BAR HARBOR — The Jackson Laboratory will receive $316,284 from a federal agency to support work that involves studying mice and heart disease.

Researchers have been able to locate an area in the mouths of mice that they believe triggers heart disease. Because mice and humans share the same set of genes, scientists are studying the mice to find similar patterns of heart disease in humans.

As a result of the study, scientists hope to design better drugs that would respond to each protein and gene that causes heart disease.

The funding, announced by U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, is from the National Institutes of Health.