Maine INBRE supports the interrelated research projects of between six to nine INBRE faculty each year, enabling these more junior scientists to seek independent funding during the grant period. The INBRE program also supports pilot research projects for teaching-focused faculty and their students. Each project applies the strategies of comparative functional genomics—where scientists study the role and function of genes in a variety of different organisms—to biomedical issues in physiology, toxicology, and molecular and cellular developmental biology. Current project leaders are listed below.
Maine INBRE also participates in the NorthEast Cyberinfrastructure Consortium, which is a regional effort to facilitate cyber-enabled collaborative research among the Northeast Regional IDeA States: Delaware, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The NEBC has worked collaboratively to characterize the genome of the little skate, Leucoraja erinacea, in the Skate Genome Project.
Current Investigator Research
Endogenous neural stem cell reprograming for neuronal regeneration
Identification of genes involved in the crosstalk between a social host and facultative symbionts that can form long-term persistent association
Identification of neural and epigenetic biomarkers for affective dysfunction following early adversity
Identification, elucidation, and characterization of small molecules produced by common skin commensals and their role in microbe: microbe interactions and host health
Sequence requirements of viroporin ion channel activity
Understanding the mechanisms of MMS21 in genome instability through mutations in Saccaramyces cerevisiae and human
Current Teaching Faculty Research
Evolution of gene regulation within and between species of Drosophila
Influence of colonization regime, time since establishment, and site-specific variation on patterns of selection, genes under selection, and rapid evolution in distinct swift fox (Vulpes velox) populations
