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On December 16th, 2005, scientists from around the University of Florida campus welcomed researchers from Scripps Florida to the University’s first joint science symposium- featuring presentations on research being performed both on the UF and Scripps Florida campuses.
Although Scripps’ final Florida home is still not established, Scripps experts are already collaborating with UF scientists on nearly a dozen research projects, ranging in focus from genetics to stem cell biology.
Trey Sato / Scripps Florida research group leader:
“We at Scripps generally feel like UF is very strong in the scientific field and so these collaborations we want to establish are of utmost priority to us because we have the equipment and the resources but just not the number of people to carry out these experiments.”
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While the day’s itinerary featured presentations on a broad spectrum of research frontiers from clinical applications of gene therapy to bio-imaging---those assembled to hear these lectures had a potentially huge stake in what was being presented. Indeed, fruitful research collaborations often start when one scientist hears another’s ideas first-hand.
Dr. Dennis Steindler / Director, UF McKnight Brain Institute
“The purpose of a symposium like this is we get to hear each other talk about each other’s work and then that always evolves into collaborations because that’s what scientists do.”
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But beyond the decidedly scientific fare on tap during this first UF and Scripps science conference, or even the current debate on Scripps Florida’s final location, the simple fact remains that this day’s meeting was all about future patients and their fights against diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancer.
Dr. Win Phillips / UF Vice President for Research
“A lot of people get lost in the verbage of basic life sciences but this is a great opportunity for us to focus together on the real target, which is curing human disease.”
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At the University of Florida Health Science Center, I’m Mike Garrison.
