A Unique Collaboration

Drs. Adan Rios, Philip Scherer, and Henrich Taegtmeyer

Photo courtesy of Adan Rios, MD

The 2023 Ernst Knobil Award was presented to Dr. Philip Scherer, PhD, professor and Gifford O. Touchstone and Randolph G. Touchstone Distinguished Chair in Diabetes Research at the UT Southwestern Medical Center. Scherer (middle), pictured with Adan Rios, MD, (left) and Heinrich Taegtmeyer, MD, (right) was the keynote speaker for the Knobil Lecture at the 2023 McGovern Medical School Research Retreat.

Scherer’s most recent discovery is of an important molecule, which he has named endotrophin. Together Scherer, Rios, and Zhiqiang An, PhD, professor and Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, and director of the Texas Therapeutic Institute, have an important collaboration that led to the development of an endotrophin monoclonal antibody with important therapeutic implications for cancer and other related diseases.