Blog – Page 2 – MDI Biological Laboratory

Citizen Science

Citizen Scientists Support Doctoral Research

Arsenic, lead, and uranium, naturally occurring contaminants in some groundwater, are not uncommon in New England, where significant portions of the population rely on wells for drinking water. Long-term or acute exposure to these contaminants can lead to multiple types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more. Federal and state guidelines regulate the maximum contaminant…

Alumni

Chalk Talks Still Going Strong

The iconic chalkboard got a new coat of paint this year and was ready for action! One of the many Chalk Talk presenters this year, MDIBL student alum and Duke University Assistant Professor Nishad Jayasundara, Ph.D. was a great illustration of how MDIBL can become a full circle experience. Nishad’s presentation was particularly poignant. As an…

Education

Summer of Fun and Futures: Life in the Haller Lab

Keagan Dunbar and Alyssa Kent are rising seniors, spending their summer in the Haller Lab. Although only half-way through their time on campus, both already say they know it’s an experience of a lifetime. “I’m really happy here,” smiles Keagan, “I’ve learned so much more about the breadth of biomedical sciences and I know my…

Education

The Momentum of Summer at MDIBL

Summer is here and never has June’s arrival brought such delight! At the beginning of June we welcomed 29 summer student fellows and the first round of what will be a total of 16 visiting scientists to campus. While every year our seasonal researchers bring an infusion of energy to MDIBL, this year in particular, we feel…

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics: The Importance of Training the Trainer

MDI Biological Laboratory is beyond pleased to be hosting the upcoming Bioinformatics T3: Train the Trainer from June 26 until July 3 – not only because this is a vital and expanding field or because of our passion for educating the next generation of amazing scientists – but because we are able to welcome folks back to…

Alumni

This Is Why: Joan Mansfield

I spent my summers on Mt. Desert Island as a child, and I loved (and still do!) hiking the island trails and combing the beaches. At the end of high school, I worked at MDIBL for five weeks in the summer of 1969. We worked to extract a nerve substance from starfish legs and used…

Regenerative Biology

Making a Mouse More Like an Axolotl: How James Godwin’s Discoveries Are Helping Science ‘Pull the Levers of Regeneration’

Science is now inching closer to the answer thanks to new research by MDI Biological Laboratory scientist James Godwin, Ph.D. Following in the laboratory’s tradition of using comparative biology to gain insights into human health, Godwin has compared the molecular mechanisms governing regeneration in a highly regenerative salamander to those in the mouse, which has…

Education

Better Imaging Makes for Better Understanding

After completing his doctorate, Bonnet continued honing his live image microscopy skills at the Biotechnology Center (BIOTECH) at Technische Universität Dresden in Germany before joining MDIBL in mid-2019. In the 2 years since, Bonnet has driven the improvement and growth of the LMF, the focus always being getting the faculty what they need to do…

Regenerative Biology

Research by Iain Drummond, Ph.D., Brings Science Closer to Kidney Replacement Tissue

Each of the body’s approximately one million nephrons, the functional units of the kidney, contains a glomerulus, or a cluster of blood vessels where filtration takes place. The membranes of the glomeruli are lined with specialized cells called podocytes, which have tiny, foot-like projections (podo means “having a foot” in Latin) that protrude into the…