Living a Research Fairytale, from India to Japan

Some students may dream of spending summer break visiting somewhere like Paris, New York City, or Barcelona. For Vasudha Kannan, spending her summer conducting research in a lab in Kyoto, Japan, was a dream come true.

“It felt like I was living in a fairytale,” says Kannan, an undergraduate in her fourth year at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras who was a 2025 Amgen Scholar at the University of Kyoto. Kannan’s summer experience both shaped her love of Japan and solidified her interest in molecular biology research.

Working in the lab of Koh Ono, Kannan investigated the therapeutic potential for hypertension of a specific small noncoding RNA known as microRNA-33. “MicroRNA-33 is implicated in a lot of the lipid dysregulation, cardiovascular functioning, and it’s also implicated in a lot of cancer,” she explains. “So it’s very well researched.” Kannan chose hypertension as her disease model, as she has had several family members affected by cardiovascular disease.

But long before her Amgen Scholars research, Kannan felt a pull toward research and academia. Growing up in Bangalore, India, her first role model was her mother, who Kannan saw pursue her PhD in management, ultimately becoming a professor. “I could see her passion,” she recalls. “I don’t think I recognized it then, but right now, I can see how passionate she was about her work and that made me want to try out research.”

A view from Kannan’s daily walk to the lab in Kyoto as an Amgen Scholar.

Riding the tailwinds of experiences with some wonderful teachers, including her high school biology teacher, and being in an internationally renowned technology center, led her down a science path. “My teachers in every subject were all really good and also exposed me to sports and to a lot of cultural activities,” she says. “But everything added up to me being more oriented toward science in general, and biology, specifically.”

Kannan (right) with Professor Koh Ono, her Amgen scholars supervisor at the University of Kyoto.

Prior to Amgen Scholars, she says, she was confused about which area of the biosciences to study. “My experience in Kyoto was so enjoyable that I decided that molecular biology is what I want to do for a PhD and beyond,” she says.

In the Kyoto lab as an Amgen Scholar, Kannan experienced a type of research independence she had not previously had in the labs in India. She also greatly values the mentorship and guidance from the professor and grad students.

Presenting her research at the Amgen Scholars Asia Symposium was a highlight of the summer for Kannan. “To be able to talk about the work that I did for the previous two months so passionately was a very enjoyable experience,” she says. “I was also really proud of my friends who presented there.”

Kannan realized from the symposium experience how much she enjoys teaching others about her work. “I want people to understand what I am doing,” she says, and in science, it can be hard to talk across research areas because of niche expertise.

Kannan is keen to continue her research on microRNA-33, either in her lab in Chennai or in Kyoto, and that work will become her master’s thesis for her fifth and final year at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. In general, she would love to return to Japan and is keeping open that option as she considers graduate programs. “The research culture there is amazing. I really like it. And I like the fact that people in the lab are very hard working.” And so, she hopes, the fairytale will continue.