北海道大学大学院 生命科学院では、キャリアパス教育の一環として、学部３年生を対象にしたイベント「DCは語る」（DC：Doctoral Course＝博士課程）を定期的に開催しています。博士課程の学生の研究生活や進学経験を聞くことで、進路の一つとして博士課程進学を考えてもらうことが目的です。2022年8月3日は、生命科学院ソフトマター専攻 博士2年の関澤 祐侑（せきざわ ゆう）さんが話しました。関澤さんは、理学部生物科学科（高分子機能学）を卒業後、生命科学院ソフトマター専攻に進学し、現在は博士課程に在籍しています。
Controlling the orientation of gold nanorods
Gold nanorods are small, rod-shaped particles made up of gold atoms. Gold nanorods change color by changing their orientation. It is quite difficult to freely align and change the orientation of very small gold nanorods, but if the orientation of gold nanorods can be manipulated at will, it may be possible to create new materials that can manipulate the properties of light. Hmm. My research focuses on controlling the orientation of gold nanorods.
Go to doctoral course for original research
I chose the Biomolecular Device Laboratory (Ishiro Laboratory) because I am interested in chemistry and material science.
In my master's course, I succeeded in changing the direction of gold nanorods by creating a base using DNA as a material, attaching gold nanorods to the base, and applying stimulation. However, this theme was inherited from my senior, so next time I wanted to do research on a theme that I came up with from scratch, so I entered the doctoral program. Now, I am continuing my research to change the orientation of gold nanorods using synthetic polymers, which are more universal materials than DNA.
研究で楽しいとき、辛いとき
楽しさを感じるのは、仮説を立てて実験するときです。論文を読んで、新しい概念を知り、「これを適用すると、自分の研究がうまくいくかも？」と想像するとワクワクします。実験中に予想しなかった現象が見られたときも同様です。
逆に、辛いのは研究に行き詰まったときです。手を尽くしても上手くいかず、次の一手も思いつかないときは落ち込みます。研究とは、労力や時間をかけても成果が出ないことが多いものです。そんな時に、くよくよ悩まない人の方が、研究に向いているかもしれません。
Decide for yourself which way to go
I was unsure whether I should go on to a doctoral course and consulted with seniors, but everyone has a different way of thinking. Ultimately, I gave priority to my desire to go on to higher education. As you can see, I happened to like research activities, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. However, if you start serious research from now on and feel that it is fun, please consider going on to a doctoral course.
In the doctoral course, I can freely conduct research, interact with researchers outside the university, and have many experiences that cannot be obtained elsewhere. I am currently doing basic research, but in the future I would like to produce results that will enable the materials I make to be put to practical use in society.