Translator: Reiko Bovee Reviewer: Ivana Korom
Hello everyone.
My name is Kosuke Katano.
I am in grade 11.
I would like to launch one research while I am still in high school.
"Site-specific DNA modification technology using fusion proteins"
is the title of my research.
That may sound a little too difficult for you to get any idea what it is about.
So, please let me lightly explain about it.
First we combine different proteins together,
which are called "fusion proteins."
This is still a tentative theory, but fusion proteins could be used
to initiate therapeutic change on a targeted spot of DNA.
By doins so, we might be able to stop or decrease the growth of cancer cells.
Something like that.
I believe that this technology will be useful for researches
on cancer and iPS or genetic marker and genetic improvement.
What motivated me to think about doing this research
was that in the summer when I was in 9th grade,
I got awarded for my research about a plant called "Mimosa pudica,"
which I had been interested in since when I was in grade school.
The research was just made up of observations
obtained from little experiments,
but since I had never achieved anything before that,
it boosted my confidence for the first time.
That event got me very interested in doing research.
Around the end of the same summer, I participated in a camp
held by the cram school where I was studying then.
When I was eating dinner with one of my friends at that camp,
he couldn't eat buckwheat noodle served at the camp
due to his allergy to buckwheat.
I asked myself, "What is allergy anyway?"
and immediately googled about allergy.
What I found out was that food allergy was completely different
from what I had thought.
Its mechanism is the same as atopy, asthma or hay fever.
I wondered, ”Why don't we have any real cures for allergies
besides suppressing symptoms?"
From then on I began thinking about finding a real cure for allergies.
This was also the starting point of my research that I mentioned earlier.
On the Internet we can find information.
As long as we have a desire to learn with interest,
we can acquire any kind of knowledge and information.
Since I couldn't control my curious mind,
as soon as I started my highschool life,
I joined the chemistry club at school.
I suggested to the members and the teacher
to do a research about Mimosa pudica or my own project I planned,
but nothing could be done due to a lack of appropriate equipment.
The teacher wouldn't take me seriously, saying,
"Stop dreaming and get down to your study.
Research is impossible now because it'd be too much trouble."
I wondered if some universities or research centers
might help me realize my research, athough my high school wouldn't.
And I sent emails to almost 30 institutions.
The number of replies I received was about 15,
roughly half of all emails I sent out.
While some professors let me borrow their technical books,
or even invited me to their seminars,
most of their replies said: "Infeasible for high school students,"
or "High school students should study for college entrance exams instead."
So, my research was not realized.
One teacher said to me,
"A copy from the Internet? Must be somebody else's idea, after all."
I once received hurtful words like that.
I thought I needed to have more knowledge and learn skills for doing research.
Then, I began doing nothing but studying about research,
reading technical books about research and research papers on the Internet.
I sometimes asked college professors some questions.
I am still checking out what kinds of research
are being conducted in the world,
and what the cutting edge researches are right now,
by reading research papers published out in the world.
This is the lab of the company, Leave a Nest
that I am getting support from.
I am acquiring knowledge and skills needed for doing research
through hands-on lab experience here.
Like this, even high school students can gain such skills and knowledge
with help of adults.
However, I have not been able to do my own research yet.
Of course, I am also very much aware of my responsibility
for safety and confidentiality entailed in research going in the lab.
When I was taking an English language training course in Australia,
one junior high school girl whom I happened to talk to said,
"I am doing a research about teeth at a college."
Students like me in some countries can engage in research.
For instance, Jack Andraka
invented the inspection sheet for pancreatic cancer.
Its accuracy is over 90%, and its cost is only 3 yen for one sheet.
Eric Chen developed a new drug for flu.
That drug is said to be effective
for all kinds including new influenza strains.
I witnessed that they were doing research, getting information from the Internet,
while getting access to universities or other research institutions
to gain actual lab work experience and learn there.
Both Jack and Eric are high school students.
None of what they have done
could have been possible without adults' help.
Do you know any high school students
who are doing medical research in Japan?
In some countries high school students can do such researches but not in Japan.
Don't you think Japan is wasting its potentials?
I believe so. Very much.
"Can't you do such a thing after you enter a college?"
is what some may be thinking.
But in fact, is it possible for us to immediately start our research
that we are interested in, right after getting into college?
I am sure that you have the answer to it.
If in Japan all students of all ages including grade schoolers
could participate in research,
their perspectives unique to kids, could be beneficial to research,
and I believe that their rich, creative ideas would help cultivate
new discoveries and breakthroughs.
Any research consumes a lot of time.
Just a few years make a big difference,
and it might dramatically influence the progress of research eventually.
That's why I'd like to turn my ideas
into something substantial as soon as possible
in order to contribute to researches on cancer and iPS cells.
I want students to have a lot of questions and interests in many things,
and pursue their interests and keep asking questions.
When they may wonder why the sky is blue,
instead of convincing themselves, that it's blue just because it's blue,
they look for its explanation.
Since adults can't always have an answer to such questions,
kids seek answers on their own, but with the adults' guidance
so that they can figure out how to find the answers.
I have a passion for doing research.
Thank you.
(Applause)