Breaking Through Spring 2023

The Way Science Should Be: 125 Years of Discovery

SPRING 2023

4 Then & Now: The Search for Regeneration’s Secrets at MDI Bio Lab

Tracing the history of regeneration studies over the Laboratory’s 125 years

8 Accomplished Molecular Biologist

Joins MDI Bio Lab Faculty

Halyna Shcherbata, Ph.D., is describing relationships among microRNAs and proteins associated with degenerative disease

12 This Is Why: Gabriela Johnson

A young Mainer launches a scientific career from Salisbury Cove

14 Lab Notes

Some of our favorite moments since last issue

Futuristic tools and a historic commitment to basic research

MDI Bio Lab today boasts a concentrated array of state-of-the-art bioscience tools: bioinformatics data systems; CRISPR genesequence editing; 3D light-sheet microscopy. But many of the basic questions remain as when we began, in 1898: How does an embryo develop into an adult? Why do some organisms regenerate when others can’t?

THIS PAGE:

FRONT COVER: An axolotl salamander’s head imaged by the Laboratory’s Marko Pende, Ph.D., using a 3D mesoSPIM light-sheet microscope. More on the technology on page 14.

Neurons, nerves, synapses and sight in the larval zebrafish: retinal ganglion neurons project the optic nerve into the fish’s mid-brain, enabling synaptic connections. Retinal neurons (green), optic nerves (magenta) and pre-synapses (cyan), microscopy by Romain Madelaine, Ph.D., and Caroline Halluin. To learn about a $1 million federal award recently announced for Madelaine’s work go to page 14.

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Celebrating Our Accomplishments

In May of 1898, the Tufts Weekly published a flier advertising the opening of the Tufts Summer School of Biology at South Harpswell, Maine. That first summer, undergraduate and graduate students from Tufts and Colby College joined physicians and scientists to establish our durable tradition of collegial research in an inspiring, species-rich coastal setting.

While much has changed over the intervening 125 years (including our name and location), the basic approach to training and discovery has not. MDI Biological Laboratory’s core values remain rooted in the power of scientific inquiry and a deep appreciation of the natural world. Our campus has always been a gathering place where scientific leaders and students across disciplines exchange ideas, address complex biological problems and foster life-long learning. This is our enduring legacy.

This issue of Breaking Through illustrates some of the intellectual connectivity between our research today and the discoveries of Bio Lab scientists over the last 125 years. As we celebrate this important milestone, it is an opportunity for us to not only reflect on our history and reassert our core values, but to be intentional as we work together to shape our future. With your continued support and enthusiasm, together we are building robust international research and educational programs, restoring our historic campus and establishing the firm financial foundation that is essential for our ongoing success.

I hope you will join me in taking a moment to reflect on what this unique scientific community means to you, and perhaps reaffirm your commitment to ensuring that our legacy of scientific excellence, collaboration and camaraderie lives on far into the future. With appreciation and gratitude,

Hermann Haller, M.D. President

A WALK THROUGH HISTORY

125

2023 marks the 125th anniversary of the MDI Biological Laboratory. Our research has evolved as science and technology have advanced, but always with the wonders of comparative biology and a warm scientific community at heart. Follow this blue bar to read about some notable people and events in our history.

years of discovery on Maine’s coast

1898–1929

Early leaders: marine organisms & model systems for human physiology

Herbert V. Neal and

live in tents their first two summers in Harpswell. A renowned theorist and teacher of biology, Neal would describe secretory cells in skate fish that become known as Neal Cells

At the invitation of philanthropist George B. Dorr in 1921, the Laboratory is packed up and shipped on its own

LEFT TO RIGHT: James Godwin, Ph.D., takes inspiration from intellectual forebears who studied regeneration at the Laboratory going back to its beginnings. Today he’s a leader in bioscience’s new regeneration generation; Godwin’s office library includes favorite authors from his field who’ve made a mark on the Laboratory’s history.

1898 The Tufts Summer School of Biology at Potts Point offers its first season of instruction and research in Harpswell, Maine. Biologist John S. Kingsley is its founding director.

boat, the Gaudus, to a new home on Salisbury Cove.

family

Partners in science and life: Margaret R. and Warren H. Lewis (at left) develop new cell culture and other techniques to reveal basic truths about development, embryology, macrophages, and much more.

Now

THE SEARCH FOR REGENERATION’S SECRETS Then

Methods and models may change, but the questions remain the same.

Over the MDI Bio Lab’s 125 years, thousands of investigators have passed through its seaside quarters, creating a kaleidoscope of knowledge about the innermost workings of life.

They’ve focused the lens of comparative biology on dozens of animal models, from albatross to zebrafish. They’ve peered into countless worlds, making significant contributions to marine physiology, developmental biology, toxicology, transport and nephrology.

And there is a detectable throughline of fascination with one field of inquiry that’s coming on strong in biomedical science today: regeneration, and the animals that do it well.

A trio of books in the office library of MDI Bio Lab investigator James Godwin, Ph.D., documents some high points: Thomas Hunt Morgan’s Regeneration of 1901, Richard J. Goss’s Principles of Regeneration of 1969, and Charles E. Dinsmore’s History of Regeneration Research of 1991.

“These are some of the incredible researchers in the field who have actually lived and breathed, shed blood, sweat and tears right here on campus,” Godwin says. “A lot of the concepts, the foundational knowledge on regeneration that we build upon, were established here.”

Morgan spent the summer of 1909 at the Harpswell Laboratory, the first home for what is now MDI Bio Lab. He was already known for cataloguing types of animal regeneration and demonstrating that the mechanics of regeneration are instrumental to understanding embryogenesis and development.

