Here it is an amazing update for all you brain fans out there!
Our sister organization The Brain Institute of America Foundation has just finished discussions with Addgene. This group is a major supplier of DNA plasmids to the academic community. We as a foundation seek to understand how cancer starts and how we a treat it.
We spoke to Addgene about our mission and they listened. The foundation, which gives out grants to academic scholars seeking to understand the etiology of brain tumors, is now amongst a few of the groups that can access the full plasmid repository of Addgene.
We are first so grateful that Addgene believes in our mission, and we hope to continue working with this group and others in support of brain cancer research. The journey has been tough for us on the front lines, yet we know that with each day a victory can be had in the fight against this horrible disease.
I founded my Institute on the basis that I could use what I learned in academics to help those suffering from horrible diseases such as brain cancer.
For many days it is still a struggle, we are young, biomedical science is expensive and difficult to fund, and there are times when people still think this is some sort of game. However, the universe always has some way of reminding us that there is some purpose in all of the chaos that can somehow be sorted through, only if we choose to accept certain paths put before us.
For me that is tough, as I believe in trailblazing to push the boundaries of science each and every day; and to not be a follower. Though the two are probably not mutually exclusive from one another. Sometimes to be an effective pusher of boundaries one has to sit back and wait, and to assess the best long term strategy going forward for any mission or goal one is trying to achieve.
I was in one of those moments the other day while getting my flyers ready for the Walk for the cure! event in Scranton. There I was… on the phone trailblazing…. arguing with someone about some silly thing… and getting steamed up because of course my posters were not ready.
It was at this moment I decided stop, step back and assess. Said thank you ma’am and waited the 5 extra minutes.
I spoke to her afterwards, and her story was truly inspiring. While I cannot go into specifics, essentially this person is taking care of someone who has a tumor on their brain stem. While it is not malignant, there will always be a fear of something happening to this individual. “Everyday it’s a struggle” she told me. I know that fear all to well. First as a parent myself. And second, I grew up with that same feeling “of something bad is going to happen” all throughout childhood. It’s painful, and emotionally draining.
These are the human stories that remind not only myself, but should be a lesson to everyone, that there i a need for what I am building, and that together we can make a difference.
I hope to see everyone in Scranton on May 20th to help support our cause
Well this is most likely one of the strangest posts I ever had to write. Though I think this is surely relevant given some of the residual legal nonsense that has occurred while in two of the former labs I was in.
Sexual discrimination and harassment is a major concern in the Unites States, and across the globe. The rise for many of these issues relates to the fact that there are an increasing number of those who are women, or of non-white ethnicity, or who are members of the LGBTQ community in the workplace. This means that there are an increasing number of underlying sensitivities that are brought to the table that others may not be aware of. Discrimination and harassment in any form should never be tolerated; sexual or otherwise. In certain cases the discrimination is pretty clear, such as positions for sexual favors. However many times discrimination can occur in ways that are too subtle for the other party to comprehend.
The best way to handle these more subtle situations, is to first report it, and have a discussion with the appropriate groups. From my experience, if you are clear and direct about the issue(s), then probably the issue(s) can be taken care of before a bigger concern develops. Who knows, the other party may be sympathetic for not knowing they made an offense. At my group I make sure everyone is properly trained, or made aware of situations that could get them into trouble. I even test candidates during the interview process before I have them onboard.
“I want serious candidates who want to learn on my team. Yes we all know employees date or sometimes get marries. From what I remember in academics, there are a number of husband and wife teams. Thats not the issue here. The issue is unwanted aggression. This is core of the issue.” — Pres of the Institute.
However, no one is perfect, and no one knows all the new rules and regulations surrounding this issue. So I decided to participate in a refresher course hosted by Wiggin and Dana. I certainly learned many important factors.
Certificate in 2018. Pass! Names protected as always.
Most important take way….. Sexual discrimination happens, yet works both ways. Yes, it is just as easy for a man to make a women feel uncomfortable, as it is a woman to make a man feel uncomfortable. We are getting close to the 2020s… we all have to learn respect each other’s privacy and space in the work place. The thing everyone has to learn, is no one gets a special privilege because of their gender or race, or sexual orientation. That’s not how generating a happy and healthy workforce happens. Everyone has to change their standards, and be empathetic, so as to ensure the team works together effectively.
While I still have two incidents pending at a former employer with members of the other party making advances towards me. Specifically an across the table grope, and another with a person privates pushed in my face. I will surely post on that later, as the title 9 office has not retuned my Friday phone call. Moving forwards as best I can, I assure you that in my own group, and by extension anyone in my group working with new colleagues, respects the other party equally!
Remember you are part of my group because you have a cause you care about and want to implement. My motto is, go and get it. Achieve your dream(s). You only live once. I can certainly empower my team, yet not if you think this a joke, nor if you want to play games.
Thank you for the recent visit to our site. I know you have been patient in waiting for the website revamp. In this version of the upgrade, several changes are being implements to help overall user experience.
The first is that there will be a complete re-design of the home page, to support a more user friendly navigation scheme to the various components of the website.
There will also be effective links to our blog page, our Walk for the Cure and RNA visionprograms, as well as the Institute store, and Brain health corner.
Lastly, we will be changing our footer links, and ad campaigns so that information is presented to our users in a friendly more intuitive design.
