Last week I was fortunate enough to share in the wonderful celebration of the INBRE grant renewal at MDIBL.

Bringing 18.4 million in National Institutes of Health dollars to the state of Maine, the INBRE grant is going to be an important financial resource to both Bates College as well as my personal research lab. At the celebration, one of our US senators, Susan Collins, as well as state officials and higher education administrators were able to speak about the importance of INBRE in building the biomedical infrastructure in Maine (http://www.mdibl.org/press_releases/Sen_Collins_Scientists_and_Students_Celebrate_18_Million_Grant_for__Biomedical_Research_and_Workforce_Training_in_Maine/611/).

As part of the celebration, Roshni presented our summer work to the guests of the event. It was great to share with others the work that has already been done using INBRE funds.

I am very much looking forward to seeing how much this grant will transform Maine over the next five years; it has already started by funding a short course on molecular biology and imaging that I am teaching over the next two weeks to South Maine Community College students and faculty. Stay tuned!