Category: Uncategorized

"GENETIC CIRCUITS WE CAN JUST POP INTO A CELL AND RUN LIKE AN APP" Direct quote from this article about advances in DNA tinkering. Exciting and a bit breathtaking. GMOs have many potentially great applications, such ad making drugs in plants, better breeds of food crops (notwithstanding Green objections), and many others. But there is a dark side: pathogens, enhanced pathogens. http://lnkd.in/jUtD4u View in LinkedIn

THE BEST PREDICTOR OF FUTURE BEHAVIOR IS PAST BEHAVIOR. I have found this to be true for investing or for hiring (or for relationships). Closely interrogate a candidate's past behaviors. Think about what you might have done under the circumstances. Look for red flags, because if, as Madonna has been known to say, 'if it happens once, it will happen twice'. View in LinkedIn

PERFECT ENGLISH GRAMMAR IS NICE but not a must. I know many very high functioning executives from Europe who make mistakes, but I would still hire them. Just as my Spanish is a C minus, I hope that I am not being disqualified on this basis. More important to me is that somebody is trying to improve, and we all know that takes time. Compassion please, and no English snobbery! Remember how rude Parisians are to foreigners whose French is not perfect? Do you want to emulate that unkind behavior? I am sure your answer was no. http://lnkd.in/KxAUES View in LinkedIn

DNA METHYLATION MAY RELATED TO NUTITIONAL STATUS OF BABIES as shown in this study, as well as to other disease states, suggested by other studies. This and other mechanisms are an analogy to protein post translational modification in DNA, and actually add at least three new letters to the four basic letters of the language of life, and we are just figuring it out. http://pages.s4.exacttarget.com/Share.aspx?i=45f421ea6e32e87efe6c5e92afa52f7cfc0b42963cba3fe8e61c0960f39c5869 View in LinkedIn

WITHOUT STRONG INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL in future workforces, societies will be marginalized from healthy GDP growth from tech companies. It is that simple. Thus, investing in superb R&D (university and biz grants), the education of our youth, and in an innovation society (a healthy early stage capital environment) are not options, but mandates for the future. When politicians talk of cutting these, fight back. Without this, we could face the 'Lost Decade', whereafter recovery will be excruciating. http://lnkd.in/uqQG-C View in LinkedIn

MESSAGING IS HARD. This posting describes eye-tracking data in relation to where best to catch a reader's eye. Some valuable insights. http://lnkd.in/t6Ds7D View in LinkedIn

THERE ARE THOSE TRADITIONAL VCs who have deservedly earned a bad (or worse) reputation for being greedy, difficult, Machiavellian, and lacking heart. Many have been under intense pressure from their LPs in recent years to get better than lousy returns on lousy investments. This has pressured them greatly in relation to raising new funds, which many have been unable to. Perhaps it is time to rethink the whole approach, and do what several at BioSpring are doing: reinventing rhemselves boldly. Not all VCs are created equally. View in LinkedIn

THE IPHONE MICROSCOPE? This brilliant invention cobbled together readily available items to make a cheap field microscope for work in developing countries for diagnostics of intestinal parasites. Talk about unintended consequences! Beautiful. Simple. Applied. http://lnkd.in/D5esYp View in LinkedIn

A LOVELY POSTING about the value of leading an interaction with a gift, an offer to help, rather than leading with a request or a need. Enter with generosity and leave with a smile. This is a truly insightful piece of advice to all of us. http://lnkd.in/6dBK-x View in LinkedIn

BIOSPRING BARCELONA highlighted the fast-emerging role of Voluntary Health Organizations playing a very significant part in bridging the 'Valley Of Death' (dearth of seed funding) to the annual tune of 500 M USD. These patient and passion-driven nonprofit organizations are fast becoming sophisticated investors (philanthropy investors) and playing a strategic role in getting science turned into medicines. Even the oldest and stodgiest of them are now turning to these types of investments, bringing patients and deep disease expertise to the table. New VCs with a mission and compassion. View in LinkedIn