Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
July 27, 2026: Funding for this grant year has been depleted. Additional funds may be available beginning May 1, 2027, the start of a new grant year.
The Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE) invites applications for funds (up to $5,000) to cover the costs of using biomedical research services provided by any Core facility in a northeast IDeA state (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Delaware) or other IDeA states, if services cannot be found locally. Contact information for Maine Core facilities, including those at the University of Maine, MaineHealth Institute for Research, ...
Congratulations to INBRE Project Leader and assistant professor at the MDI Biological Lab, Emily Spaulding, Ph.D., who has received a $2.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how cells organize one of their most important and active internal structures — the nucleolus — and what happens when that organization breaks down.
The award, from the NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will expand Spaulding’s research on this small structure inside the cell nucleus that builds ribosomes — the molecular machines that cells use to make proteins. Because proteins carry out most of the work in ...
by Julie Moulton, Assistant Scientist II at the University of New England (UNE)
In 2015, I made the decision to change careers and return to school to study biology. Early in that journey, Dr. Elizabeth Ehrenfeld (the former INBRE network coordinator at Southern Maine Community College) encouraged me to apply for an INBRE undergraduate research fellowship. With her support, I applied and was fortunate to be awarded the grant in the summer of 2016.
That same summer, Dr. Geoff Ganter (the current INBRE network coordinator at the University of New England) welcomed me into his laboratory, where I gained my first hands-on ...
Poster session at the Maine IDeA Data Science Conference. Organizer Joel Graber, Ph.D., at center.
The INBRE Data Science Core organized the first Maine IDeA Data Science Conference, held February 27-28 at MDI Biological Laboratory. A diverse array of over 60 faculty and students from 15 Maine institutions (plus a few experts from other states) participated in panel sessions, lectures and a poster session. Several Maine INBRE institutions participated in the presentations: The Jackson Laboratory, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, University of Southern Maine, University of New England, Bates College, and the University of Maine, as well as collaborating ...
The abstract submission deadline for the 53rd annual Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium (MBMSS) is April 6, 2026. The event will be held on April 24-25 on the MDI Biological Laboratory campus. Dr. Jay Storz, School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska, will provide the keynote address on Friday evening. The program will include a scientific career panel, speaker presentations, and multiple poster sessions.
See full lineup of invited speakers here.
Now 17 institutions strong, the Maine INBRE is a momentum-maker for biomedical research statewide
Maine INBRE kicked off 2026 with a rollout of three residential training courses for Maine undergraduates at MDI Biological Laboratory.
It began, on January 4th, with worms. Highly regenerative planarian flatworms, to be precise — the research model that a dozen students from Southern Maine Community College would spend a week studying inside the Maine Center for Biomedical Innovation.
Leaning over microscopes and petri dishes, they immersed themselves in original research on how different compounds affect stem-cell division in the worms. For many, the experience was a first: real ...
Georgia Burton, a senior at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, attended a research-intensive short course in January 2025 through the INBRE program at UMFK, and was subsequently awarded a summer fellowship (SURF). Her experience in the Updike lab at MDI Biological Laboratory set the groundwork for her plans to pursue a future in developmental biology and disease.
“What really stood out to me was the collaborative research environment. This fostered a supportive and intellectually engaging environment that emphasized teamwork, mentorship and scientific curiosity.”
Sam Beaulieu, the Natural Sciences Laboratory Manager Forestry & Environmental Studies Program Assistant at UMFK, runs the ...
<photo credit Colby College>
How Maine INBRE, a collaborative network of Maine educational and research institutions, supports Colby scientists
Inside Colby science labs, a chemistry professor is taking a deep dive into the origin of life on earth, a biology professor is searching for ways to prevent age-related muscle atrophy, while another biology professor is learning how DNA protects itself from damage.
These scientists, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Reuben Hudson (pictured above with students in his lab), Associate Professor and Chair of Biology Dave Angelini, and Assistant Professor of Biology Yee Mon Thu, are asking important questions through their research. One thing that’s ...
Maine INBRE Outreach Director Professor Jane Disney, Ph.D., an associate professor at MDI Biological Laboratory, and partners at Northern Tilth, Maine Laboratories, College of the Atlantic, and Northeastern’s Roux Institute were awarded $50,000 in the Life Sciences Impact Forum held at the Institute earlier this fall.
Together they will develop “Biochar Bags” to reduce or prevent the spread of harmful PFAS chemicals from point sources to near-shore waters. After gaining regulatory approval, their experiments will start with a culvert in Acadia National Park, near Somes Sound, where PFAS has been detected.
Read Full Story Here
Images created in the Light Microscopy Facility (LMF) at MDI Biological Laboratory recently received prominent awards.
(left) Analyst Hannah Somers’ image of a zebrafish’s vasculature was recognized in the international Nikon Small World Competition 2025 (and featured by National Geographic)
(right) INBRE Collaborative Research Resources Core and the LMF’s Director, Frederic Bonnet, Ph.D., took the top award in the BINA Imaging North America 2025 Light Microscopy Image Contest with his image of a butterfly’s eye.