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David Guertin, PhD, (left) and Dohoon Kim, PhD |
Academia is connecting with industry in a unique, new collaboration called the UMass Metabolic Network, in which scientists at UMass Medical School in Worcester will meet monthly to exchange ideas with peers from Pfizer in Cambridge. Launching Oct. 24, the MetNet seminar series will be attended by researchers, postdocs and students from a wide range of disciplines at UMMS as well as dozens of Pfizer employees, who will travel from their Cambridge facility to the UMMS campus in Worcester for the event.
Understanding and targeting metabolism in disease is the topic of the inaugural seminar, featuring speakers Morrie Birnbaum, MD, PhD, senior vice president and chief scientific officer of the cardiovascular and metabolic research unit at Pfizer Inc., and David M. Sabatini, MD, PhD, of the Whitehead Institute, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
“One of our strengths at UMass is in research related to metabolism,” said David Guertin, PhD, associate professor of molecular medicine and co-founder of MetNet, along with Dohoon Kim, PhD, assistant professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology. “The MetNet provides an identity to this interdepartmental community and brings together people working in many different areas of metabolism to discuss interesting and exciting problems.”
Cynthia Hong, PhD, senior manager of cardiovascular and metabolic external opportunities at Pfizer, is working closely with Drs. Guertin and Kim to plan the year-long series of events to foster new ideas and collaboration.
“I think what makes this unique is that we are having both UMass Medical School scientists and Pfizer scientists presenting the seminars,” Dr. Hong said. “Science is about creativity, and getting people together to generate ideas. We came to Cambridge to connect to the academic community. UMass Medical School has a clear commitment to metabolism research and we want to make a true connection. We’ve got a lot of energy and momentum and believe in physical face-to-face interaction. The goal is to bring scientists together and start the ideas flowing.”
Guertin said with recent technological advances there is a renewed interest in metabolic research, as it is connected to a wide variety of diseases, such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, liver disease and cardiovascular disease.
“MetNet will be a conduit for interaction and sharing of ideas between many talented UMass and Pfizer scientists,” Guertin said. “We hope to stimulate collaboration in both basic and translational research, and also provide a resource for students and postdocs interested in academic or industry careers in metabolism.”
Following a series of collaborative monthly forums in Worcester, the final MetNet event will be held at Pfizer in Cambridge.
“Understanding and Targeting Metabolism in Disease” will be held Monday, Oct. 24, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Albert Sherman Center auditorium. Members of the UMMS community are welcome to attend.
