We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daryl Thompson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Daryl, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
There is an old saying that if you “do what you like to do to do then you will neve work a day in your life” could not be more truer. As a small child I had an Aunt that gave me a box set of Tom Swift novels about a young adventurer that was also an inventor and scientist. I could not get enough of these novels in which I would sit down and consume with great enthusiasm for hours at a time, constantly day dreaming about inventing things that could make a difference and adventure in far off lands. I have followed that course for my entire life exploring the limits of discovery and what possibilities lay just around the next corner. Today I am fortunate enough that I can wake up every morning and live my life as though I was Tom Swift himself!
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am the Director of Scientific Initiatives for a special research team and think tank called Global Research and Discovery. Our mission is to take on specific problems and solve initiatives that address the prevention of existing or emerging global epidemics or pandemics that threaten the well being of the population at large. These projects range from developing new undiscovered technologies for fighting viral outbreaks, cancer prevention, neurological and radiometric defense strategies. Most of this work is conducted within an area called the “dark proteome” which focuses on the interaction of little or not well understood proteins. Working in the dark proteome gives us a greater chance at making new discoveries that could end up saving lives due to the fact that everything in this unknown environment is new.
We are very excited to begin a couple of new projects. The first is the “Interceptor Initiative” in which we will be able to expand our work into the intelligence field and second would have to be the launch of a documentary, “BioQuest” that is to premier on Amazon late this fall. BioQuest will tell story of the how and why we do what we do.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
In todays world I would have to say that the three most important skills you can have are honesty, diligence and perseverance. Your word should be something that bears trust and confidence in what you say. Also it is important that you make sure that you know what you are saying and is indeed true. Take great care to diligently research and understand anything that you are representing as truth, no matter how small the detail. And of course we have perseverance which I cannot stress enough how necessary this is to find success. I am reminded of a quote by Thomas Edison in this regard, “I will not say I failed 1,000 times, I will say that I found 1,000 ways that won’t work.”…… but he did finally succeed.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Our goal is to work to build collaborations that can discover and develop technologies to improve the human condition. These kind of partnerships often range from an extremely varied and diversified degree of backgrounds. We once worked with a toy company to develop a protective blanket for children in disaster areas in poorer areas of the world but at the same time we could be developing an antiviral in a BioSafety Level 4 facility. My research team in known for undertaking any kind of mission, no matter how challenging or seemingly impossible. We actively seek out like minded individuals and institutions that share our mission to find solutions to make the world a better place. I would encourage anyone who shares this vision to feel free to contact me personally at my private email, d.thompson@globalrdg.com…….
Contact Info:
- Website: https://grdgsci.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daryl-thompson-a1674a6a/
Image Credits
Images are owned by me (Daryl Thompson)
