#LifeatPromega

Stories about the people, places and activities that make Promega Corporation all that it is to our customers and the communities where we work, live and play.

Promega Spain Gets Moving Outdoors For A Cause

Posted on by Karen Burkhartzmeyer

A bike ride through the beautiful countryside, or even a routine walk to the corner store, is good for both body and soul. But sometimes even that’s not enough to get us moving in the fresh air. So our Promega Biotech Ibérica branch recently found a way to raise the stakes, and make outdoor activity even more valuable for its employees.

Promega Biotech Ibérica collected images of the beautiful Spanish countryside during their Kilometros Solidarios campaign.
Promega Biotech Ibérica collected images of the beautiful Spanish countryside during their Kilometros Solidarios campaign.

Last summer, the branch came up with the idea to donate one euro to the children’s oncology department of Hospital La Paz in Madrid for every kilometer its staff biked, walked or ran outside. The idea behind Kilometros Solidarios (Solidarity Kilometers) was simple but powerful: healthy activity leading directly to the health of others.

The plan worked. During the months of July, August and September, employees got up and outside and the branch raised €1884 (about $1993 USD) toward the purchase of a much-needed portable ultrasound machine for the hospital. (To point out the obvious, 1884 kilometers of outdoor activity were racked up by just 15 employees. That’s 4710 times around an Olympic track, or about the same distance as walking, biking or running from Promega Ibérica to Promega GmbH or from the Promega Madison headquarters straight south to the Gulf of Mexico.) Continue reading “Promega Spain Gets Moving Outdoors For A Cause”

How’s That for Wellness?

Posted on by Molly Lenzendorf
Copyright: pavel1964 / 123RF Stock Photo
Copyright: pavel1964 / 123RF Stock Photo

Whether you’re a seasoned runner or just trying to find a fun activity to do with a coworker, a 5K run/walk can be a fun event for all.  Promega recently hosted its 7th annual 5K run/walk and had more than 155 participants at the Madison, WI,  location.  The event was a fun activity for everyone to get out, get active and be social. The event also helped raise over 160 pounds of food and over $115 in cash that was donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

As a nation, we have become more focused on our health and wellness than ever before. Nearly everyone is trying to drink more water, be more mindful of what they eat, and it’s hard to look around the room without finding someone wearing a fitness tracker to keep track of their daily steps.  Health and wellness has also become increasingly popular in the workplace. According to Health Fitness Revolution, the top benefits of a Workplace Wellness Program are as follow:

  • Fun
  • Improved Productivity
  • Happiness
  • Sense of Community
  • Lower Healthcare Costs
  • Sense of Accomplishment
  • Improved Physical Fitness
  • Weight Loss
  • Less Stress
  • Healthier Habits

At Promega our focus on wellness as an organization is no different. We recognize that being active and taking care of your health, and your family’s health, has an impact beyond how you feel.  Because of that, we have a wellness or fitness center in each of our facilities to make staying active and fit more convenient. We also believe that wellbeing extends beyond physical health and have a campus that features native gardens with walking paths and dedicated meditative spaces to encourage total wellness. Promega strives to be a leader in health & wellness initiatives that enable our employees to become the best version of themselves. We don’t do this for a potential monetary return on the investment, but because we truly believe that by becoming the best version of yourself, our employees also become the most fulfilled.

 

Exploring the Land of the Silver Fern—Part II

Posted on by Promega

In 2014, Promega created a special incentive to reward field science consultants who help the scientific community take advantage of our on-site stocking program. The winners had to meet ambitious criteria to receive 2 round-trip tickets to anywhere in the world, a week of paid vacation and spending money. Our four winners from 2014 will share photos and stories about their journeys in a semi-regular Friday feature on the Promega Connections Blog.

Today’s travelogue is Part II of the adventures of Sarah Theos, a client support consultant, who used her award to travel to New Zealand. You can read Part I here.

