Tell us about your research.

I am doing basic research on how to do things on small chips that are ordinarily done in the laboratory with petri dishes and pipettes. Chips are tiny objects measuring just 2 or 3 centimeters, so you can see that the components on those chips are even smaller.

What sort of applications do you envision for this?

Such devices can be used in medical equipment, perhaps making it possible, for example, to do blood examinations and so forth at home. Blood examinations are currently performed by drawing blood with a syringe and placing the blood in a petri disk, but if a blood examination chip can be developed, examinations could be done simply by placing a chip measuring a few centimeters on a side against the body.

What sort of technology is involved in achieving such size reduction?

We use a semiconductor miniaturization processing technology called MEMS, which stands for Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. This technology uses a procedure analogous to printing photographs from negative film.
When printing a photograph, light passing through film forms an image that can be developed. Similarly, patterns on a chip can be produced by projecting images onto the substrate in much the same manner. The substrate is coated with a cured material called a resist, and the composition of the resist changes to match the pattern of the projected image. Using this technology, it is possible to produce chips with intricate detail. However, at the present state of the art, such details are limited to sizes of about a micron (10-6 meter).

What advantages do you obtain by reducing size?

The advantages that receive the most attention are reduction in weight and increased portability, but there are other advantages as well. Taking the aforementioned blood examination chip as an example, smaller device size reduces the quantity of blood required for analysis, and reduces the amount of reagents required as well. That means greater efficiency all around. Further, the smaller quantity of blood used for analysis means that reactions are completed in a shorter amount of time.

I understand you made a presentation at an international conference?

Yes. Preparing the PowerPoint presentation for the conference was something of a linguistic hurdle, but it was delivering the presentation in English that was the real challenge. I don't have any special aptitude for English, but by taking at least two sessions of English each week and engaging in daily conversation with foreign students in the laboratory, I was able achieve a level of proficiency that helped me deliver the presentation successfully. Of course, working together with foreign students improves ability to converse in English, but it also helps stimulate earnestness and passion for learning.

In conclusion, please give us your impression of Waseda University.

The refrain about "academic autonomy" in the school song is reflected in the student body, which includes many independent people of strong character. This is a gathering of people who have a broad perspective and challenging spirit, and I am surrounded by many who I would like to emulate as role models. I would invite anyone who is attracted to such an environment to come and study with us!