9th Salon of Excellence was held.
Reported by:
SASAKI Daisuke, 2nd year master’s student, Sasaki Lab.
MIKAMI Kohei, 2nd year master’s student, Giso Lab.
Introduction
“WINGS-PES Salon” is held by program students from WINGS-PES and the purpose of this
conference is to introduce the research and discuss the methodologies across disciplines. The
9th salon was held for the first time at Zoom meeting for COVID-19 on May 21th, 2020, and
more than 20 students and professors participated in. In the salon, two program students gave
presentations and discussion with participants. The content of the presentation is shown
below.
Presentations
SASAKI, “Functional evaluation of molecular gear crystal from molecular dynamics
measurement”
We briefly explained about the laboratory, the measurement method, my previous research,
and the future research plan. My previous research is to measure the rotational dynamics of
molecular gears by using X-rays. The results of the research have revealed the difference in
the dynamics depending on the crystal plane by changing the temperature. Then, by utilizing
the method of measuring the internal dynamics of the molecule by measuring it on the crystal
itself, in the doctoral course, we plan to study the stress response mechanism that P M2.5 and
viruses exert on cells from the viewpoint of the molecular dynamics. And, I will first determine
the physical properties of PM2.5 and the reaction site on which PM2.5 acts. Examining these
is the first issue. We would like to determine the toxicity of PM2.5 and the target protein by
using cell exposure experiments and electron microscopy.
Q: “Is the technology for labeling gold nanocrystals on proteins established?”
A: Has been established. In my laboratory, the technique for labeling proteins with gold
nanocrystals was developed originally and will be applied to label gold nanocrystals with
viruses.
MIKAMI, “Development of health monitoring system for hull structure”
I presented the outline of a system to evaluate the structural healthy of a ship by monitoring
the displacement and stress of its hull to prevent accidents from occurring. In the system, the
inverse finite element method is used to estimate the overall deformation of ships from the
strains measured by optical fiber sensors installed on the hull, and the stresses are calculated
by the finite element analysis using the displacement as the enforced displacement. This
system can provide not only short-term feedback, such as ship operation, but also mid- and
long-term feedback, such as prediction of appropriate maintenance period and optimization
of design, by analyzing the accumulated data.
In the question-and-answer session after the presentation, there was a discussion about the
possibility of combining the method with other methods and the application of methods in
different fields, and new discoveries were made for me. In addition, I received an opinion that
it would be good that if I have an explanation of the significance of my research from the
viewpoint of environmental studies. I hope to mention such points in the next Salon or QE.