Day 7: Queenstown to Te Anau

My husband surprised me that morning by booking a massage appointment at the spa to soothe my aching muscles. It was a rainy morning and we had a long drive ahead of us to the town of Te Anau, the stopover town on the way to the Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound.  We also saw that we had lucked out on our itinerary as it was supposed to be a beautiful day in Milford the next day (a place that gets over 300 days of rain each year).  Therefore, we didn’t mind one more day of rain if it meant the next day would be amazing.  We drove through the Canterbury plains, passing tons of sheep and dairy farms along the way.  We also found it interesting that they farm deer in NZ.  We drove past a lot of deer farms.  When we arrived in Te Anau, we grabbed some food and went to the local grocery store to stock up on snacks and more wine.  New Zealand has a booming wine industry and we thought that it was worth sampling as many wines as we could.  The day was gray and cold but we decided to walk along Lake Te Anau anyway.  It is a beautiful, massive lake but we didn’t see very much of the surrounding mountains because of the fog.  We stopped briefly at the bird sanctuary to see the Kaka, the Crested Grebe, and other beautiful birds.  That evening, we had the most amazing 5 star dinner at the Redcliff Café and loved it so much that we booked a table there for the next evening!  Since we were getting up super early the next day to drive to Milford, we went to bed early.

Day 8:  Drive through the Fiordland to Milford Soundnew-zealand1a

This had to be my most favorite day of the entire trip.  Not only was the weather amazing, the entire drive to and from Milford Sound was mind blowing.  The New Zealanders call Milford the 8th Natural Wonder of the World and it is easy to see why.  It is in a remote part of the island and 99% of the Fiordland will never see a human.  The Fiordland has waterfalls aplenty, sweeping, colorful landscapes with millions of gorgeous lupin flowers and gigantic, snow covered mountains.  It truly feels as though you have entered another world.  We left early so we would avoid the dreaded crowds and tour buses that clog the two lane road from 10am-4pm. We stopped constantly as the views just kept getting better and better around every twist and turn.  One notable stop was The Chasm.  The Chasm is where the raging Cleddau River has worn a path straight through the mountain so it virtually disappears into the rock.  There are many massive, perfectly round pothole formations in the limestone where pebbles have worn their way through the rocks.  We were the only two people there at that time of the morning.  It felt majestic just to stand there and listen to the tremendous sound of the powerful river disappearing into the mountain and reappearing on the other side. Continue reading “Exploring the Land of the Silver Fern—Part II”

What I Learned at My First Branch Meeting: Gratitude, Service and Collaboration

Posted on by Promega

Today’s blog post is written by guest blogger Sarah Kolb, Marketing Coordinator for our North America Branch, and new employee at Promega.

As a new member to the North America Marketing team, I was unsure of what to expect going into my first national sales meeting with Promega, but what I took away from this meeting was incredibly eye opening. The North America Branch Sales meeting is an opportunity to get all of the members of the North American branch together to learn about new products, connect with the different strategic business units about product application and network with each other to learn how to better the lives of our customers. The year’s meeting occurred in May in the Ideation room at Promega Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

NA branch meeting

The room itself is not your typical conference space. An antique car resides in the space, and you can find art-work from all over world nestled in corners, and on the walls and shelves. All around the room, collections of unique furniture are arranged to stimulate conversation. Ideation created an atmosphere of creativity, community and collaboration, which contributed to the overall success of the meeting.

I felt excitement Monday morning as the 62 attendees gathered in the space. Everyone greeted each other with big smiles and hugs, asking about families, travels and already discussing business. Continue reading “What I Learned at My First Branch Meeting: Gratitude, Service and Collaboration”

A Day In the Life: Mikael Arnfelt, Promega Sales Manager, Sweden

Posted on by Nicole Sandler

*Today, June 6, is Swedish National Day – a fitting day to highlight this Promega employee.

Promega sales representatives worldwide find themselves on the road on a regular basis—it is, after all, part of the job description. Traveling many miles to visit customers, they’re fortunate to enjoy a steady change of scenery and a variety of daily tasks.

Mikael at a Finnish police lab where he was servicing a Maxwell instrument.
Mikael at a Finnish police lab where he was servicing a Maxwell instrument.

