Using Start-up Research Funds
Assistant Professor Akane Kubota, Division of Biological Science, Plant Chronobiology Laboratory
I did not know about this program before I came to my current position. I had heard about the research grant itself from Professor Endo, but without knowing the details, I just heard that I should apply for it, and I remember that the Gender Equality Office contacted me with the details around the same time.
Since there was a large amount of money for this research grant, we were able to purchase an artificial weather machine and light source equipment for plant growth. I was able to share the consumables in the lab, but I had to buy my own growing racks and light source equipment for my experiments, so I was able to use this research grant to build the same setup here from scratch that I had built at my previous affiliation.
I am interested in physiological responses involving the circadian clock, and I do 24-hour sampling under different conditions to analyze the variation in expression of genes and proteins over a 24-hour period. I was able to purchase the first three chambers with this research grant, which was a tremendous help because I was able to run the experiment literally three times faster than before. I was also very grateful that the amount of money was 2 million, not 500,000, and that the use of the chambers was not restricted.
(January 2021)
Since there was a large amount of money for this research grant, we were able to purchase an artificial weather machine and light source equipment for plant growth. I was able to share the consumables in the lab, but I had to buy my own growing racks and light source equipment for my experiments, so I was able to use this research grant to build the same setup here from scratch that I had built at my previous affiliation.
I am interested in physiological responses involving the circadian clock, and I do 24-hour sampling under different conditions to analyze the variation in expression of genes and proteins over a 24-hour period. I was able to purchase the first three chambers with this research grant, which was a tremendous help because I was able to run the experiment literally three times faster than before. I was also very grateful that the amount of money was 2 million, not 500,000, and that the use of the chambers was not restricted.
(January 2021)
