Bangor area focus of Baldacci’s biomed vision

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BANGOR – Gov. John Baldacci is banking on Maine’s biomedical research industry to help regenerate the state’s economy, beef up the status of its flagship university, and improve the health of its residents.

It’s a tall order, but the governor’s enthusiasm for biomed is shared by many others – including health officials, university administrators, and directors at the state’s pre-eminent research facilities. Though Baldacci’s vision should benefit the entire state, the Bangor area stands to gain the most, and the most directly.

In his annual State of the State address before the Maine Legislature Tuesday evening, Baldacci voiced his support of new collaborations between the University of Maine in Orono, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems of Brewer, The Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor and MDI Biological Laboratory of Salisbury Cove.

In particular, the governor praised two proposed bricks-and-mortar projects that seem to represent the new spirit of collaboration – a genetics research laboratory to be built in Brewer and a Graduate School of Biomedical Science to be headquartered on what now is the campus of the University College of Bangor. Supported by both public and private dollars, the governor says these new institutions will work together to connect researchers, students and clinicians. And, he said, they’ll be an important source of jobs in the evolving economy of northern and eastern Maine.

The laboratory

The centerpiece of the initiative is the Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health, a new, 5,000-square-foot research facility that will be housed at the headquarters of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems on outer Wilson Street in Brewer. EMHS will invest about $1.7 million to set up a 5,000-square-foot space in the landmark Cianchette Building, which already houses the EMHS corporate offices. The organization also has pledged to raise about $4.5 million to cover operating costs for the first three years, after which the lab is expected to pay for itself with research grants.

The Cianchette Building, completed in 2004, is owned by the Cianbro company of Pittsfield, and Cianbro president Peter Vigue serves on the EMHS board of directors. EMHS leases the office space from Cianbro, but owns the 70-acre development parcel the building sits on.

Larry Beauregard, Ph.D., a research geneticist who works at EMHS, said the organization has had a clinical genetics program since 1975 and has been conducting research for several years. Discussion of integrating with the university and with the private labs in the area has been ongoing, Beauregard said.

“We’ve wanted to foster a program of research and work force development, to take research from Jackson Lab and look for potential applications to humans,” he said.

The 75-year-old Jackson Lab is best known for its study of mouse genetics, including the diseases of cancer, diabetes, obesity and blood disorders. Now, in partnership with the Bar Harbor laboratory, researchers at the EMHS genetics institute will explore genetic components for the chronic conditions that affect so many Mainers, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and osteoporosis.

The research will take place in the laboratory setting as well as through clinical trials, Beauregard said. “Our role is to take basic research and translate it into something clinically useful,” he said.

Beauregard said it’s too soon to know when the lab facility will be open, but that at least five researchers will be on staff within five years, along with a cadre of technicians, support staff and administrators.

Additionally – and importantly – the Brewer lab facility will be available for researchers from Jackson Lab, as well as to faculty and students from the University of Maine’s proposed graduate school in Bangor.

The graduate school

In order to capture some of the financial energy fueling biomedical research throughout the country, the University of Maine will establish a new Graduate School of Biomedical Science, interim president Robert Kennedy explained in a recent interview.

“We’ve needed a plan to move the university into position to attract federal funding and to support economic development in Maine,” Kennedy said in a recent interview.

The new graduate school will be headquartered on the campus of the University College of Bangor, which is near Bangor International Airport. The school will provide administrative support to existing UMaine graduate programs in molecular biophysics, functional genomics and computational biology as well as enabling the university to develop additional master’s and doctoral degree programs.

With the biomed collaboration, graduate students in these programs will have access to the scientists and laboratories at Maine’s prestigious private research facilities, including Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, the MDI Biological Laboratory in Salisbury Cove and the new genetics institute at EMHS.

Kennedy called Maine’s research labs “the crown jewels” of the state’s biomedical initiative and said the partnership will attract high-caliber students from around the world.

The affiliation also will help the university and the labs draw crucial research funding from the National Institutes for Health, the most important source of federal biomedical funding for universities. When NIH reviews applications for funding, said Jerilyn Bowers, director of public affairs for MDI Biological Lab, it looks for collaboration with other labs and educational institutions.

Since 1999, when MDI Biological teamed up with other research facilities in Maine to create the Maine Biomedical Research Coalition, the lab’s federal funding has risen from $1.2 million to about $33 million, Bowers said. During the same period, she said, employment at the lab rose from nine staff employees and no year-round scientists to more than 33 employees and nine full-time researchers.

MDI Biological celebrated its centennial in 1999 and boasts a long record of research into health and environmental problems. A chief focus is the development of marine stem cell banks, used to study the process by which dogfish sharks and other ocean species are able to regenerate certain of their organs. Since these sharks are genetically similar to people, understanding this ability could yield important applications for human health.

Patricia Hand, administrative director of MDI Biological, said she looks forward to building the relationship with the University of Maine. “This will make a much stronger graduate program for the university,” she said, “and having access to their graduate students will be wonderful for our researchers.”

During his State of the State address, Baldacci also announced the formation of a new College of Allied Health Professionals, also located at the Bangor campus. Baldacci said the new college would be a joint venture between the university and Eastern Maine Community College. He added that Sister Mary Norberta, president of St. Joseph Hospital, and Dr. Clifford Rosen, a physician at St. Joseph and an international leader in osteoporosis research would “become an important piece of this initiative.”

University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal said the collaboration between the university and the private labs takes advantage of “the natural synergy” that exists between researchers and academics. Additionally, he said, the partnership fits neatly into the university system’s long-term plan, which calls for enhancing scholarship by making use of existing resources in the state.

“Maine is fast becoming a regional player in the biomedical science field,” he said. “If we’re going to be great in this area, we must forge ahead in promoting graduate education.”

Paving the way

Through voter-approved bonds, Maine’s taxpayers have invested $45 million in biomedical research over the past five years, leveraging more than $170 million in federal and private research grants in return. About 1,050 permanent jobs at all educational levels – with an average pay and benefits value of nearly $58,000 – have been created through the expansion of existing lab facilities and improving collaboration between them, according to Janet Yancy-Wrona, director of the state’s recently created Office of Innovation in the Department of Economic and Community Development.

That’s not a lot of jobs, but Yancy-Wrona said the investment also is beginning to pay off in the form of spinoff industries that follow biomedical research clusters.

Voters will be asked again this year to approve a biomed bond issue, according to Yancy-Wrona, though the amount has not been set. It is likely to include $1.7 million for remodeling Camden Hall on the UCB campus to house the new graduate school, but other elements have yet to be identified.

Yancy-Wrona said biomedical research will be a strong presence in Maine’s economic future and should be supported as it expands.

“Biomed is huge,” she said. “If we build a strong infrastructure and focus on those areas we’re good at, we have a good chance of success.”