Success of Female Scientist

There was a popular song in Japan, appealing that stress would destroy the earth. A group of female scientists in Japan discovered that stress could create stem cells, which would be transforming into any tissue like eye, heart and brain. While the news surprised the world, media in Japan focused on the leader of the group, Haruko Obokata. That was because she was a young woman. For them, dream was more about growing opportunity for women than about the improvement of technology for human life.

The group named the cell they discovered STAP, an abbreviation of stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency. The significance of the finding was its easiness in production. While iPS cell, which discovery vested Dr. Shinya Yamanaka Nobel Prize last year, needs artificial loading of multiple genes, STAP cell is created by adding stress in an environment of weak acidity. With no physical touch on the cell, STAP is also reducing risks of transforming into cancer.

A magazine in United Kingdom, Nature, carried an article about the discovery, while it once scolded the finding of Obokata as disregarding long history of biological researches. BBC cited a comment of scientist in London, saying “The approach is indeed revolutionary. It will make a fundamental change in how scientists perceive the interplay of environment and genome.”

Japanese media was also enthusiastic, even though it was about lifestyle of Obokata. Newspapers and TV reports focused on her career as a female scientist. According to them, she was a lacrosse player in college, always fashionable, and loved kitchen apron given by her grandmother in the laboratory. Stories described her overcoming of hard times of many disappointment on her experiments, crying over nights, and support of older male colleagues and mentors.

That was a typical success story of “rikejo,” a nickname of contemporary woman specialists in science and technology, which Japanese media had always been expecting. Women active in international stages, such as Hiromi Uehara, a jazz pianist, or Sara Takanashi, Nordic jump skier, are target of news stories encouraging ordinary women in Japan, a society with fundamental handicap existing on woman.

The discovery actually has many hurdles to leap over. STAP cell is only found in young mice. It is still unclear whether it will be applied to adult mice or found in human cell. Details of why STAP is created in weak acid have not been found. To use the finding for medical treatment, it has long way to go. “It may be a dream of rejuvenation,” told Obokata in her press conference. Still, her achievement tells that only determined efforts can make dreams come true.