Editorial David Gatfield - The Messenger No. 9
Dear colleagues,
The trick is growing up without growing old. A few months into Phase II, our NCCR is now in early adulthood - the right moment to devote an issue of The Messenger to how we have grown up over the last years and, importantly, to what the future will bring in terms of extra momentum.
The center of the NCCR's activities and basis of its success lies in scientific excellence embedded in a collaborative climate. This newsletter provides two versions of this: first, a retrospect of accomplishments and, second, a personal account of our voyage so far, in the form of an interview with the co-directors.
So what lies ahead of us? The best way to predict the future is to create it ourselves, and there are two distinct goals for which we are not yet tapping the NCCR's full potential. One of them is Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT). True - a delay in the progression of basic and applied sides is likely the natural course of projects. But probably we have also been (and here I am, regrettably, as guilty as anyone else!) oblivious to the potential for application lying idle within our scientific endeavors - let's seize these opportunities in Phase II. The second aim concerns communication. How can we be better at reaching out to the general public, to schools, to the medical community, and, yes, at creating that fascination for RNA research and its biomedical significance? The news here is that we are launching new activities together with a professional communication agency; I am excited to be involved in these efforts as the NCCR's new communication delegate. Writing this editorial to The Messenger was my first task in that role.
David Gatfield, Delegate Communication & Principal Investigator NCCR RNA & Disease