Falling Walls Lab Tokyo 2016
© DWIH Tokyo
The first Falling Walls Lab Tokyo, an internationally oriented science communication contest, was held on August 29. The event was jointly organized by the German Research and Innovation Forum Tokyo (DWIH) and EURAXESS Links Japan.
In line with the notion of “Breaking down various walls”, young scientists presented potentially groundbreaking research findings in 3-minute timed talks held in English. As the contest welcomed scientists from all disciplines, the presentations covered a wide range of thematic domains. A distinguished jury composed of scientists and industry representatives evaluated the individual presentations on the basis of three key criteria (“Breakthrough-factor”, “Relevance & Impact” and “Performance & Structure”).
The evening concluded with a reception, which provided speakers and guests alike the opportunity to engage in conversations and further deepen discussions.
15 young researchers were selected to present their ideas and initiatives at the competition on August 29. Despite highly specialized research projects, the speakers succeeded in sharing their ideas and conveying their enthusiasm for their research to the audience. After the final presentation, the audience was given an opportunity to address the speakers directly. The topics presented and discussed ranged from increasing the efficiency of intergovernmental organizations through a re-evaluation of their member structure to the countering of resource and energy shortage by means of synthetically produced fuel out of plastic waste.
Alina Kudasheva from the Tokyo Institute of Technology was awarded first prize for her research focusing on the prevention of a global clean water crisis through the development of a technology for obtaining drinking water from the atmosphere. As winner of the Falling Walls Lab Tokyo, Alina will receive an invitation and a flight ticket to attend the Falling Walls Lab finale, which is to be held on November 8 in Berlin. More than 100 winners from the many Falling Walls Labs located all around the world are expected to attend the event in Germany. The price for runner-up was given to Matt Escobar from the University of Tokyo for his research on generating and visualizing connections within complex amounts of data. The third place was awarded to Ery Fukushima from the University of Osaka for her proposed deployment of plant genes during the biogenesis of natural materials in the development of medical drugs, which promise to exhibit a high degree of effectiveness and a reduced amount of side effects.
The Falling Walls Lab was launched 2011 in Berlin and is held annually on the day of the fall of the Berlin Wall. At present, there are more than 30 Falling Walls Labs worldwide. The winners of these local Labs will qualify for the finale in Berlin on November 8. The Tohoku University was the first institution to host a Fall Walls Lab in East Asia in 2014. In 2016, for the first time a Falling Walls Lab was held in Tokyo.
The Winners
Falling Walls Lab Tokyo 2016
1st Place
Miss Alina KUDASHEVA
Tokyo Institute of Technology
“Breaking the Wall of Global Water Shortage”
2nd Place
Mr. Matt ESCOBAR
The University of Tokyo
“Breaking the Wall of Data Visualization”
3rd Place
Miss Ery FUKUSHIMA
Osaka University
“Breaking the Wall of drug development using plant genes”
The Jury
Prof. Dr. jur. Heinrich Menkhaus
Chair of German Law, Faculty of Law, Meiji University
Chairman of the German JSPS Alumni Association
Dr. Helmut Wenisch
Head of Corporate Technology, Siemens K.K.
Dr. Anders Karlsson
Vice President, Strategic Alliances, Global Academic Relations, Elsevier
Dr. Ayano Takeuchi
Toho University, Junior Associate Professor
Dr. Saiki Hase
German Research Foundation, Deputy Director, DFG Office Japan
Dr. Yuko Harayama
Executive Member, Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
Interview with Dr. Ery Odetter Fukushima, Falling Walls Lab Tokyo 2016 third prize winner
Interview with Dr. Ery Odetter Fukushima, Falling Walls Lab Tokyo 2016 third prize winner
Falling Walls Lab Tokyo (FWL Tokyo), an internationally oriented science communication contest, was held on 29th August 2016 at the German Culture Center (Deutsches Kulturzentrum). The event was co-organized by the German Research and Innovation Forum Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo) and EURAXESS Japan. Under the concept of “Breaking down various walls”, 15 young scientists presented their research findings in 3-minute timed talks. We interviewed Ery Odette Fukushima, assistant professor at Osaka University and winner of the FWL Tokyo’s third place.
Ery, can you introduce yourself and your career path to our readers?
