(July 8th, 2010) More than four years ago Japanese neuroscientist Ayumu Tashiro started working at the Centre for the Biology of Memory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. Lab Times asked him about his experiences in doing life science research in Norway to date.
Ayumu Tashiro studied Biophysics and Biochemistry at the University of Tokyo. From 1998 to 2002 he was a PhD student with Rafael Yuste at the Columbia University in New York. Postdoctoral work he performed in the lab of Fred Gage at the Salk Institute in La Jolla. In 2006, he moved to the Centre for the Biology of Memory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, where he got promoted to group leader in 2009. He received prestigious international grants and awards, including an ERC Starting Grant and the Gruber International Research Award in Neuroscience. He is working on neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus.
Lab Times: Why did you choose the NTNU?
Tashiro: During my postdoc work at the Salk Institute, I was convinced that in order to understand the function of adult neurogenesis we need a new technical approach to measure activity of newly generated neurons with very fast time resolution in behaving animals. I came to the conclusion that an advanced in vivo recording technique, which professors at NTNU have been using extensively in the hippocampus, could achieve this in combination with genetic tools that I have been using in the lab. I moved to Trondheim to learn this technique as a postdoc and to implement genetic tools at the institute. Later, I became a group leader thanks to the ERC grant and this is still one of the main projects in our group.
What is your current position and how is your lab funded?
Tashiro: My current position is Forsker (Research Scientist), which is funded by a grant from the James S. McDonnell foundation in the US and research in our group is funded by grants from the ERC and the Research Council of Norway. Proposals for grants funded by the Research Council of Norway have to be written in English and I believe that there is no bias for or against foreigners.
Do you have an explanation as to why you are the only scientist in Norway with an ERC Starting Grant?
Tashiro: I am not sure whether the number is small or not, considering the small size of the Norwegian population compared to the rest of Europe. But there are many senior scientists in Norway who are currently funded by ERC Advanced Grants. Another reason may be that there are not so many positions for young researchers to work independently in Norway. This makes it difficult to attract researchers from abroad, who have accomplished good work during their postdoc period, to start their own group here.
What are your career perspectives at NTNU?
Tashiro: Our group and my position will be supported by several external grants until the end of 2013; during this period I need to fully establish our group and find a good place to continue our work. I am not sure whether this will be at NTNU or somewhere else. Moving to a new place and country would also be exciting and stimulating.
According to newspaper reports you had a rough start in Trondheim. Did the bureaucracy improve?
Tashiro: It seems that it has become much easier for EU citizens. Also, processing is faster for non-EU people if they already apply for working permits outside Norway. But applications in Norway, like we did four years ago and are doing every year now, still take many months to be processed. It is also frustrating that there are always very long lines for the immigration office but no lines at the next-door offices for Norwegian civil applications.
Interview: Ralf Schreck(Read more about careers in Norwegian life science research in Lab Times 4-2010: 36-41)