Yes on Question 4, for Maine students

Question 4 on the November ballot, the state Economic Development bond, provides resources for one of Maine’s most successful economic drivers: biomedical research. One of the untold stories of Maine’s research facilities is the degree to which institutions in Maine are working in partnership with each other, maximizing opportunities and realizing efficiencies.

When a project involves research, education and collaboration, exciting things begin to happen. Three years ago we proposed a Ph.D. program in Functional Genomics involving resources from the University of Maine, The Jackson Laboratory and the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. The program now has 10 students, working at these three facilities, in the newest challenge of science today: interdisciplinary research (i.e. teams of scientists from different disciplines working together on a common problem).

This program makes use of the expertise available in three nationally known research programs, all in Maine. Doctoral candidates are valued members of the research community, with both research and teaching responsibilities. The pay-off for Maine extends beyond graduation day. These doctoral students will create the talent pool through which Maine’s research institutions will continue to grow and excel.

The concepts and the relationships developed with this program are being expanded now, by adding the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the University of Southern Maine, to collectively form a “virtual university” pool for the founding of a graduate school for biomedical sciences.

It is our belief that this new educational entity, built on the research and educational strengths across the state, will greatly increase the opportunities for doctoral students’ being educated in Maine in the biomedical sciences. This, in turn, will allow them to achieve excellence in their chosen field right here in Maine, and stay on afterwards to be productive members of our local communities.

Funds from the state bond will contribute directly to these opportunities for Maine students. Funds directed to the renovation of Camden Hall will build the necessary infrastructure to successfully establish and run the new graduate school for biomedical sciences. The funds will be used to renovate the second floor of Camden Hall to house the GSBS administrative offices and a state-of-the-art IT classroom, with the additional possibility of laboratory space depending on funding and the needs of the

partnering institution.

The new program will not only need a physical home located closer to the existing medical institutions but it will also need expanded communication links so that graduate students working toward their Ph.D. in biomedical sciences will have access to the same educational experience regardless of where they are physically located within the State. Funds from Question 4 will also indirectly benefit students in the new graduate school for biomedical science, as they also support programs in the Laboratory for Surface Science Technology (LASST), a world-renown research unit with faculty working

in the areas of nanotechnology and sensor development.

Faculty in LASST already participate in the Functional Genomics program and the expansion of their research capacity will add to the research resources available to students working toward their Ph.D. in biomedical sciences.

Therefore, we urge a yes vote on Question 4 so that Maine’s emerging excellence in graduate education in science can bring the broadest range of opportunity to our young people and the brightest future to those whose lives will be improved by the results of their research.

Dr. Keith Hutchison, of the University of Maine, and Dr. Barbara Knowles, of The Jackson Laboratory, are co-directors of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Functional Genomics.