A new building is under construction the MDI Biological Laboratory. It will be used as a new training facility for students who come to gain hands on experience in a scientific setting. Dr. Bob Morris of the lab told us some of the details.

“Two new research spaces, it offers conference center space, it offers a training laboratory for students that will double the training capacity here at the MDI Biological laboratory.”

The lab already has a training facility, but the new building will bring more space and plenty of new opportunities to learn. That prospect is an exciting one for both alumni and current students like Isaiah Mansour.

“When I was in the course here, the students and I essentially lived in the training lab. It was a week long course but it was maybe 9 to 10 hours a day.”

Those at the lab say that having a new space for students to learn is just the first step in a bigger plan. They believe that skills learned here will translate to more jobs in the future.

“When students come in and learn about science here, they stay and do science here,” says Morris. “They stay in Maine and they build business here.”

President of the MDIBL, Kevin Strange says, “We’ve given them a sense of what kind of careers they can develop with that, not just to become a bench scientist, but just become scientifically literate too. And there’s a need for that in all aspects of society.”

At the ground breaking ceremony today, students and lab employees signed a steel beam that will be put in to the new building. The facility will be open in the spring of 2017.

“It’s wonderful to see this institution grow,” said Morris. “To see that jobs are created here, at this institution and in Maine, because of what we’re learning here, and because of that we’re able to do here with educating the work force.”