Shumpei Maruyama (he/him/his) |
I am a Japanese (not at all American) coral cell biologist and PhD candidate in Integrative Biology.
I grew up in Southern California, where I frequently visited tide pools and kept many creatures in aquariums. While my father moved from Japan to the United States in 1993 to study antibodies and human diseases, I always had a passion for marine biology. I was also told growing up that I looked exactly like my father, so in rebellion, I grew out my hair and decided to become a marine biologist instead of a medical doctor. As for my science, it turns out it's not far off from what my dad did for his PhD. I'm taking principles used in the biomedical field for studying cancers and diseases, and applying it for the study of cnidarian-algal symbiosis in corals and sea anemones. |