Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced today that The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor was awarded a total of $2,791,196 for three separate research projects.  The funding was allocated through the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“The Jackson Laboratory’s leadership in the scientific field and its repeated breakthroughs to find cures for diseases are proof that there is no better investment than biomedical research,” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement.  “We welcome this continued funding to help support JAX’s efforts to better understand and treat conditions that affect nearly every American family.”

“These three grants reflect core strengths of The Jackson Laboratory: innovative research into basic cancer biology with the potential to improve treatment outcomes for patients, and the development of mouse models of human health and disease that are used by scientists around the globe to advance the search for cures,” said Dr. Ed Liu, President and CEO, The Jackson Laboratory. “JAX’s strong record of securing federal funding for research reflects the remarkable quality of our science and also benefits the Maine economy.”

The funding for Jackson Lab included:

·       $1,234,987 through the NSF to support the project titled, “CAREER: Evolution and Genetic Control of Variation in Meiotic Recombination.”  This research program aims to develop clinical tests for identifying patients with genetic mechanisms of infertility and help improve species of agricultural and economic importance.  It will also support a coordinated series of educational activities that will create new evolutionary genomics education and research opportunities in Maine.

·       $1,155,896 through NIH to support the Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center.

·       $400,313 through NIH to support the project titled, “The role of lung resident mesenchymal stem cells in post-chemotherapy lung metastases of breast cancer.”