I worked four days a week at the Program for Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Broad is a private institution affiliated with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that physically is located at the MIT campus in Cambridge. The area is characterized by a mixture of academia, technology, and innovation with a number of giants in the IT and pharmaceutical industries. With the right contacts you can here have lunch with the leaders of for example Google, Novartis, and Pfizer. It makes the road short between academia and industry.

Head of Broad is Director and Professor Eric Lander who has been central to sequencing the human genome and mapping genetic diseases. Eric Lander is a master of fundraising. Under his leadership, Broad has built two large buildings and houses more than 2000 employees. Researchers at Broad are at the forefront of human genetics.

One of the goals of the stay was to be able to transfer some of this to K2. There are many aspects of Broad that I think have transfer value. They have a great degree of openness, cooperation, winning culture, and clear organization with effective communication, focus on primary tasks, safeguarding professional and social issues among the employees, and branding – matters that I think we can work even more with here at K2.

Although I indeed enjoy may time at the Broad, it is good to be home at K2 again. Looking forward to an exciting time ahead. Have a great weekend!

Arbeid med GMO (genmodifiserte organismer) er lovregulert gjennom GENTEKNOLOGILOVEN. Ved K2 arrangeres et kurs der dette lovverket blir gjennomgått; hvordan man søker om godkjenning av laboratorier, og hvordan man søker om godkjenning av prosjekter der GMO inngår. Videre vil arbeidsrutiner i laboratoriet og transport av GMO bli gjennomgått. Andre lands lovverk på dette området (EU, USA og Canada) vil også bli omtalt.

Kurset gir 3 studiepoeng, og vil passe for master- og PhD-studenter som vil arbeide med GMO enten i praksis eller administrativt (som departementer, helsedirektoratet, miljødirektoratet, VKM, Mattilsynet).

Kurset starter med noen forelesninger som dekker lovverket. Deretter vil det etter avtale med studentene bli arrangert kollokvier for diskusjoner om emnet. For godkjenning av kurset må studentene skrive en søknad (enten reell eller fiktiv) for godkjenning av enten laboratoriefasiliteter for å arbeide med GMO, eller godkjenning av et prosjekt der GMO inngår. Link til kurset: https://www.uib.no/emne/HUMGEN302

For påmelding kontakt:
Elin Heggernes 
Klinisk institutt 2
tlf: 55 97 27 63