WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has awarded grants totaling $3,435,394 to various health projects throughout Maine, including $2,943,648 to the state for bioterror preparedness at hospitals and health care facilities.

“This federal funding is critical to ensuring our state’s hospitals are adequately prepared for bioterror attacks,” said U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins in a joint statement announcing the awards.

“It also helps to ensure these valuable research institutions remain at the forefront of the medical community,” they said.

The federal funding was allocated as follows:

. $2,943,648 to the state of Maine, for bioterror preparedness efforts in Maine’s hospitals and health care facilities.

. $485,746 to the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Salisbury Cove. The funding was awarded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to the Center for Membrane Toxicity Studies.

. $6,000 to The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, awarded by the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development for assessing human germ cell mutations.