BAR HARBOR – The Jackson Laboratory will receive $331,088 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to support research related to understanding the human genome.

The announcement was made Tuesday by U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

The grant funding will use computer-based methods and experimental genetics to study a particular segment of the genome sequence, equivalent to 40 percent of a chromosome, to uncover its content. Four people will be involved in the project.

“This research has the potential to offer a better understanding of how genes interact, and ultimately, improve our knowledge of human biology,” the senators said in a prepared statement.