Prof. Gregory Petsko (BCHM), will be moving his research lab to New York City to join his wife, the dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, in early 2014. His wife, Laurie H. Glimcher, was appointed dean of the medical school in January and has been living in New York since then.

"I don't have a choice," said Petsko in an interview with the Justice, explaining that Glimcher's appointment was expected to be relatively long-term, "I've made 70 trips to New York City since January, and that's not an exaggerated number." He went on to jokingly compare his predicament to the famous "offer you can't refuse," made by mafia don Vito Corleone in the movie The Godfather.

"It's always a good sign when other schools want to hire our faculty, and a disappointment when it actually happens," wrote Provost Steve Goldstein '78 in an email to the Justice. "We are sorry to be losing Greg Petsko, even as we wish him well at Cornell Medical School."

While the decision has been made, Petsko, the Gyula and Katica Tauber Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacodynamics, said he will continue to research and teach at Brandeis until 2014, when construction on the new research building he will work in in New York will be complete.

The Petsko & Ringe Laboratories are located in 5,000 square feet on the sixth floor of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center, according to the lab's website.

Petsko works there with the lab's other namesake, Prof. Dagmar Ringe (BCHM), the Harold and Bernice Davis Professor in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease.

Ringe did not respond to requests for comment.

The majority of the research in the lab is dedicated to developing cures for Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and Lou Gherig's Disease, according to Petsko. This research will continue in New York.

The lab currently has a staff of about 20 students. Petsko estimated that six or seven are graduate students, about 12 are undergraduates and the rest are post-doctoral. He will aim to maintain the size of the lab's staff until his departure, hiring to make up for the usual turnover as students graduate or move on to other jobs. He anticipates that his new lab will be roughly the same size.

However, one difference will be the loss of undergraduate students to work with and teach. Petsko will teach at the medical school, where only graduate students are enrolled.

"We love having undergrads in the lab. ... They do really good work and they're a delight to have around," said Petsko, adding that it's also good training for his graduate and post-doctoral students to supervise the undergraduates.

"I think [Brandeis is] the best place in the world to work in if you're a scientist who likes teaching. You couldn't ask for a better environment," he said, praising the faculty, students and University President Frederick Lawrence. "There's a million reasons why it would be wonderful to stay, but there's one big reason why I can't."

Petsko said he hopes that, since he is vacating such a prominent position with a high salary, Brandeis will hire two associate professors of Biochemistry or Chemistry in his stead.
"Bringing in vital, young people to the faculty is something that's very good to do," he said.

Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren confirmed this in an email to the Justice, saying that the search is already underway for "a new [Biochemistry] faculty member who will carry out research defined by his or her own interest and expertise, and who will carry on Brandeis' tradition of excellence in Biochemical research and teaching."

Goldstein agreed. "[T]he departure of a faculty member-even one as outstanding as Greg-does bring one compensation: the opportunity to hire someone new."