The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory: what it means for MDI and Maine.

The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory: what it means for MDI and

Maine

• Brief history of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory

•What MDIBL does

•Why institutions like MDIBL are important

(or why I left a very secure job to come to Maine)

The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory

1898: Lab founded at South Harpswell; classical post-Darwin marine station focused on teaching and natural history research

1921: Lab moves to MDI at the invitation of George Dorr

1926: The first transformation: The physician E.K. Marshall begins using marine fishes to understand how the human kidney works

2000: The second transformation: MDIBL begins transition from a seasonal to a “year-round” institution

A brief history of MDIBL

1999 2010Year-round employees

9 ~50 and growing

Resident faculty 0 9

Operating budget $0.6M $10.3M

Active grants $2.8M $35.9M

The year-round MDIBLis 10-years old

2008: 15,000 ft2 “green” lab building opened2010: First full-time Director begins2010: 10,000 ft2 Marshall Lab construction

begins2010: $1.6M grant from DoD to help launch

the Kathryn W. Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine

What MDIBL does

Education

Environmentalconservation &

restoration

MDIBLBiomedical research

Biomedical research

•Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and MedicineHow do animals repair and regrow damaged limbs

and organs?How and why do animals age?

How do environmental toxins cause disease?

•Morris Center for Environmental Health Sciences

•MDIBL Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) grant: links 13 Maine institutions

•Boylan Center for Cellular and Molecular PhysiologyIntegrative thinking; multidisciplinary

research

Education

•Hands-on research training for Maine high school and undergraduate students

•Summer research internships for U.S. undergraduates

•Hands-on research training for medical students and practicing physicians

•“Signature” research courses

•Scientific conferences

•Outreach: family science night, programs in all MDI elementary schools, Northeast Harbor lecture series, Aspirnaut Program, Science Cafes (2011)

Environmental conservation and restoration

•Community Health Science Laboratory: water quality monitoring

•Citizen scientists: engaging citizens in research and restoration

•Frenchman Bay Stakeholders: Nature Conservancy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Frenchman Bay Conservancy, COA, Acadia National Park, Lamoine Conservation Commission, Bar Harbor Planning Board, Trenton Board of Selectman, local fisherman and aquaculturists

•Frenchman Bay eelgrass restoration

•Research at the Callahan Mine Superfund Site

MDIBL’s local economic impact

•Supports over $2.8M in salary and benefits in Hancock County

•Purchases over $3M in Maine goods and services annually

•Over 90% of the Marshall Lab construction costs support Hancock and Penobscot businesses

Growing to sustainability

Education

Environmental

conservation & restoration

Biomedical

research

MDIBL

•MDIBL is a private, non-profit research institution supported by competitive grants and philanthropy

Recruit outstanding resident faculty and provide them the start-up funds to build world class research programs

Expand and rejuvenate the visiting scientist program

Expand courses and conferences

Broaden the scope of environmental work

Why I left a secure job to come to MDIBL

•Harvard Medical School 1990-1997

•Vanderbilt University School of Medicine 1997-2009

•Full professor, endowed chair ($75,000/year)

•Pick of the best students, lots of leverage (4 NIH grants)

•Outstanding scientific resources

•No teaching, trivial administrative responsibilities

Top 20 academic medical center versus MDIBL

•First learned of job in December 2007

•Phone interview January 2008

•First visit May 2008

•Second visit June 2008; decision to drop out of the running

•Offered job in July 2008; third visit August 2008

•Contract negotiations September/October 2008: economy implodes, stock market drops ~6000 points; housing market collapses, unemployment skyrockets; grant funding???; philanthropy???

•Contract signed November 2008

Top 20 academic medical center versus MDIBL

•“He just killed his career”

•“What’s wrong with this guy? Why would he go to a place like that? He must be insane”

•“Has he lost his mind?”

•“He’s just going up there to retire”

Top 20 academic medical center versus MDIBL

Why I left a secure job to come to MDIBL: “the pull”

•One-of-a-kind opportunity to build highly innovative research and science education programs

Why I left a secure job to come to MDIBL: “the push”

•Big institutions don’t innovate

Why do we need innovative research and science education?

Why do we need innovative research and science education?

•STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and

Mathematics education and workforce

•“STEM fields are the core technological underpinnings of an advanced society”

•“The STEM workforce is an indicator of a nation's ability to sustain itself”

•“Innovation depends on a solid knowledge base in math, science and engineering; without this knowledge base, innovation as well as our industrial base will erode”

Why do we need innovative research and science education?

Why I left a secure job to come to MDIBL: “the push”

•Big institutions don’t innovate

•Innovation: ability to build one-of-a-kind research and science education programs

Why I left a secure job to come to MDIBL: “the pull”

•Impact: “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world” (Barack Obama, January 25, 2011)

•Opportunity: it aboundsHighly talented and dedicated staffOne-of-a-kind intellectual and lifestyle

environmentUnique year-round and summer population