A nice and generous gift from the Japanese calligrapher Maya Ito (Kyoto and New York). It says Eisei-lab! The term Eisei resonated well with the spirit and values of our research lab. This name was inspired by the Bonsai artist, instructor, and professional Bjorn Bjorholm founder of “Eisei-en” garden in Kyoto. As Bjorn describes it: “the term eisei is a combination of two Japanese Kanji characters. The first, ei (?, pronounced ay), is defined as forever, eternal, everlasting, and perpetual. The second, sei (?, pronounced say), means young, green, blue, and adolescence. The combined word eisei could, therefore, be interpreted as forever green, eternally young, or everlasting youth. Beneath these more direct translations, though, lie several deeper meanings that speak to the core values and principles expressed in the garden – namely, always maintaining a youthful, energetic approach to learning and forever striving to provide for, and transmit knowledge to, the next generation” . Several of our lab members had the chance to travel to Japan and/or read about this culture. We are honored by the gift of Maya Ito and the inspiration from Bjorn.
In case you missed it, please visit the page “when-artists-meet-cancer-research-scientists”