東北大学Neuro Global
国際共同大学院プログラム

Graduate School of Medicine
Yuan ZHOU

Hi, this is the message from Yuan Zhou, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Neurosurgical Engineering and Translational Neuroscience, under the supervision of Professor Kuniyasu Niizuma. My journey as a Ph.D. student is both challenging and wonderful, and Neuro Global Program (NGP) fulfills and even enriches this experience. I would like to share my experience in NGP and sincerely hope it will benefit you as well.

Let’s start with how to become a member of NGP. I enrolled in Tohoku University in October 2019. Later, I was attracted by NGP poster and inquired of my professor about the possibility of applying for this program. Fortunately, my professor provided me with full support, including reviewing my research proposal, writing a recommendation letter, and conducting a mock interview with me. As a result, I was accepted to be pre-program student. One important tip for students who want to gain the offer from NGP is to gain the approval from your professor, and thoroughly understand your research proposal, while also practicing your English.

In April 2020, I officially became a member of NGP and adjusted myself to this double Ph.D. training system. According to the curriculum of NGP, the main training could be divided into 3 modules: NGP subjects, Overseas Training, and Ph.D. study. In my case, I chose the Advanced Academic English Training, Advanced Basic Neuroscience and Advanced Brain Science Seminar Series Ex for my NGP subjects. Advanced Academic English Training was an intensive seminar that required us to attend two-weeks classes. Throughout this course, we were expected to study six hours per day (three hours for online activities and three hours for live classes). At the end of this training, we had to submit the abstract of our Ph.D. research, write a short essay and deliver an academic presentation. Personally, this course provided a systematic and professional academic English training, which laid a strong foundation for my subsequent research activities. Additionally, I was also impressed by the active and supportive atmosphere during the courses. I felt that lecturers and classmates were so nice and kind that make each communication so smooth and cheerful. I highly recommend fully engaging in this course!

NGP also organizes various brain science seminars. As NGP students, we are required to attend a minimum of 15 seminars and write reports to earn credits for this course. However, attending these seminars was never a burdensome task for me. The informative content and experienced speakers easily captured my attention and broadened my knowledge. Two of seminars left a lasting impression on me. One was titled “For the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,” delivered by professor Tominaga. This lecture provided insights into how ideas at the Nobel Prize level are generated. The other seminar, “Synthetic Development Biology: Cross Species Comparison and Manipulation of Organoids” made me consider organoids as a potential research target in the future.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, my overseas training format had to be changed to an online format. Although I was unable to physically visit The Dedon Laboratory, Department of Biological Engineering and Center for Environmental Health Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and performed my molecular biology experiments on site, my ability of global communication has been greatly improved by attending this online overseas research training. The dry experiment part of my research including computational science and bioinformatic analysis was conducted collaboratively in the online format. This exposed me to weekly academic English training and academic supervision. Approximately 1-year academic discussion in English enables me to present my research, collaborate with international colleagues and disseminate my findings to a wider audience.

In addition to the main courses I mentioned earlier, NGP also established a special funding called Neuro Global Fellowship. This fellowship provides financial support for attending academic meetings. I consider it a bonus for NGP students. Funded by Neuro Global Fellowship, I have the first experience in attending the international academic meeting abroad, which was an extraordinary experience. This meeting helped me drastically improve and revise my work. At that time, I started to explore the neuronal sensitivity to oxidative stress. However, I was not expert in this area and had no idea to study oxidative stress in a systematic way. It was fortunate for me that I met a lot of researchers who were dedicated to work in redox biology. They pointed out my flaws in the study design and gave me a lot of insightful advice. Furthermore, attending academic meetings makes me feel that I am not alone in making efforts in understanding neuroscience. Reading peers’ and predecessor’s works online and communicating with them are completely different experiences. Their words and suggestions help me to avoid meaningless mistakes and inspire me to continue working.

Neuro Global Program exposed me to a wide range of research areas and interdisciplinary approaches. This broadened my perspective and helped me identify a research topic that integrates multiple disciplines, addressing complex questions in neuroscience. Through interactions with international classmates and exposure to diverse research projects, I gained insights into different methodologies, techniques, and theoretical frameworks. This enriched my research approach and allowed me to incorporate innovative elements into my research and life!

I am truly honored to be a member of Neuro Global Program. I am grateful for the platform that NGP provides and for everyone who has generously supported me throughout this journey.