We hope this finds everyone well and in positive spirits during this uncertain time.
We are grateful our team and operations have not been directly affected, and able to continue working with the #massgeek community under 'new normal' conditions.
It's likely you're under some kind of lockdown. So to help your 'iso' feel 'not so iso' we have collated 3 great reads from others, 2 ideas from us and 1 question for you to ponder.
Our best to our colleagues, peers, customers and friends who are working tirelessly to discover and deliver preventions and treatments for COVID-19. We continue to play our part and look forward to seeing you all face-to-face soon.
3 reads from others
I. Been wondering how COVID-19 has affected researchers and research around the globe? Here's a great piece capturing researchers' sentiments.
"Whilst efforts to fight the virus have seen huge investment in vaccine research, diagnostics and efforts to understand how the virus spreads, other fields of research have largely ground to a halt."
Read the full Technology Networks article here.
II. If you haven't already, it's time to get your lab's20/21 budget ready. To help guide some decisions, check out the '2019 Lab Purchasing Trends Survey'. We noticed interesting insights such as: when considering the purchase of a labs' products or services, key decision factors include price/value, long term efficiency, operating costs and after sales support. And under the topic of "Adopting new technology", lab automation through robotics and other systems plan to be pursued as a means to increase throughput.
Reminder: Don't forget to budget for MS data analysis software!
III. Working through what the 'new normal' looks like for you and your team? We enjoyed a recent Harvard Business Review article that succinctly addresses topics such as well-being, productivity, practices, difficult conversations and working with customers.
"If there’s a tiny positive aspect to this mess we’re finding ourselves in, it’s that we’re developing certain skills that could be helpful in the future." Read the full article here.
2 ideas from us
I. Global Collaboration is integral to finding preventions and treatments for COVID-19.
"While political leaders have locked their borders, scientists have been shattering theirs, creating a global collaboration unlike any in history." Read more.
At MD, we've always valued the importance of collaboration and have designed our services to be uninhibited by borders, desktop licenses or an organisation's infrastructure. Why shouldn't your couch, child's bedroom or backyard be the extension of your lab while you work safely from home? So when you're buying your labs' next resource, think about how it will support remote working and global teamcollaboration as we all embark on a 'new normal'.
II. Bridging the academic and industry gap is crucial to innovation and translating discoveries. Having built our MD+ Targeted service for industry, we have seen the gains of this, first-hand. This global pandemic is bringing together organisational diversity and we are excited to see what can be made possible. Check out the University of Queensland and CSL collaboration.
1 question for you
What are the key practices that have helped you be more effective during this period, and which ones will you continue with in your 'new normal' life?
Share your answer or see what others have to say by joining the #1question channel on our #massgeek community Slack workspace.