Irina Ritsch - JP

What made you decide to apply for a grant at the Leading House Asia?
Incidentally, 2020 was going to be special for me, even before it became so globally due to the sudden outbreak of the pandemic. I had just graduated with a PhD from the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) group of Professor. Gunnar Jeschke at ETH Zurich in late 2019, and I was selected for a short term strategic project organized by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

How did you secure a host professor?
In my previous research I had developed site-directed spin labelling approaches to study conformations and interactions of proteins with intrinsically disordered domains. During this time I already came in contact with related NMR methods, and I was eager to extend my knowledge in this direction. My destination was therefore the group of Professor Masahiro Shirakawa at Kyoto University, Japan. Together with Professor Kenji Sugase we designed a project that combines a spin labelling strategy with Rheo-NMR, to study the aggregation of alpha-synuclein.

How would you describe your experience of the programme?
I was scheduled to begin in March 2020, which turned out to be just when the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hit Europe. I cannot stress enough how incredibly thankful I am for the warm welcome I nonetheless received by the fantastic researchers and staff at Kyoto University! In their capable hands, language and cultural barriers quickly began to melt away.
I had expected no less, but it was fascinating to experience first-hand that after flying around the world, and entering a completely different society and culture, I found myself in a scientific community of people with an entirely familiar attitude and interests. Except that all the software, labels of chemical bottles and instruction manuals were entirely in Japanese!

What role did the Leading House Asia play in the programme?
The staff at the Leading House Asia me in setting up the documentation, and I was ready to go!

What were the impacts you made through the project/partners/individual?
I was fortunate to work in a supportive and collaborative environment to develop my research at Kyoto University. The synergy with my previous research became clear, as I got valuable training and first-hand experience in NMR methods, and conversely, I was happy to see that the students in Kyoto became interested and involved in spin labelling and EPR. Eventually, due to pandemic countermeasures, laboratory work had to be reduced. But again, some good came with the bad, since the resulting boost in online conferencing has indeed been helpful as an extension for continued global co-working.

Testimonial: what were your personal experiences/thoughts on the bilateral cooperation experience?
My personal conclusion from the experience of Kyoto in 2020 is very clear: looking out for one another, the way that my host group did for me when I arrived in a completely foreign environment in the middle of a global crisis, was a powerful example of openness and mutual goodwill to build strong trust, the basis of collaboration in modern science. If we manage as a scientific community to encourage each other to keep up and appreciate this mindfulness in all aspects of science, we will be able to extend and maintain a sustainable, inclusive and healthy global scientific community. Enhanced scientific progress and innovation will be the natural consequence of bringing together critical minds with variable backgrounds.