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A conversation with Philipp E. Scherer, PhD
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In this issue, Endocrine Today talks with Philipp E. Scherer, PhD, professor and director of the Touchstone Diabetes Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. This year’s recipient of the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association, Scherer has spent his career studying processes related to cellular and systemic energy homeostasis and is credited with identifying adiponectin and explicating the endocrine function of adipose tissue.
What was the defining moment that led you to your field?
Dr. Scherer: I spent most of my PhD on studying protein import into mitochondria, focusing on identifying key components of the protein import machinery in the inner and outer mitochondrial membrane. As a postdoctoral fellow, I wanted to expand my skills to a clinically relevant cell type in which to further pursue the study of intracellular trafficking events. In Harvey Lodish’s lab at MIT, we decided to use the adipocyte as a model system and, at least initially, focused on the mechanism of insulin-mediated translocation of the GLUT4 glucose transporter.
I realized early that this was an extremely crowded field with many established laboratories working on that topic. At that moment, I decided it may be equally interesting to focus on the adipocyte as a secretory cell, and we discovered a protein that we now refer to as adiponectin. We took adiponectin from its cell biological characterization through a thorough physiological characterization, and most of the work in my laboratory still revolves around the systemic impact that this protein has on its many target tissues. Over the past 20 years, adiponectin has led us into many new areas, and I continue to be amazed about the broad impact of this protein on many metabolic processes.
Philipp E. Scherer
What area of research in endocrinology most interests you right now and why?
Dr. Scherer: I am fascinated by the intense organ crosstalk among the different tissues that is in part based on classical hormonal exchanges, but we appreciate that critical lipid signaling moieties as well as metabolites play a crucial role in this process. Together with two of my colleagues at UT Southwestern Medical Center, we embarked on a comprehensive analysis of this organ crosstalk with a particular emphasis on the adipose tissue–brain–liver interactions. Each one of these tissues has distinct functions to fulfill, yet they have to perform these duties in a highly coordinated fashion. The communication axis between these tissues is frequently dysregulated in the context of diabetes, and understanding the systemic breakdown of the information and metabolite exchange between these critical players seems to me the basis on which therapeutic approaches need to be built.
What do you think will have the greatest influence on your field in the next 10 years?
Dr. Scherer: I think we have to think “outside the box” of the classical disciplines in medicine, and future breakthroughs will come from studying these areas at the interface between historically distinct research areas. From metabolism to cancer to cancer metabolism. From adipose tissue to infectious disease to the role of adipose tissue in infectious disease. Interfaces between the heart and adipose tissue, the kidney and adipose tissue, adipose tissue and bone, adipose tissue and the gut microbiome, etc. In all cases, it is about the flux of critical metabolites and protein factors from one area to the other, with brain influences fine-tuning these effects.
Most of the work in Scherer’s laboratory, seen here with Jennifer H. Stern, PhD, still revolves around the systemic impact that adiponectin has on its many target tissues.
Photo by David Gresham reprinted with permission.
While we have increasingly more people interested in these areas, it remains very difficult to get funded for these efforts despite all the talk about interdisciplinary efforts. The key NIH institutes remain too insular. Even when well-meant initiatives are generated, they frequently fail due to study sections that are too preoccupied with turf wars than with good science. I believe if we manage to target these areas more effectively in the future, most breakthrough results will arise from these interdisciplinary efforts and not from within that classical boundaries of medical subspecialties.
What’s up next for you?
Dr. Scherer: We will continue our program building efforts at UT Southwestern Medical Center in the area of metabolism. Enabling our program members to have the clinical and preclinical resources to effectively tackle the key questions above, while fostering a climate that encourages people to collaborate and enter these interdisciplinary areas that I mentioned above is a key goal.
With that, I hope that my personal research program will profit from that intellectual climate created by these efforts. We have had a strong interest in the interactions of adipocytes with infiltrating breast cancer cells that invade the stroma. We believe we can have a significant impact in that area by working out the details of these interactions. We have so many tools from our diabetes and obesity efforts that it is easy to apply and adapt these tools to the specific needs in the breast cancer area.
What are your hobbies/interests outside of work?
Dr. Scherer: I love to ski and hike, but also very much enjoy playing basketball, time permitting! – by Jill Rollet