Ph. Dialogue「博士人材セミナー」は、Ph. Discover連携企業からゲストを迎え「博士課程修了者が企業でどのように活躍しているのか」「企業は博士人材に何を求めているのか」について話していただき、後半はゲストと学生が対話を通して交流する企画です。8回目は阿部圭馬さん、後藤一法さん、前田哲宏さん（株式会社アミノアップ）をお迎えしました。

My name is Abe from Amino Up Co., Ltd. Our company extracts and manufactures physiologically active substances derived from natural products, and develops and manufactures functional foods.

Human health through the health food business and plant health through the agribusiness
Our business has two pillars. The first pillar is the health food business that makes the most of nature's bounty. The first health food we made was AHCC®, a cultured extract of mushroom basidiomycetes. In 1991, we launched Perilla Extract, an extract of perilla that was found to have anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. Lychee-derived low-molecular-weight polyphenol “Oligonol®” developed in 2006 uses our patented technology to reduce polyphenols, which are abundant in lychee, to low-molecular-weight polyphenols (technology to reduce the molecular weight so that it can be sufficiently absorbed by the human body). , is a product. Antioxidant and anti-fatigue effects were found as functions.

これらの製品には「北海道食品機能性表示制度ヘルシーDo」や「機能性表示食品」というマークがついています。「ヘルシーDo」は北海道による認定制度で、「健康でいられる体づくりに関する科学的な研究が行われた機能性素材を含む食品」として認められた証です。「機能性表示食品」は、事業者が消費者庁に食品の安全性や機能性に関する科学的根拠を届けて出ることで機能性を表示できるようになった食品の証です。とはいっても、みなさんは例にあげた製品を店頭で見たことがないと思います。なぜなら、弊社は原料メーカーであり、他の食品メーカーの製品に含まれる形で皆さんの手元に届けられているからです。例えば、「Oligonol®」はコンビニのセイコーマートで売られているドリンクに入っています。

二つ目の柱はアグリ事業で、「Dr.アミノアップ」という植物活力資材を開発しています。将来、世界的に人口が増え続けると、いずれ食糧需給がひっ迫すると言われています。そこで、人の健康に役立つ製品を製造する技術を農作物の生長に役立てることで、持続可能な食糧支援をしたいと考えています。

A research-oriented company that also focuses on presentations at academic conferences and papers

私たちは、健康食品事業とアグリ事業を二本柱とし、おおよそ5~10年に1つのペースで新製品を開発してきました。そして、継続的な新製品の開発と並行して、国際学会や論文での研究発表も積極的に行ってきました。科学的エビデンスを重視する弊社にとって、社外で発表することは、「第三者の目からデータを確認する」という意味で大切な研究開発プロセスです。さらに、共同研究にも積極的で、協働先機関の数はこれまで国内外合わせて100を超えています。

Doctoral human resources active in various departments

From here, we will introduce specific jobs along with the voices of Ph.D. human resources who are active in the company. Our company has 80 full-time employees and executives, 11 of whom have doctoral degrees, accounting for about 10%. Of the 11 people, 5 are in the research department, 3 in the sales department, 2 in the quality assurance department, and 1 in the factory.
The first is the sales department, which is divided into five sections as follows.

• ​Academic staff responsible for managing paper submissions, conference presentations, and joint research
• ​Sales representative for developing new customers and new business partners
• ​Logistics staff responsible for managing shipments, exports, and inventories
• ​Public Relations Officer who disseminates information inside and outside the company
• ​Intellectual property manager who applies for and manages patents

学術担当で働く博士の人と、知財担当で働く博士の人に話を聞くと、二人とも「博士課程で培った論理的な考え方や調査能力が役に立っている」とのことでした。また、知財担当の人は、「社外で講演する際に、博士課程で得たプレゼンテーション能力も役立っている」と言っております。

Next is the research department, which is roughly divided into two groups as follows.