My name is Ery Odette Fukushima and I am Bolivian-Japanese. My professional path started the time I decided to study Biology in a mega-diverse country, Bolivia. The genetic diversity and thus all the biological resources of this country, especially those related to plants, simply amazed me. During my bachelor course, I co-founded a NPO in conservation biology and I focused my efforts to the study of plants and its benefits. In my bachelor project, I have worked with biological properties of natural compounds produced in some Bolivian medicinal plants. Later I had the chance to work with Bolivian traditional healers. By that time, I realised how much is still unknown about plants and how huge their potential is; thus, I decided to continue working in this field and pursue a Master degree and subsequently a PhD degree in Japan, my second home. During this time, I have learned more molecular aspects of the plant biology and used biotechnological tools to study natural compounds biosynthesized by plants, confirming the potential they have to produce even more. Therefore, when I was offered to become Assistant Professor at the Osaka University I found an opportunity to continue this study at the time I guide young scientists in their curiosity of this fascinating topic.
You are now an assistant professor at Osaka University, could you tell us a little bit why you chose this specific institution, and present your current research project?
After my PhD course, and based on my will to continue the study of plants, I found an opportunity to get enrolled in a laboratory of great scientists working with interesting and promising topics related to molecular aspects of the plant biology at the Osaka University. This University is one of the biggest in Japan, with a strong cooperation with the industrial sector and with a growing worldwide community of students and prestigious scientists leading its laboratories. Moreover, from the cultural point of view and besides being an important city of Japan, Osaka offered me a close look oncultural aspects I needed to learn and understand as several traditional cities, like Kyoto and Nara, are very close to it.
Currently I am working on combinatorial biosynthesis of plant useful compounds. This is referred to the combination of different plant genes that are involved in the synthesis of the useful compounds in a yeast expression system. This system allows enzymes from different sources to work together and produce new structures with potentialities for the development of new and health-friendly drugs. Besides it I am also working on the role of these natural compounds on plants itself.
With this project and your communication skills, you managed to participate to this year’s FWLalling Walls Lab Tokyo and eventually to get the third prize among 15 participants, congratulations! Can you tell us a little bit about your experience at the FWL Tokyo, how was it?
The experience itself was quite interesting. I have applied originally in the objective of meeting people working with innovative ideas here in Japan, as I wanted to have the opportunity to open my mind to different fields and to see how good scientific ideas can be transmitted to the public. The featured very interesting people and showed me that ideas can go beyond pure research. In this sense, it also helped me to give additional value to the students’ research at my laboratory. Finally, considering that I was too nervous to express many of the ideas I had, the prize was totally unexpected, but it confirmed that I can transmit important points of my research and that the path I am following can lead to something interesting in the near future.
How did you find out about Falling Walls and what caught your attention?
I subscribed to the EURAXESS mailing list and received the info through it. What caught my attention was the fact that this was a science communication event that people from different fields and different degrees could apply to.
Do you have any advice for researchers who want participate in a Falling Walls Lab?
It is interesting to challenge a little bit your ideas, to present your research in an unusual format and to get different opinions from people that are not from your scientific area. In brief, let your ideas be challenged!
How did you prepare for it, and what were the challenges and outcomes of the event, in your opinion?
Preparing the presentation was very challenging, specially summarizing the message in 3 slides in a way that people in other fields can also understand. To have a better idea on how to do it, I saw some TED presentations and check other advices on the Internet. I found some common issues in all places that I looked into and apply those advices to deliver my message. The challenges from my point of view are, to take the risk to be exposed and to adjust to a new format that you are not used to. Different points of view of your research are given as an outcome and potential contacts for future research can be made.
How important do you think science communication is to the general public? Will it be an important factor in your research career?
If not fundamental, it is quite important for the society. Science must be delivered and understood by general public in a way that people can make a good use of the information transmitted; in this sense we may contribute to build science-based communities. In my research career, this is an important factor as it will help me to expand my professional network to other fields and exercise my grant writing skills.
– Do you think that being a FWL participant had an influence on your ability to gain an appointment at your institution of choice or to convince investors or grant jurys?
May be not directly, but it helped me to have a deep look inside my research and to pull out the most important issue/message to be delivered. Of course, the better you can transmit a good idea, the more the probabilities to impact on you investors or grant juries.
The FWL Tokyo is also about expanding one’s research horizons from Japan to Germany and Europe. Are there interactions (cooperations) at your lab, or within your research project, going on with actors abroad? In the EU?
We are currently collaborating with countries abroad, including EU countries. Still, I think that more collaborative works will improve our works and I am working on that as well.
What would you wish for your career as a researcher? Do you have plans to go abroad, maybe to Europe?
My wish is to continue my research at the same time that I expand its application to the industrial sector. Currently I have no specific plans to go to other places, but I really would like to continue collaborating with other countries abroad, including of course European countries. Europe is a place that I like much, but as I said before I have no specific plans to go abroad yet.
Ery, thak you for your time and all the best for your career!