team called iGEM Grand Tokyo calling for some new members. I clicked on their site and saw, “hey those are my classmates!!”
I applied, and very luckily, they accepted me. I think that this was and is a big turning point in my high school journey. I wasn’t fully aware that this one commitment will turn into a passion, a lifestyle, for the following months. 

The reason why I chose to be part of the education sector was because there was always a part of me that was interested in science communication. I am amazed by how science museums and science communicators are capable of turning a complex topic into an engaging, fun experience for the public. When I saw that iGEM had a criteria for education, I knew that I had to be a part of it. 

I think that being part of education was one of the greatest gifts the iGEM experience gave me. I remember staying up till pretty late at night to finish our handouts for experiment classes, writing articles, and meeting every week to discuss what new activities we can do. The other education members were all phenomenal. It really challenged me into thinking about how I would like to be taught, and how other audiences will experience our activities. 

I love education and educating others. 
And I think this passion was amplified because of iGEM. By challenging myself to plan and execute events, it was an experience that I had never thought about doing in my high school years. 

Wet lab was personally pretty difficult for me. Although I have background in how to conduct research projects, synthetic biology was a subject that I got so little exposure to (which is what led to our aim in education to create more synbio content in Japanese) 

I remember staring at my Biobuilder book and thinking, what the heck is going on?! 

However, the other wet lab teammates explained the concepts to me, and I am so grateful. Our wet lab advisor also taught me so much and I reflect how lucky I was to be able to be in this thriving environment. 

I still remember the night sky at Rikkyo University after a long day of wet lab. The stars sparkling above, the Lawson convenience store shining as brightly, and while being moved by the cinematic surroundings, come to the realization that the university entrance was locked. (I was able to get out btw) 

Smelling the smell of natto, expired natto, natto broth….. 

I remember coming home and all I can smell is natto.

Wet lab really pushed me to deepen my understanding of research and synthetic biology. 
It also taught me how to collaborate as a team with other wet lab members. 

Previously, I have only conducted research alone, as an individual project. However, experimenting with many of my teammates, talking, and struggling was a new experience that I absolutely loved. 
It kind of made me realize that perhaps I’m better in group research projects because it actually boosts my performance. 

I cannot believe that 7 months had passed since I decided to join iGEM. 
And I also cannot believe that my time with this team had ended. 
Despite feeling like a huge weight had been pulled off my back, I still feel the emptiness that was once filled with our late night calls with each other. 

Although we could not get the medal that we wanted, I do think that the journey that iGEM had put us through really sparked us in the right ways. It gave us an experience that I think will help further projects of our team members. 

I think that iGEM Grand Tokyo laid the foundation of my future work. 

And the team members I was able to get to know will be people that I will collaborate on future projects with. 

I have already started on a different project called IYNA Japan with some of my iGEM teammates. This will not have been possible without iGEM Grand Tokyo putting us together and showing us that we are capable of making projects with great change. 
 
I feel like I wouldn’t have been the same without this experience. 

I am truly grateful for this opportunity, and the journey it paved. 

I feel like I yapped this through, but I hope that this inspires other people who are also interested in iGEM to join :)