Initiating Successful Collaborations: A Howto and how NOT to do Guide

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Initiating Successful CollaborationsA How-to
(and how NOT to do) Guide
Stephanie Watts Michigan State University
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Collaboration is..
from the Latin collaborare
to work jointly or together
suggests a willingness on both sides
to achieve results that individuals would
be incapable of accomplishing alone
Scientific collaboration many times means..
to be jointly accredited for completed work
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Collaboration is NOT..
forcing joint work
competition
a one-way street
the outcome of an individual
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What makes a collaboration a success? Do you
have these things?
Shared objectives and goals
Dynamic interchange
Open communication
Trust and respect
Commitment to completion
Unique resources to share
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How do you start?
Pick up the phone, send an e-mail BUT ONLY AFTER
youve considered the following

• What do you need?
• Plasmid/drug/antibody
• Actual experiments run

Will this be short or long term?
Whats in it for both you and your collaborator?
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How do people know about you?

• Publish, publish, publish!!!
• Go to conferences, and share your work!
• Get yourself on Community of Science
  (www.cos.com)

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Set your Ground Rules upfront

• Come to a mutual understanding of what is needed
  in the collaboration.
• Write to one another, in no uncertain terms, what
  is expected of both parties.
• Explicitly state the benefits to both parties.
• Abstract
• Paper
• Patent

Transparency that goes BOTH ways. No hidden
agendas. Who is your collaborator (academic,
company)?
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Two GOOD Collaborations
Academic - Dr. Edwin Cuppen, Utrecht
Laboratories
Open, willing to share, wanting to
gain knowledge from studies done on
his genetically-modified rats.
Pharmaceutical - Dr. Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson,
Wyeth
-Began after seeing a paper our lab had
published on identification of the 5-HT2B
receptor in the DOCA-salt rat.
Keys explicit understanding of expectations,
services rendered
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One BAD collaboration

• Pharmaceutical
• Began a series of studies on faith without a
  contract continued with a promise of contract.
  No contract was ever formed. My lab lost about
  5000 because I trusted too readily.

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See score card mentioned http//www.ag.ohio-stat
e.edu/bdg/pdf_docs/b/B02.pdf
Goals
Communication
Resources
Connectedness
Leadership
If a successful collaborator Low or high score??
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Communication
Transparency
Honesty
Balance of Business and Friendship