Scott Summers, PhD

The major accomplishment of my scientific career has been to advance the idea that sphingolipids such as ceramides regulate nutrient homeostasis and contribute to the chronic diseases associated with obesity and dyslipidemia, including diabetes and its complications. The opinion was initially controversial and few publications other than my own appeared on the topic. Nonetheless, the data were robust and the therapeutic potential of the pathway obvious. Through research reports, review articles and invited seminars, our work has influenced the directions of new and established researchers and the number of publications exploring the link between ceramides and metabolic disease has risen exponentially. Our current research evaluates (a) the tissue-specific effects of sphingolipids in the regulation of metabolism, (b) the intracellular targets that mediate their effects, and (c) the regulatory events controlling their accumulation. Moreover, (d) we seek to develop drugs targeting enzymes in the ceramide-synthesizing pathway, which we believe hold enormous potential in a broad spectrum of metabolic disorders associated with obesity. In 2015 I co-founded Centaurus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that is developing novel dihydroceramide desaturase inhibitors to lower ceramides and ameliorate cardiometabolic disease.

As my research program developed, I had the opportunity to assume leadership roles within the diabetes and metabolism research community. I relish the opportunity to grow collaborative programs and enhance the success of junior faculty members and graduate and postdoctoral trainees. After running laboratories abroad for 8 years, I returned to the USA and the University of Utah in 2016 to become the Chair of a new Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology and the Co-Director (with Jared Rutter, HHMI) of the Utah Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center (UDMRC). Both units have shown impressive growth, as we have sought to expand our programs and establish the University of Utah as a center of diabetes and metabolism research excellence. Indeed, since I assumed the mantle of leadership, the UDMRC has developed exceptionally strong interest groups focused on (i) Metabolism and (ii) Health Behaviors, while adding numerous accomplished researchers to our already strong faculty base. We’ve increased the university’s diabetes and metabolism funding portfolio, obtained or renewed fivetraining grants for junior investigators wishing to study these disciplines, developed new summer training programs for students interested in a biomedical research careers, greatly expanded our pilot and feasibility programs, and developed several research cores that catalyze innovation and discovery. The university gives me ample protected time to conduct research while working on these other endeavors.

Research Statement

Professor Summers had been a dominant voice advancing the idea that sphingolipids such as ceramide, which are produced by over-nutrition and inflammation, contribute to insulin resistance and metabolic disease. The opinion was initially controversial, and few publications other than his appeared on the topic. Nonetheless, the data were robust and the therapeutic potential of the pathway obvious. His work has appeared in the highest impact journals (e.g. Nature Medicine, Cell Metabolism, Journal of Clinical Investigation and others) and have been cited over 8000 times. He has given over 100 presentations in at least 20 different countries, including keynote talks in Japan, Finland and the USA, and received over 10 million dollars in research grant support. His work has influenced the directions of new and established researchers and the number of publications containing the words ceramide and insulin has risen exponentially. His current group continues to explore the therapeutic potential of the pathway with an eye towards developing new therapies to treat diabetes and metabolic disease.