Collaboration in Action: Michael Fitzpatrick

What is your position and focus of your research? 

I am a Consultant Gastroenterologist and immunology researcher. My clinical expertise focuses on coeliac disease, immune-mediated GI disease, and complex nutrition, including intestinal failure and intestinal transplantation. I lead the Oxford Coeliac Research Group, which currently focuses on spatial transcriptomics, intestinal IEL biology, and biomarker discovery in coeliac disease, microscopic colitis, and intestinal transplantation.  

How did you get into collaborating with industry?  

My industry collaboration started in 2016 when, as a Gastroenterology Registrar, I was applying to funding sources to pursue research for a DPhil in Clinical Medicine, with my supervisors Liz Soilleux and Paul Klenerman. We were interested in applying novel omics techniques to coeliac disease, an immune gut disorder caused by dietary gluten. I looked at several potential funding bodies, and then heard of the Oxford-Celgene (now Bristol Myers Squibb) fellowship programme, and decided to pitch our project to them.  

What was it like to co-develop a project with industry?  

The first, eye-opening part of working with industry was how dynamic and flexible the application process was. Instead of reams of dry application documents, I remember pitching our project idea in a short presentation to Celgene scientists and executives, which generated insightful questions and much discussion. The process of refining the planned research with Celgene's input was a real partnership, and I enjoyed the chance to work with their team and was delighted my fellowship was funded by the partnership.  

Over the next 4 years, I looked forward to our regular meetings with Celgene scientists, and the insight and perspectives they brought to our work. The Celgene team had considerable scientific resources that could be brought to bear on specific aspects of the project, and they were always interested in how their facilities could accelerate research goals.  

What have been the major benefits of collaborating with Industry, both in terms of your research and your career?  

My DPhil and the industry collaboration provided a springboard to my subsequent research work at the University. I undertook an academic clinical lectureship, focusing more on CD8+ T cell biology in coeliac disease, and now lead a small research group focusing on biomarker discovery and innate-like properties of intestinal T cells in coeliac disease. I have also worked with the Cartography Collaboration, an industry-supported endeavour to create extensive single-cell RNA-seq datasets in immune-mediated disease in gastroenterology. I have learnt a great deal from this large-scale collaboration, with research ongoing into different parenchymal cell subsets in coeliac disease and beyond.  

Overall, I have greatly benefitted from the opportunities that industry collaboration in Oxford has offered me. Such industry collaboration has enabled me to focus on a GI condition that does not get the research attention it deserves, which gave us the momentum to leverage other charitable grant funding once our research programme was established. I have met fantastic scientists and collaborators through industry interactions, and have gained a wider perspective of the implications of our research. My experiences have only made me more positive about the important role of industry collaboration in translational research, and the considerable opportunities it can bring.