BREWER – The Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health was introduced to the public in January 2005, described by Gov. John Baldacci as a cornerstone of Maine’s changing economy, a health care boon for eastern Maine residents and an important step forward for its partnering institutions.

In recent interviews, those partners reconfirmed their commitment to the Brewer project – and the process of bringing it along.

Barbara Knowles, a senior researcher at The Jackson Laboratory, said the research collaboration is important to the future of the venerable Bar Harbor institution.

With knowledge about human DNA sequencing expanding rapidly, major research funders now prefer to support collaborative work between basic scientists and clinical researchers, Knowles said.

The Brewer-based institute, she said, will benefit Jackson Lab and the entire community of Maine biomedical research.

At the University of Maine, President Robert Kennedy said the delay in building the anticipated Brewer lab is being offset by the availability of lab space on the university campus and at Jackson Lab and other research centers in Maine, including the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough.

UMaine’s three-year-old Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has attracted about two dozen students, Kennedy said. They now are conducting research in labs all over Maine, but when the new facility is available in Brewer, he predicted, more students will choose to study here in eastern Maine.

UMaine has hired several new faculty researchers in the past few months, Kennedy added.

“We’re bringing people in one by one and two by two to help the university be a major collaborator in this project,” he said.

Michelle Hood, president and chief executive officer of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, said the organization remains fully committed to developing the Maine Institute of Human Genetics and Health.

Ground will be broken next spring for a new cancer care center on the EMHS campus in Brewer, and areas within that building will be devoted to offices and meeting rooms for the institute.

“Wet lab” space – the highly specialized areas needed to conduct scientific research – will continue to be housed at other partnering sites for the foreseeable future.

Hood said area residents can expect to hear more about the Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health as time goes on, including a fundraising campaign that matches the interests of donors with specific areas of research.

“It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,” Hood said. “Piece by piece, the image becomes clearer.”