For Mikael Arnfelt, Sales Manager of Promega’s Sweden branch, travel obligations are sometimes taken to a higher level. That’s why we wanted to share his adventures for our “Day In the Life” series; though as Mikael is quick to point out, there’s really no such thing as a “typical day,” at least not in his life!

Mikael’s experiences begin to make sense once you learn more about his position with Promega. “We are a small branch, so we each need to take on multiple roles,” he explains. “In the beginning I was the only sales rep for Sweden, so until last year I took care of southern Sweden and all of Finland/Estonia, together with our distributors there.” He and his few colleagues are also responsible for many different product groups—Mikael’s include Detection Instruments, Cellular Analysis, and Applied Markets. “I am also the back-up for order taking,” he says. “I currently cover this seven days a month, and during vacation periods, so my colleague can work on various administrative tasks, and even take some vacation himself.” Continue reading “A Day In the Life: Mikael Arnfelt, Promega Sales Manager, Sweden”

Exploring the Land of the Silver Fern: South Island of New Zealand—Part I

Posted on by Promega

In 2014, Promega created a special incentive to reward field science consultants who help the scientific community take advantage of our on-site stocking program. The winners had to meet ambitious criteria to receive 2 round-trip tickets to anywhere in the world, a week of paid vacation and spending money. Our four winners from 2014 will share photos and stories about their journeys in a semi-regular Friday feature on the Promega Connections Blog.

Today’s travelogue is Part I of the adventures of Sarah Theos, a client support consultant, who used her award to travel to New Zealand.

Introduction

We went to New Zealand the first two weeks in December and were surprised that there was hardly anyone there. We had long stretches of the road entirely to ourselves and felt like we were the only ones around on many of the hikes. It was a magical feeling to take in the gorgeous scenery without another soul for miles. We, of course, purchased a book that told us about all of the “off the beaten path” hikes and sights that we must do and tried to check them all off the list! The locals were also extremely friendly and eager to chat. If we did come across any locals on the trails, they always stopped to talk and were eager to hear about where we were from and how we like the island so far. It was the beginning of summer so the days were long with the sun rising before 6am and setting around 10pm. We had plenty of daylight hours to explore.

Day 1: Christchurch

Starting in Washington, DC, we traveled over 29 hours door to door to get to Christchurch, NZ. Since we arrived around 7am, we decided to fight off the jetlag and go out to explore the city. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Christchurch, knowing that it suffered two devastating back to back earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. My first impression was that there were a lot of gravel parking lots everywhere and boarded up high rises. It looked like a ghost town. We checked into our hotel (built after the earthquakes) and took a walk down to the City Centre. The once beautiful cathedral sat in ruins, surrounded by large buildings in various states of decay. It was a sad sight to see. We then walked further down the street to the botanical gardens. The gardens are beautiful and we spent quite a while admiring the stunning Rose Garden. After exploring the gardens, we decided to drive up to the gondola to explore the city from a different angle.

The gondola takes you up to the top of Port Hills, about 500 meters above sea level. At the top you can see a 360 degree view from the Pacific Ocean and Christchurch to the Southern Alps and the surrounding Canterbury plains. We hiked to the top of Cavendish Bluff to take in the beauty. After the gondola ride, we decided to drive a little ways up the Banks Peninsula to Governor’s Bay where we found a cute little pub. Exhaustion set in around 5pm so we decided to head to a grocery store to stock up on snacks and water in preparation for our drive to the wild, west coast the next day. We passed out around 8pm. Continue reading “Exploring the Land of the Silver Fern: South Island of New Zealand—Part I”

In the Moment with Promega Software Designer, Dave Romanin

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

26062334-portrait-WEBWhen Dave Romanin came to work for Promega he was fresh out of school with a degree in bacteriology. His plan was to work for a year in manufacturing and then go back to graduate school. But in the end, he didn’t go. There was no incentive, he explains, for him to spend five years in graduate school making little to no money. He didn’t want to write grants or run his own lab, and he enjoyed what he was doing.

