Completing your PhD and starting your new life is always a hectic endeavour filled with so many tasks it can make your head spin. Thus, you are probably filled to capacity with “useful” advice that’s accumulated over the years, but hopefully there’s a little space left for this to fit – as it may really impact your future as a scientist, as well as your earning potential.
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Academic Scientists: Please Remember to Translate!
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New Source for Science Funding: BenchFly Pioneers Search for Research Program
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NEW SOURCE FOR SCIENCE FUNDING: BENCHFLY™ PIONEERS SEARCH FOR RESEARCH™ PROGRAM
Free Downloadable Toolbar Engages the Public and Raises Funds via Internet Search to Directly Benefit Research Scientists
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (PRWEB) March 2, 2010 – Taking action on its mission to make research a better career today and for future generations of scientists, BenchFly, Inc., today announced the launch of Search For Research™, an international fundraising and scientific awareness program to benefit researchers worldwide. BenchFly is driving the program with the availability of a free, downloadable toolbar powered by FreeCause, Inc., designed to raise donation money through Internet searches performed via the Toolbar. BenchFly’s premier Search for Research partner Sigma-Aldrich® (Nasdaq: SIAL), a leading life sciences and high technology company, plans to contribute matching funds generated from use of the Toolbar. The Search for Research Toolbar is free to download and available now along with science videos, laboratory techniques and current protocols at BenchFly.com.
BenchFly will award 100 percent of the Search for Research proceeds directly to researchers in the form of microgrants, which are smaller and more targeted grant sums designed to empower individual members of the scientific community. Any scientist, anywhere in the world, is invited to apply and compete for a BenchFly Microgrant. Putting a modern twist on science’s traditional peer review model, BenchFly will determine the final award recipients by hosting a global popular vote open to the public through BenchFly’s company page on Facebook.
“After working as a bench scientist for nearly 15 years, I know the daily challenges researchers face when limited by a tight budget. Our introduction of microgrants to impact research at the individual scientist level is a first in the scientific community,” said third-generation chemist and BenchFly founder and CEO, Dr. Alan Marnett. “BenchFly is taking the lead to close the monetary gap where, due to countless restrictions, classic funding agencies fall short. With the Search for Research program, BenchFly will provide a financial and motivational boost to increase productivity by putting money where it matters most – into the hands of hard-working bench scientists who make the research world turn.”
Show your science: Apply to win a BenchFly Microgrant
All scientists are eligible to apply for a BenchFly Microgrant, including graduate students and any researchers holding a masters degree or higher. For scientists familiar with the grueling grant-writing process, BenchFly promises to make this one fun and easy in comparison. Simply become a fan of BenchFly on Facebook and through the Search for Research page post 100 words or less describing the challenge you’re facing and how a minimum of $500 would help to keep your research going.
The final number of BenchFly Microgrants and official award amounts will be determined by the total funds raised – so more Toolbar downloads and more search queries performed means more money for research! Applicants may enter anytime between March 2 and May 7, 2010. Participants and the public can vote for their favorite nominees once a day through Facebook until May 7, 2010. Once BenchFly verifies the top entries, the official BenchFly Microgrant awardees will be named in May 2010.
To become a fan or to enter and vote for a microgrant winner, please visit BenchFly’s Facebook Page.
Search for Research toolbar features
The Search for Research toolbar combines the robustness of a Yahoo! powered search component with built-in links to valuable resources relevant to today’s scientists including tips, tricks and laboratory techniques to help enable their next breakthroughs, faster. BenchFly developed the Search For Research toolbar with its technology partner, FreeCause, Inc., a leading provider of affiliate and affinity technology solutions and services.
The Cause: Raise money to support research and keep scientists in science
The Georgia Institute of Technology revealed in a 2008 study that by as soon as 2020, the United States will no longer lead the world in the research and development of scientific products. Statistics such as this together with the faltering U.S. economy have put a tremendous strain on scientific research funding and as a result academic institutions, which serve as the bedrock of the global science sector, are scrambling to keep labs in the black and pay researchers. Through Search for Research, BenchFly endeavors to fund and empower bright individual researchers who are on the verge of scientific discovery but worry that their scientific futures may be cut short.
“BenchFly is taking a creative approach to engage the public in a stop-loss on science,” said Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America, the nation’s largest not-for-profit alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. “We need more such initiatives to promote collaboration and support young scientists and their innovative research, and the Search for Research toolbar is an easy way for more Americans to help directly support much-needed investment in research.”
For official rules, to download the Search for Research toolbar or for more information about the program, including how to become a Search for Research global partner, please go to BenchFly.com.
About BenchFly, Inc.
BenchFly integrates life and laboratory techniques in order to make research a better career today and for future generations of scientists. By engaging scientists with honesty and humor, BenchFly provides researchers with the community and tools they need to develop both professionally and personally. Through free and researcher-generated content such as online science videos, current protocols, laboratory techniques and career and personal development advice, BenchFly empowers scientists to overcome the challenges they face in lab everyday to enable their next big breakthroughs, faster. Founded in Cambridge, Mass. by an MIT post-doc, Alan Marnett, PhD, in 2009, BenchFly, Inc. is privately held. Visit us at BenchFly.com.
About Sigma-Aldrich
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 38 countries and has 7,700 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Innovation and Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning website at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.