• Chemistry group that actually extracts, purifies, and concentrates ingredients and develops products
• Biological group that evaluates functionality at the human level from cells and animals

彼らは、「博士課程で得た問題を定める力、それを解決する力が、今も仕事に活きている」と話しています。

次に紹介するのは品質保証室で、品質保証体制の維持や改善に努める部署です。また、お客様から情報提示を求められた時に文書を作成するのもこの部署です。ここで働いている農学博士は、もともとは違う専門分野だったそうですが、「博士研究の過程で身につけた課題を解決する力は今の仕事にも応用できている」と言っています。

What did you think? As our doctoral degree holders have said, the abilities cultivated in the doctoral course can be used in any job at our company. Therefore, please consider the option of making a company like ours a place for your activities.

コミュニケーションタイム

Towards an era in which people move fluidly between academia and companies

Q: Are your company's Ph.D. human resources recruiting new graduates? Are there any mid-career hires?
Goto: Of course there are new graduates, but most of them are mid-career hires. There are people who have experience working at other companies and join the company as immediate employees, and there are people who join the company after experiencing postdocs.

Q: For those who were actually hired mid-career, for what reasons and circumstances did you decide to change jobs?
Abe: Being a postdoctoral fellow is a tough job, and it's possible that you won't get paid next year. Of course I have to look for another job. In my case, in addition to wanting to continue chemistry-related research, considering the age of my parents in Hokkaido, I wanted to live in Hokkaido, so I searched for a job where I could do chemistry-related research in Hokkaido. At the time, I was particular about working at a university or a research institute, but I changed my mind about the workplace, thinking that I should be able to use my abilities wherever I go. I switched.
Goto: I joined AminoUp after working as a postdoc for nearly five years. Before I joined the company, I had seen researchers who were active in private companies, so I wanted to go to places other than academia.

Q: Conversely, do some people go to academia based on their achievements in Amino Up?
Goto: Yes, there is a person doing pharmaceutical-related research at university. I think it's up to you to decide whether or not to return to academia. Academia is a world where you write papers on your own and produce results. If you are looking for such an environment, you should consider changing jobs.
Goto: Universities are looking for people who have experience in companies and especially have connections, while companies are looking for people who are active as specialists at universities. From now on, I think that more and more people will be moving back and forth between universities and companies in a fluid manner.

After obtaining a patent, some people present at academic conferences and papers, and obtain a doctorate degree after joining the company.

Q: When presenting research results at academic conferences or in papers, I think patent issues will become an issue.
Abe: Our products will be announced outside the company after obtaining a patent. At which stage the announcement will be made is determined through internal consultations.

Q: Which department will make presentations outside the company?
Abe: For existing products, the academic staff in the sales department mainly handle it. The research department will announce those that are under development and have not been commercialized.

Q: Is it possible to obtain a PhD for a thesis related to the research you did after joining the company?
Goto: Patent acquisition takes priority, so it takes longer to publish papers than in academia. Some of them write a doctoral dissertation based on the content of their research at the company and obtain a dissertation doctorate at their home university or laboratory. However, since it is a company, we do not proceed only for the purpose of publishing papers.

Proceed with research while sharing themes with each other, and work together on the final stage of development

Q: How do you decide which theme you will be in charge of?
Goto: The major direction of development is determined by management policy, but it is up to individual researchers to decide how to set up projects within that area. For example, let's say you have decided to develop a new material in the anti-aging field. Each researcher voluntarily thinks about what kind of effect the product should have in that area, and creates a project.

Q: How many projects are running in parallel at any given time, and how many people work on each project?
Goto: There are 8 people working in R&D, and 5 to 8 projects are running at any given time. At the beginning of the development stage, one person is responsible for one or two themes. sometimes work on it.

Q: You said that there are times when everyone works together at the end of the development stage, but how do you share information about the progress of themes that you weren't in charge of?
Goto: Every month, we share data and progress at meetings with the entire research department, so we don't suddenly need to help out with unfamiliar themes in the final stages of development. The entire research department is an organization of 11 people, so we can always share how far each other's themes have progressed. Taking advantage of Hokkaido's prosperous agriculture, we will promote research on plants, especially agricultural products, and continue to create high value-added functional foods and support the Hokkaido brand. We also want to contribute to the global issue of the food crisis.

Launch: March 3, 2021
Organizer: Ph. Discover
Co-organizer: Hokkaido UniversityFaculty of Science/Hokkaido University Center for Mathematics and Data Science (Data-related Human Resource Development Program) / Hokkaido University Doctoral Program for Materials Science Leading Program