Hope all is going well. Before I dig into this week’s blog, I want to send a shout out to one of our team members, Dr. Jayashree Chakravarty, who will be presenting the team’s data next week at the 2024 International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (iPITA) in Boston, MA (https://www.stemcellislet.ipita.org/). Her poster, entitled “Bio-Spun™ Cell Chamber (BSCC): An Innovative Electrospun Composite Cell Chamber Designed to Promote Tissue Integration, Minimize Fibrosis and Provide Immunoprotection,” focuses on benchtop and initial preclinical data related to evaluating our Bio-Spun™ Cell Chamber in combination with encapsulated human islet cells. We are in the early stages of developing a device that can be implanted for a long period of time that will help regulate blood glucose levels of Type 1 diabetic patients, with the ultimate goal of removing the need for insulin. The device will be used as a “biofactory”, meaning that the nutrients from the person will nourish the islets within the chamber, the chamber will protect the islets from being attacked by the person’s immune system and islets in the chamber will release insulin, allowing the body to maintain normal blood glucose levels. I would encourage you to go see Jayashree’s poster next week if you are at the iPITA conference. If you cannot attend the meeting, her poster will be on our website at the end of next week. Stay tuned for the announcement.
This month really had me thinking about how fast time flies. You can miss a lot without really knowing it since you are caught up in it. I also realized that people (me included) can also lose track of it or not appreciate how time is not guaranteed. Here is one example. One thing you’ve heard me discuss in different blogs is that we interact with many large companies and that so many of these interactions are VERY long. Being a small business, we’ve been fortunate to be in business for as long as we have been. On average, over 50% of all small businesses fail in the first 5 years. The rate of biotechnology small business failure is on the higher end of this average. For some areas that we are starting to make some inroads on, we have been working with the respective companies on average of 1-3 years. I wish I had a rationale for this long road but you can see that with a high failure rate, these types of delays can help to kill a small business. Most people working at the larger companies are in no rush, likely believing all companies have the long-term stability (aka cash flow) so why rush. We have been fortunate to be in business for as long as we have so we’ve been able to see some of these long processes through. These delays definitely affect how we operate as a business and have not helped. I’ve had companies say let’s catch up mid of next year and see how things are going. These people have no concept that the law of failure is against the small company and hearing this type of comment makes a company cringe. If you could look at my calendar and see all of the companies that I follow up with, it would make you ask why am I torturing myself putting all of these tracking assignments on my plate. Time is important and is fleeting. That being said, you have no choice to chase these opportunities hoping the company can withstand the time in between.
Another example of time going by fast hit Tina and me this month and happened outside of the business. I received an outreach from two of our college classmates Chris and Don. We were all chemistry majors, with Tina focusing on textile chemistry and me on biochemistry. We had a small but close group. We went through all of the challenges together, which made the bond tighter. That being said, there was no social media so when college ended, we all went our separate ways and life (time passing) happens. Yes, I am that old (also personal computers were just beginning to be used). During the pandemic, we had some time and tried to find our classmates. We had some luck and it was a quick check in but still time marched by. Fast forward to this month, Chris and Don came to a memorial service for one of their college professors and we were able to connect. 35 years had passed since our graduation. We had all aged but it was like time had stood still. We immediately dove into old war stories, sharing so many laughs. How was it possible that this was our first contact all these years later? How did time slip away so fast? I think in our busy lives, we are so entrenched in getting through the every day grind that time just piles up. As someone once said, the days go by slow but the years go by fast.
My challenge in life, in both my professional and personal life, is to be patient and also to appreciate the small things in life. For the business, it is hard to be patient and understand how companies can drag out potential interactions. I need to learn to push a little less, knowing that I cannot change someone else’s perception of time. It is tough because a lot rides on moving things forward. On the personal side, it is important to appreciate the time we have been given and to try to reflect on how you got to where you are. This time and what we experience are important when all is said and done.
Matt
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