Harnessed Serendipity

Harnessed Serendipity

In the late 1960s Spencer Silver, a chemist at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, was hard at work developing a super strong adhesive.  Eventually, however, what he produced was fantastically weak glue.  But Silver simply refused to allow his “failed” experiment to dissipate into the ether.  So do you know what he did?  He did precisely what scientists don’t do often enough: he started talking to people and asking for help.  He gave formal company presentations, he dragooned colleagues in the hallway, and he generally chatted with anyone who’d listen.  Read more

A Fledgling Entrepreneur

A Fledgling Entrepreneur

It’s been a crazy few months. I’m a 2nd year PhD student in Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, but recently took the plunge and started my own company, Marblar. With my team—so far, two other PhD students—we’re setting our sights on radically altering how science is commercialized and getting very little sleep along the way.  Read more