Comparative Biology: Animal Models Strut Their Stuff
Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory use the comparative model approach to understand the basic biology of tissue regeneration and aging. Thanks to evolution and common ancestry, we humans actually share a large portion of our DNA with fish, worms, and salamanders. Humans and zebrafish, for example, share 70% of the same genes; 84% of human genes known to be associated with human disease have a zebrafish equivalent. That’s a lot of similarity.
Continue ReadingVisiting Scientist Brett Keiper, Ph.D.: Taking the Time for Creative Inspiration
This is the second in a series of posts describing how collaborations between MDI Biological Laboratory faculty members and visiting scientists are advancing scientific progress.
Continue ReadingWho Is Coming to the Regeneration Party?
New Research by James Godwin, Ph.D., in the Axolotl Offers Insight Into the Role of the Various Players at the Site of an Injury
Continue ReadingMeet Our Postdocs: Emily Spaulding, Ph.D.
Emily Spaulding, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral researcher in the Updike Lab.
Continue ReadingMeet Our Postdocs: Marko Pende, Ph.D.
Marko Pende, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher in the Murawala Lab, working with regeneration in axolotls. His specific interest is in how the peripheral nervous system affects regrowing an amputated limb.
Continue ReadingAnother Successful Summer at MDIBL
Walking through the MDI Biological Laboratory courtyard on a sultry August afternoon, you couldn’t help but be inspired by the depth and breadth of research from our 2021 student fellows. 45 undergraduate and high school students from institutions across the country, working with mentors at MDIBL and other INBRE institutions around Maine, spent 10 weeks...
Continue ReadingMaking a Mouse More Like an Axolotl: How James Godwin’s Discoveries Are Helping Science ‘Pull the Levers of Regeneration’
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?
Continue ReadingResearch by Iain Drummond, Ph.D., Brings Science Closer to Kidney Replacement Tissue
We 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.
Continue ReadingWomen In Science Day 2021 – Margaret Reed Lewis
To mark Women in Science Day on February 11, 2021, we’re sharing the stories of female scientists, past and present, at the MDI Biological Laboratory. Margaret Reed Lewis, Ph.D.: A Pioneer in Tissue Culture In 1908, Margaret Reed was working in a laboratory in Germany when she explanted a small piece of tissue from a...
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