Washington, D.C.  – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced that The Jackson Laboratory has received a total of $756,430 to support cancer biology research. This funding was awarded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) National Cancer Institute.

“The leading cause of death in Maine is cancer, and our state has significantly higher cancer death rates than the rest of the United States. That’s why funding for cancer research programs is so important,” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement. “We welcome this investment for Jackson Lab, which will support scientists’ efforts to better understand this devastating and costly disease and ultimately help to improve the health and lives of Mainers.”

“The laboratory mouse is a key model organism for understanding the genetics and biology of human cancer and for the development of new therapeutic modalities for cancer treatment,” said Jackson Laboratory (JAX) President and CEO Edison Liu, M.D., who is also director of the JAX Cancer Center. “This grant to JAX Professor Carol Bult funds the Mouse Models of Human Cancer Database, a unique online resource that supports the use of the mouse as a model system in cancer research by the worldwide cancer research community.”

The Jackson Laboratory’s Mouse Models of Human Cancer Database integrates data on the frequency, incidence, genetics, and pathology of human cancers, emphasizing data on tumors that develop characteristically in different genetically defined strains of mice.