For the past two weeks or so our professor has been out of the country. It had something to do with being on an scientific advisory board in Singapore and then maybe a convention but I'm not completely sure. Anyway, it's nice that he's back. His office is next to ours and most students and post-doc's meet with him at least once a week. His lab (www.tissueengineeringlabs.com) is a general tissue engineering lab covering many different fields. Most of his PhD-students have some type of bio-engineering backgrounds and are from MIT. We are only a few MD's that are affiliated with Harvard. I liked this mix in Denmark as well. Working with people from different backgrounds can be challenging but mostly its rewarding because four eyes looking at a problem from two sides are generally better than two staring at the front.
Anyway I had my meeting with him today. Almost two hours of discussion. It was great. Although he has to cover so many different fields he is really into the literature. I especially like when he points out something that they did almost before I was born. It gives some perspective. You are not the first to face a problem - and no matter what you think, you will not be the last. Science will always be there. Every answer raises ten new questions. If you don't see the questions you should not be in research. Without any other comparisons Einstein once said: "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." Well, that is probably only partially true but still...
Well, the professor got back, I got my two hours of rewarding discussions, and tomorrow night I will be leaving for a short trip to Denmark. I miss my friends and family and my wife in particular. But other than that I love living here. I guess time will tell if it's going to last.
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