Laboratories and faculty

One fine day, it will be your turn.

One fine day, it will be your turn. You will leave your homes and countries to pursue grander ambitions. You will leave friends, lovers, and other possibilities for the chance to roam the world and make deeper connections. You will defy your fear of change, hold your head high and do what you once thought was unthinkable and impossible. And it will be scary at first. But what I hope you’ll find in the end is that in leaving, you won’t just find your success, adventure, or freedom. More than anything, you’ll find yourself outgrowing your limits, just like the NAIST slogan says.

My current position is Vice Dean for Education, Research and Student Affairs in the Faculty of Pharmacy at Universitas Indonesia. In this position, I am always reminded of how difficult it is to do research and the importance of collaboration with other researchers so that I can formulate a policy on the development of research, development of graduate education at my institution.

Although my current position as Vice Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy is not directly supported from previous education in NAIST, my research experience from NAIST is useful in developing my laboratory (Biomedical Computation and Drug Design Laboratory) and developing the faculty policy for research.

In 2003, I enrolled in NAIST in the laboratory of Professor Hakoshima as a doctoral student. I was fortunate to be able to join in this laboratory because at that time Professor Hakoshima was very famous for being involved in the Protein 3000 project. This also gave me the spirit to work hard and prove something valuable for my professor.

Working with Japanese friends was very pleasant. With their help at the beginning, I was able to adjust well and eventually work independently. At first I was not so fluent in Japanese and couldn’t read Japanese characters well, but they helped me with my problems. All the equipment only had instructions in Japanese. Sometimes it made me frustrated. Most students who could speak English also helped me a lot with this problem.

My senior, Shigeru Sakurai gave me inspiration on how to process research data quickly and efficiently using a computer. From this lab I also gained experience in the use of molecular modeling techniques to complete the three-dimensional structure of proteins. Until now, most of the techniques that I learned in this lab I have applied in my lab development in Indonesia (Biomedical Computation and Drug Design in Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Indonesia)

My original motivation in choosing a career in university teaching was with the hope of continuing my study abroad in a doctoral program. After a long wait while looking for an appropriate field of study, I finally got an offer to study funded by Iida Foundation Scholarships. I chose the field of x-ray crystallography in the hope that knowledge can be used in drug development.

【February 2015】

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