COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- This weekend, all eyes are on the football field as Ohio State takes on Washington in Seattle. But off the field, the two universities have been teammates for decades. Not in sports, but science.
Dr. Daniel Wozniak and Dr. Matt Parsek are professors of microbiology at The Ohio State University and the University of Washington, respectively. For more than 20 years, they've been working together to solve some of the toughest problems in infectious disease.
"To have a consistent, continuous collaboration that's been funded for as long as we have is, I would definitely say unusual," Parsek, said.
Ohio State matchup personal for Washington athletic directorThe two professors study pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria that causes chronic, devastating infections in humans.
"Most of the problems that we're studying have to deal with people with the genetic disease, cystic fibrosis, and they get airway infections, lung infections," Wozniak, said. "And we're trying to figure out new ways to clear these infections."
Despite living over 2,000 miles apart, both have secured major research grants and published more than 40 scholarly articles together.
"One of the crises right now in human health is the fact that we have limited ways to treat these infections as these bacteria get resistant to conventional antibiotics," Parsek said. "So, we always need new avenues and ways to therapeutically target these bugs."
Both schools hold 'R1' status which is an elite designation reserved for the country's top research universities.
"Having the resources and the intellectual power at Ohio State really fosters what we have," Wozniak said. "And the same, I think, for University of Washington."
Wozniak and Parsek don't just collaborate remotely. Each year their labs meet in Columbus or Seattle for a retreat that's equal parts science and camaraderie.
"Over the years, Dan and I started inviting former trainees who went on to become professors and start their own labs," Parsek said. "They now bring their labs to the retreat, which does make it kind of feel a bit like a family reunion."
The two might be in sync when it comes to science but in college football? That's where the gloves come off.
"Even though I think the odds for UW pulling it off against Ohio State this year are pretty low, I'm sure that one of us will get a text after the game probably talking smack, so I'm looking forward to it," Parsek said.
While we don't know how things will shake out Saturday, this longstanding partnership shows that research is a team sport.
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