Luke HoffmanAssociate Professor, Pediatrics and Adjunct, Microbiology

December, 2013

My experience with the UW CF P30Or

How I learned to stop worrying and love baby stool.

The history: I was an Assistant Professor with an emerging lab.

•During the creation of the UW CF P30, an opportunity arose for a gastrointestinal (GI) project.

•I (like most CF-minded microbiologists at UW) have been focused on respiratory microbiology.

•A great deal of the early morbidity from CF is due to GI dysfunction.

• The was ample rationale for a fecal microbiome project, and we have the resources to do it here.

•Bonnie and the P30 core directors asked me to consider writing a P30 pilot project focused on the GI tract.

The birth of my P30 baby poop pilot

The birth of my P30 baby poop pilot

My considerations: The pros

•The P30 included peopleand resources I had hoped to work with.Among them were:

•Mentors I love working with and for.

•Thoughtfully assembled core facilities, representing a great deal of expertise and research capacity

• A microbial genomics core (a particular interest of mine)

• An inflammation core (turned out to be important)• A clinical core, with statistical resources (very

important)

•Who couldn’t use more funding?

The birth of my P30 baby poop pilot

My considerations: The cons

•Every grant has associated bureaucracy, politics, and paperwork.

• An important consideration, but it turned out to be minimal.

•This was outside the field I was most interested in pursuing at that point. But…

•Wise mentors (aka Bonnie) reminded me that academic careers are rarely linear.

In the end, the pros greatly outweighed the cons.

How working with the UW CF P30 has benefited my lab

• I hired a new, fantastic scientist for this project.

• That scientist brought new, vital expertise• The training he got for the P30 project expanded that

expertise even further.

• I brought in a new collaborator who:• Has worked with me on many projects.• Has become a close friend.• Wrote his own pilot application! (me= hero)

• This project, and the cores, have facilitated all of our projects.

• This project has generated fascinating new research directions I wouldn’t have imagined.

How working with the UW CF P30 has benefited my career

• My lab is bigger and better funded.

• This work led to:• A new publication• Another on the way; more to come.• A new R01 application (scored, not funded,

resubmission planned 2014)• A new, two-year Cystic Fibrosis Foundation grant.

• A funded pilot produced preliminary data, rather than having to do this “on the side”.

• Productive new collaborations• New research capacity I wouldn’t have had

otherwise

How working with the UW CF P30 has benefited my career

But most importantly, I gained:

•Unparalleled access to superb mentorship.

Thinking about a P30 pilot project: The advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

This experience has been fantastic for my lab and my career in all of the ways I just described, and more.

Disadvantages:

I had to forge a new research direction, fitting a narrow description.

For me, the pros GREATLY outweighed any cons.

Thanks! • Pete Greenberg• Jane Burns

UW Microbiology Core

UW Pediatrics• Chris Pope• Laura Houston• Dan Wolter • Bonnie Ramsey• Ron Gibson• Margaret Rosenfeld• Jane Burns• Arnie Smith

Genomics Core• Sam Miller• Laurence Rohmer• Matthew Radey• Hillary Hayden• Mike Jacobs• Elizabeth Sims• Mitch Brittnacher

Clinical Core• Ron Gibson• Sharon McNamara• Alan Genatossio• Judy Gabrysiak• Sonya Heltshe

Consultants• Pat Schloss (U. Michigan)• Kirk Harris (U. Colorado)• Scot Dowd (Mr. DNA, Texas)• Drucy Borowitz (SUNY Buffalo)

Inflammation Core• Bill Parks

Genome sciences• Elhanan Borenstein• Roie Levy

Subjects and Families