Talks and Grant Applications

It had been a pretty busy month.

9/9: I gave a talk at the Bio-Rad QX User Meeting. It has been a fruitful collaboration between us and Bio-Rad, which started while I was at Gladstone Institutes. Their digital PCR technology really helps me move forward.

9/28 and 29: I had visits of undergraduate students from Showa Pharmaceutical University and University of Tokyo, respectively. It is stimulative to talk to young talents. After my talk to the U Tokyo students, we went out for dinner, but I totally forgot that it is still illegal for them to drink alcohol (in Japan, drinking is ok from 20 years old). They are that young. We had curry for dinner.

10/5: I had a chance to give a talk at a meeting hosted by Science Council of Japan (SCJ). SCJ is an organization under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister to discuss, evaluate, and promote science in general in Japan (as far as I understand). The meeting was on the potential and ethical concerns of therapeutic genome editing. It was a great opportunity for me to be there.

10/6: Dr. Sumiko Watanabe at Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo kindly hosted me to give a talk at the Institute. I got a lot of great inputs from the audience. Also, the party after my talk with her lab people was fun. I think that was my first visit to the Institute in 5 years or more.

10/12: I gave a short talk at BioJapan 2016 at Pacifico Yokohama. I had not been there for a while too. (For almost 10 years?) My talk went well overall, but I spoke too fast and the talk was too short. I have to improve that point.

I had been working on a grant proposal as well and the due was 10/13.

It is a great honor to be invited to give a talk. I appreciate it. These talks are great opportunities to meet new people and get new ideas. As a PI, this is my job. However, I would like to drive my science by doing experiments by myself. I have to find a balance. I have to find time. That is my job too.