Twenty‐four years later, Dave is still here. He’s moved around a bit, first manufacturing, then dispensing, kit packaging and then on to software development with Lou Mezei. Their first software project was a quality control software to capture data from the scales weighing bottles to ensure they were filled correctly. His experience in manufacturing helped him understand what the program needed to do and helped him define the specifications for the software for the programmer. He has been designing software for the last 10 years, and has worked on projects for everyone from marketing to manufacturing.

He describes his job, in part, as a game of cat and mouse. Dave spends hours testing the software, trying to find the weaknesses the developer didn’t anticipate—in essence, trying to break it. When he finds something that throws the software off or causes it to crash, he and the programmer decide on the next steps. Sometimes it is an easy fix, and sometimes they have to decide if it is worth what it would take to fix it. Would a user be likely to ever do what Dave did? Continue reading “In the Moment with Promega Software Designer, Dave Romanin”

A Walk Around the Promega Campus: Honoring Some of the Greats of Science

Posted on by Nicole Sandler
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci

The Promega campus in Madison, Wisconsin has been fortunate to welcome several new buildings in recent years. While some of the older buildings are fondly known by their acronyms – BTC for BioPharmaceutical Technology Center and RDC for Research & Development Center – other names are more descriptive. Notice a particular theme to these buildings’ names: Faraday, Franklin, da Vinci, Feynman, Kepler? Legendary scientists all, with visionary minds, they serve to inspire and remind us of the possibilities that Promega employees can achieve.

Given the impressive pool of Nobel Prize recipients, inventors and innovators to consider as namesakes of Promega buildings, why were these particular individuals chosen? And, who exactly were they? Continue reading “A Walk Around the Promega Campus: Honoring Some of the Greats of Science”

Finding Space for Passion: Interview with Promega Quality Assurance Scientist, Matt Hanson

Posted on by Michele Arduengo, PhD
QA Senior Scientist Matt Hanson
QA Senior Scientist Matt Hanson

When he was a kid, Matt Hanson would disappear into the basement for an entire day and emerge later with a completed model of the USS Constitution or a completed robot or a new rocket (he still makes model rockets). Design and how things fit together have always fascinated him, so a career in science was a natural fit as well.

Today Matt is a Quality Control Supervisor/QA Senior Scientist at Promega Corporation at the Madison, WI, USA, campus. He has been with Promega for 5 years now.

After completing his undergraduate studies in molecular biology, a masters in zoology where he focused on cell biology, and a PhD in developmental biology and immunology, Matt was fortunate to pursue a successful and rewarding career as an Associate Staff Scientist in the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work focused on diabetes and transplantation biology.

So why did Matt join the scientific staff at Promega?

Continue reading “Finding Space for Passion: Interview with Promega Quality Assurance Scientist, Matt Hanson”

Promega Art Showcases Explore Creativity, Science and the Unknown

Posted on by Roberta Braga

A visitor studies a piece at the current Promega Art Showcase.
A visitor studies a piece at the current Promega Art Showcase.

Albert Einstein once wrote: “to raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.” The marriage of science and creativity, it seems, is indispensable for exploration and the discovery of new ideas.

As a life sciences company, Promega supports the work of scientists who are tasked with unraveling mysteries and who ask questions in an effort to get answers that improve the lives of others. Because creative thinking plays a key role in the scientific discovery process, Promega supports artistic exploration in many forms. As an organization, we appreciate that creativity reinforces the type of imagination that inspires scientific progress and innovation.

Since 1996, Promega Corporation has sponsored quarterly art showcases at the Promega BioPharmaceutical Technology Center on East Cheryl Parkway in Fitchburg, WI. This artistic initiative came about in an effort to explore the depths of creativity and science, and to demystify biotechnology and the work of Promega for our community. Promega Art Showcases, which occur four times per year and are open to the public, have featured the work of local, national and international artists, as well as the art of Promega employees. Continue reading “Promega Art Showcases Explore Creativity, Science and the Unknown”