MDI Lab Gets $18M Grant for Biomedical Research, Workforce Training
Shortly after hearing it may benefit from a $3 million bond proposal signed by Gov. Paul LePage in late April and to be voted on this November, the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor said it has received an $18.4 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.
The five year grant will be used to strengthen biomedical research and hands-on workforce training in Maine, according to MDIBL, which in a statement said the money assures that the Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, known as INBRE, will continue. INBRE is a collaborative network of 13 Maine research institutions, universities and colleges led by the MDIBL.
Patricia Hand, the principal investigator on the INBRE grant, said the potential bond funding and the grant are synergistic in that the bond would fund a new research facility that in turn would be used by INBRE students and faculty.
“The bond would allow MDIBL to build a much-needed, 3,000-square-foot training lab here. We need that for the INBRE program,” she told Mainebiz.