Helen Rankin

To Lindsay: Thanks for the New Leaves

Over the past year, whenever I'm feeling restless, I go for a long run and visit Lindsay's tree that Lauren and I planted in New Haven, CT. I happened to visit her tree on the first day of Spring this year, and I'm happy to report that it's growing strong and putting down firm roots. But most of all, it had new, RED leaves (see attached). Ready to begin again... in style. And there it is. That's what Lindsay has taught me this past year. Let me explain:

The thing most experimental scientists can't stand about our job is the relentlessness. Each day we must wake up, go into lab, and deal with the same, continual experimental frustrations in hope of a discovery. But this is precisely where the beauty is. Lindsay taught me this (see rule #14). Every day I get to wake up and begin again. Like putting out new, red leaves in Spring, every day I walk into lab with new questions, new opportunities, new possibilities to begin again. Lindsay doesn't have that luxury. This past year I thought about Lindsay on the days I wanted to leave lab early. I thought about Lindsay when I was ready to give up when the last four experiments failed. And I thought about Lindsay on that day when I discovered something new. Something that could be important to our understanding of how tumors form. Over the past few years, I've been studying JNK signaling-- a pathway known to be involved in tumor formation and growth control. I've made progress understanding how this pathway works, and hopefully I can contribute to our knowledge about cancer to help fight tumors in the future. 

Over the past year, Lindsay has been a constant source of inspiration to begin again... in style. Thank you, Lindsay, for the new leaves.