MDI Biological Laboratory

The MDI Biological Laboratory is an independent non-profit biomedical research institution founded in 1898 and located in Salisbury Cove, Maine, on Mount Desert Island. Its mission is to improve human health and well- being through basic research, education, and development ventures that transform discoveries into cures. In 2013, the Laboratory was designated a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) by the National Institutes of Health, which awarded the Laboratory a grant of $13 million over five years to expand the institution’s research program. The MDI Biological Laboratory has a full-time staff of 63, and will offer 23 research training courses in 2014.

Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory focus on studying regeneration and aging to promote longer, healthier lives. They are developing new approaches for treating and preventing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer, as well as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases. To do so, they pick the most efficient, effective, and economical model organism for each biological question, knowing that our common evolutionary heritage means that humans share a remarkable percentage of our genome with organisms that appear to be completely different than humans.

For example, MDI Biological Laboratory scientists study the tiny nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, with a lifespan of two to three weeks, to study genes that regulate aging and lifespan. Those same genes are present in humans. They study organisms such as zebrafish and salamanders that are naturally able to regenerate diseased or damaged tissue, organs, and limbs using the same genetic mechanisms found in humans. However, for some reason those mechanisms have been turned off in most mammals. MDI Biological Laboratory scientists are learning how to reactivate these mechanisms to promote healing in humans.

...
Wikipedia