Student Summer Fellow at MDI Biological Laboratory Jeremy ‘Heath' Fuqua ’18 presents his summer research at the lab's Summer Student Symposium in August, 2016. The annual symposium is designed to showcase the work of 40 or so students from various research laboratories in the Northeast, including MDIBL.
Fuqua is a member of the inaugural group of students from College of the Atlantic to participate in an academic year fellowship program at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. Since the program was launched in the spring of 2016, four students have taken part.
The fellowship is funded through a federal grant from the National Institutes of Health for the Maine INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence) program, which exposes undergraduates to the rewards of a career in biomedical research by providing them with opportunities to work in a real-world laboratory environment.
The pursuit of scientific research is a common focus at College of the Atlantic. For those specifically interested in biomedical research, the college's partnership with MDI Biological Laboratory offers many excellent opportunities for hands-on experience.“My case represents an ideal example of the success of Maine INBRE,” said Fuqua. “The program was totally instrumental in focusing my future on biomedical research. Without INBRE, I never would have been doing what I’m doing.”
Fuqua’s first exposure to the MDI Biological Laboratory was through his participation in a one-week course in early 2016. His experience in that course, which was focused on molecular biology, inspired him to apply for an academic year fellowship at the laboratory, followed by a summer fellowship.
Today, he works part time as a research technician in the laboratory of MDI Biological Laboratory scientist Dustin Updike, Ph.D., while pursuing his undergraduate degree at COA. Updike studies specialized particles called germ granules in the tiny roundworm, C. elegans, to learn more about the fundamental biology of stem cells in human beings.
Though academic year fellowships for COA students are a relatively recent introduction at the MDI Biological Laboratory, the Maine INBRE program was established in 2001 under the leadership of the MDI Biological Laboratory to serve students and faculty from a collaborative network of 13 Maine education and research institutions.
COA students have been doing academic year fellowships at the Jackson Laboratory under the INBRE program for several years. The college encourages such outside-the-classroom experiences across all levels and disciplines.
“[Maine INBRE] was totally instrumental in focusing my future on biomedical research. Without INBRE, I never would have been doing what I’m doing,” - Heath Fuqua ’18.
“The most amazing benefit of INBRE is the opportunity to send students to these world-class research institutions,” said Chris Petersen, COA associate academic dean and biology professor. “As freshmen, three of the students who started at the MDI Biological Laboratory last year never would have had such an opportunity at most colleges.”
The goal of INBRE is to strengthen Maine’s capacity to conduct NIH-competitive biomedical research. The program provides research support and core facilities to junior faculty, creates research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and serves as a pipeline for students pursuing careers in biomedical research.
Since the program’s inception, more than 2,100 Maine undergraduates have received biomedical research training at the MDI Biological Laboratory through INBRE courses, as well as summer and now academic year fellowships. More than 90 percent of those who graduate have pursued biomedical careers, many in Maine.
The MDI Biological Laboratory is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution focused on the study of aging and regenerative biology and developing Maine’s skilled workforce through hands-on scientific training.
“This program fosters interaction between two outstanding Mount Desert Island institutions while providing students with the authentic research experience they wouldn’t get in a classroom,” said the laboratory’s assistant director of education, Christine Smith. “The participants really feel they have ownership of a project.”
“I like the freedom to pursue my own ideas and discoveries,” agrees Rose Besen-McNally, a COA academic-year fellow who studies wound healing with laboratory scientist Vicki P. Losick, Ph.D. “It’s pretty amazing that as a student at a small college on an island in Maine I have the opportunity to work in such a world-class laboratory.”
Through its partnerships with world-class laboratories such as The Jackson Laboratory and MDI Biological Laboratory, College of the Atlantic ensures students interested in natural science research have the necessary opportunities for successful careers in their chosen pathways.
The MDI Biological Laboratory, located in Bar Harbor, Maine, is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution focused on increasing healthy lifespan and increasing our natural ability to repair and regenerate tissues damaged by injury or disease. The institution develops solutions to complex human health problems through research, education and ventures that transform discoveries into cures. For more information, please visit mdibl.org.
College of the Atlantic was the first college in the United States to focus on the relationship between humans and the environment. In 2016, both The Princeton Review and the Sierra Club named College of the Atlantic the #1 Green College in the United States. The intentionally small school of 350 students and 35 faculty members offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in human ecology – the study of how humans interact with our natural, social and technological environments. Each student develops their own course of study in human ecology, collaborating and innovating across multiple disciplines. For more information, please visit coa.edu.