BenchFly and Search for Research are trademarks of BenchFly, Inc. Sigma-Aldrich is a registered trademark of Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology LP and Sigma-Aldrich Co.
Contact:
Please email us at: press@benchfly.com
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BenchFly Secures Sigma-Aldrich as Premier Search for Research Partner
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BENCHFLY™ SECURES SIGMA-ALDRICH® AS PREMIER SEARCH FOR RESEARCH™ PARTNER
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – March 2, 2010 – BenchFly™, Inc., parent company of BenchFly.com, the site where life and laboratory techniques meet to support scientists, today announced that Sigma-Aldrich® (Nasdaq: SIAL), a leading life sciences and high technology company, will act as BenchFly’s premier partner in Search for Research™, an international fundraising and scientific awareness program to benefit research scientists. Under the terms of the agreement, Sigma-Aldrich will match funds generated from the use of a free downloadable toolbar that through Internet searches, generates funds for scientific microgrants at no cost to the end-user. BenchFly plans to combine 100 percent of the toolbar proceeds and Sigma-Aldrich’s matched funds to award BenchFly Microgrants to individual researchers. As a partner, Sigma-Aldrich furnished direct links to ten of its valuable scientific web resources within the free Search for Research toolbar, also announced today and available now at BenchFly.com.
“BenchFly was founded on a single principle: to support scientists and make research a better career today and for future generations of scientists. We do this on a daily basis by sharing researcher-generated science videos, laboratory techniques, current protocols and career and personal development advice on BenchFly.com. With the debut of BenchFly Microgrants, we take our mission a step forward and award hard-working scientists with the funds needed to continue the pursuit of their next big breakthroughs. It’s an honor to call Sigma-Aldrich our premier partner and have the backing of a life sciences industry leader to help make this vision a reality,” said Dr. Alan Marnett, founder and CEO, BenchFly.
“Search for Research is a groundbreaking way to bring the scientific community and the public together to support science, one researcher at a time,” said Dr. David Smoller, president of Sigma-Aldrich’s Research Biotech business unit. “Our partnership with an innovator such as BenchFly supports the Sigma-Aldrich mission to support life science researchers on their way to new discoveries for a healthier and better life.”
To download the Search for Research toolbar and learn more about BenchFly Microgrants, or for more information about the program, including how to become a Search for Research global partner, please go to BenchFly.com.
About BenchFly, Inc.
BenchFly integrates life and laboratory techniques in order to make research a better career today and for future generations of scientists. By engaging scientists with honesty and humor, BenchFly provides researchers with the community and tools they need to develop both professionally and personally. Through free and researcher-generated content such as online science videos, current protocols, laboratory techniques and career and personal development advice, BenchFly empowers scientists to overcome the challenges they face in lab everyday to enable their next big breakthroughs, faster. Founded in Cambridge, Mass. by an MIT post-doc, Alan Marnett, PhD, in 2009, BenchFly, Inc. is privately held. Visit us at BenchFly.com.
About Sigma-Aldrich
Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 38 countries and has 7,700 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Innovation and Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning website at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.
BenchFly and Search for Research are trademarks of BenchFly, Inc. Sigma-Aldrich is a registered trademark of Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology LP and Sigma-Aldrich Co.
Contact:
Please email us at: press@benchfly.com
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How Important is Recognition in a Career of Research?
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Science is not a career that most people go into for money. The pursuit of discovery, the intellectual challenge, the opportunity to contribute to society – these are often-cited reasons for following the research path. In fact, sometimes more valuable than money is the praise and recognition we receive from our colleagues. But how strong, exactly, are our principles?…
Renewing Our Vows: Our Mission, Our Pledge and Our Future
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This week BenchFly celebrated a couple of very exciting milestones – neither of which would have been possible without the outpouring of support we’ve received from the community. Both milestones reflect the core of why we started BenchFly. So on the eve of a very exciting announcement, we’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone for helping us in the pursuit of our mission.
BenchFly Welcomes the Proteomics Community!
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Today, we are proud to announce the addition of a new Proteomics category at BenchFly! As a field, proteomics – the large-scale study of protein structure and function – has rapidly evolved since it’s birth in the late 1990s. Over the years, advances in laboratory techniques and instrumentation have played a dominant role in fueling this growth and we are excited to be a part of it.
Starting a Family, Finding a Job and Managing Your Boss
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Thanks for all of the great questions! We’re addressing three questions each month, so If you don’t see your question this time, keep an eye out for our future issues where it will likely show up! Send your questions to DearDora@benchfly.com.[Continue Reading…]
Should Your Beaker be Half-Empty or Half-Full?
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At some point in our careers we have likely worked with a King Midas- a person for whom experiments just always seem to work. They tend to have an outlook that experiments should work and they seem genuinely shocked when they fail. We’ve probably also worked with a colleague who assumes the natural state of the universe is failure, and thus sees an unsuccessful experiment as par for the course. But is one a better scientist than the other?
Tetrahymena: Little Creature, Big Discoveries
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You probably didn’t notice, but if you’ve ever dipped a toe into a pond, or swam in a stream, you would have bumped into this furry looking microscopic creature called Tetrahymena. This fresh water inhabitant may be small and single celled, but it has played a huge role in discoveries that contributed to our understanding of the fundamental principles of eukaryotic biology.
