By Jerilyn Bowers, Director of Development and Public Affairs
In celebration of Parkinson’s Awareness last month, we launched a video celebrating two unique champions for research: Michael Westphal, a former competitive runner who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at age 49, and Aric Rogers, Ph.D., a scientist at the MDI Biological Laboratory who was motivated to study neurodegenerative diseases by a family history of Huntington’s…
Read MoreScientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory are identifying the basic mechanisms behind Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological disease affecting millions of people worldwide. The research could some day lead to treatments for a disabling condition for which medicine now has nothing to offer other than symptomatic relief. Parkinson’s is a progressive disorder of the nervous…
Read MoreWhy do we age? What are the mechanisms that regulate aging on a cellular level? Is it possible to extend youthfulness through genetic manipulation? These are some of the tantalizing questions that will be the subject of a new signature course at the MDI Biological Laboratory addressing two of the most fundamental issues related to…
Read MoreAssistant Professor Sandra Rieger, Ph.D., has identified two drugs that could potentially be used to reverse peripheral nerve damage, or peripheral neuropathy, resulting from cancer chemotherapy treatment. The drugs also have potential applications for the treatment of peripheral neuropathies caused by other conditions. The drugs are the subject of a provisional patent filed by the…
Read MoreThe MDI Biological Laboratory is the leader of the Maine INBRE program, whose goal is to strengthen biomedical research in Maine. More than 2,100 undergraduate students have received training in biomedical research at the MDI Biological Laboratory since 2001. Many want to use their training to improve traditional Maine industries such as agriculture, forest products and marine resources.
Read MoreMDI Biological Laboratory associate professor James A. Coffman, Ph.D., delivered a summary of research being conducted in his laboratory on the effect of stress on health at a recent Work-in-Progress presentation.
Read MoreThe role of the MDI Biological Laboratory’s COBRE program in building successful scientific careers for junior researchers and enabling major new research endeavors was recently commended by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) in a request for funding to the U.S. Congress.
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