When it comes to salamanders, observers of the natural world since the time of the ancient Greeks have wondered, Why can they regenerate their limbs and tails while humans cannot? 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…
Read MoreBy Pip Hansen — For me, the nectarine (latin name Prunus persica var. nucipersica) is a compulsory part of summer. Each little nibble evokes memories of balmy childhood summers, lolling around in the backyard, juice dripping down my chin and all over my hands and laughing with my sister. While I’m happy to say that I’m…
Read MoreBy Pip Hansen — There’s nothing that says summer quite like delicious, sun-sweet berries. Maine is well known for it’s short but delicious strawberry season, but let’s not let that overshadow the many other berries summer kindly supplies us – especially the sweet yet tart blackberry (scientific name Rubus). Beneath it’s deliciousness, the blackberry hides…
Read MoreSummer 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…
Read MoreIn recent years bioinformatics – using computational power to help process the massive swathes of data produced by modern experiments – has become an indispensable tool for research scientists. Modern biology is hugely data intensive. In a typical experiment, the data collected for just a single sample often reaches thirty million or more individual pieces…
Read MoreBy Jeri Bowers — Spring in Maine is synonymous with rhubarb (scientific name Rheum rhabarbarum). It thrives in areas with a cooler climate, making it ubiquitous in Maine gardens. So much so that it’s almost impossible to have a conversation with friends or neighbors in May and June without hearing the phrase, “Need any rhubaahb?” Rhubarb is…
Read More“My INBRE-funded project at the University of Maine at Farmington requires detailed microscopy images of gonadal structures in fish, but we do not have the equipment or expertise at our institution to meet these needs. In addition, relevant facilities in Maine are not close to us, which make obtaining such images difficult. The microscopy remote…
Read MoreWe all know our kidneys are charged with filtering our blood – an astonishing 52 gallons of it a day. But how does that actually happen? It turns out that it’s not unlike what one might imagine. Each of the body’s approximately one million nephrons, the functional units of the kidney, contains a glomerulus, or…
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