Kidney researchers Homer W. Smith, James A. Shannon and Eli K. Marshall each begin a long relationship with the Laboratory, the foundation of its international reputation for discoveries in nephrology. Shannon would go on to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health from 1955–1968.

“I was helping Dr. Shannon wash glassware… (when) I was absolutely overwhelmed by the totally unexpected arrival in the lab, first of Homer W. Smith and then E. K. Marshall. For me it was like being in the same room with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” ROY FORSTER, LATER HIMSELF A LEADER IN RENAL PHYSIOLOGY, ON AN EARLY ENCOUNTER ON MDI.

“How does an embryo develop into an organism? Why do some organisms regenerate when others don’t?”

PRAYAG MURAWALA, PH.D., MDI BIO LAB INVESTIGATOR

It’s unclear whether he focused on regeneration in Harpswell — he later won a Nobel Prize for rather different work linking chromosomes and heredity. But Morgan did propose research that led another young biologist of the era, Max Morse, to regeneration studies in Harpswell.

Morse sampled Casco Bay’s waters for the hydrozoan Tubularia cocea — stalky marine animals that can regenerate whole organisms from severed parts. His 1909 article, Autotomy of the Hydranth of Tubularia found that when a polyp detached from its colony, cells disorganized and proliferated at its base, creating precursor conditions for regeneration. That opened a long, if fitful, history of discovery in regeneration to be nurtured at the Laboratory, both in Harpswell and Mount Desert Island.

Midcentury Momentum

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brown University researcher Richard J. Goss spent seven summers on the MDI campus.

Goss was a pioneering investigator, responsible for new insights on the regulation of cell proliferation, the re-patterning of de-differentiated cells, and seminal research on how deer repeatedly regenerate their antlers.

At MDI Bio Lab, a focus on killifish fins led to his finding that regeneration of a lost part almost always requires innervation — that is, communication with a minimum number of nerve fibers.

In 1969, Goss published Principles of Regeneration, now a classic primer for the field. “He was an incredibly generous guy,”

1930–1959

Seeing deeper: cell development, membranes & transport

J. Wendell Burger begins work with spiny dogfish caught from Frenchman Bay; his later discovery of its rectal salt gland would shape some 50 years of research at MDI Bio Lab.

David A. Karnofsky brings innovative thinking on chemicals and cancer to MDI; his career would include leading the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute’s chemotherapy research center. “All medical oncologists are his intellectual descendants,” one student says.

World War II drives research priorities nationwide; New York University leases the campus for two years to study mustard gas and other war poisons. The work is led by Homer Smith and David Karnofsky

Homer Smith recruits Bodil SchmidtNielsen to the Laboratory, to pursue kidney research with numerous animal models. She later becomes Laboratory director, its first permanent research scientist and the first female Director of the American Physiological Society.

TOP TO BOTTOM: Godwin laboratory research assistant Andrew Hart; Godwin and Hart with Ph.D. candidate Gabriela Johnson; Assistant Professor Prayag Murawala, Ph.D.

recalls Charles “Chuck” Dinsmore, Ph.D., who studied with Goss while he was a Ph.D. candidate at Brown University.

Encouraged by Goss, Dinsmore in the 1970s and 1980s brought his own regeneration studies to MDI.

In those “early years of wonder” Dinsmore made some key findings about amphibian regeneration, including important differences in how remaining muscle and skin cells influence a salamander’s replacement of a lost limb, versus a lost tail.

Powerful New Tools for Discovery

Dinsmore published A History of Regeneration Research in 1991. Today, he’s a bit in awe of the biotech tools at the fingertips of MDI Bio Lab’s investigators, such as automated gene-editing, bioinformatics and “multi-omic” cell analysis.

“My direction was micro-anatomy, morphological stuff,” he says. “And then you leap into the 21st century with these guys: molecular genetics and systems biology, the extraordinary technologies for visualizing things.”

Prayag Murawala, Ph.D., is deploying big-data tools and 3D microscopy to take an ever more refined look at the same mechanics Dinsmore scrutinized at the tissue level. He says work with transgenic axolotl salamanders — champions of regeneration — is catching up to advances with mice and zebrafish.

“Axolotl lagged behind,” Murawala says. “We are refining and improving these tools.”

But Murawala adds that the fundamental questions remain the same: “How does an embryo develop into an organism?” he asks. “Why do some organisms regenerate when others don’t?”

Godwin has questions too: “Where in the evolutionary tree did regeneration begin to fade? Do mammals have latent regenerative abilities that can be recovered or enhanced?”

He is designing new biotech tools to carry forward his earlier insights about the unexpected roles macrophages and T cells play in regeneration in axolotls and, ultimately, in mammals like us.

In collaboration with scientists at Vanderbilt University, Godwin is using macrophagetargeted nano-particles to control gene transcription and expression in real time.

“These new tools give me the ability to turn off any gene specifically inside a macrophage,” he says. “Nobody has yet been able to untangle the exact flavor of macrophage that is compatible with regeneration. That is what we are doing right now.”

Godwin adds that his most recent research suggests that signature groups of salamander genes could be used to engineer enhanced human macrophages and promote scar-free healing.

He says that the MDI Bio Lab’s 125-year commitment to imaginative research using atypical models is a hallmark of its unique value to science — and human health. It’s work he is confident will continue to produce transformative biomedical discoveries, including therapies that will help human beings heal and even regenerate damaged organs and limbs.

“It allows us to tackle all these fundamental questions from different angles,” Godwin says. “And that’s a legacy, right? That’s a legacy that other places don’t have.”

A Lineage of Regeneration Researchers

(and some of their models)

Early 1900s

Thomas Hunt Morgan

salamanders

• Max Morse

tubularia crocea

• Margaret Lewis

crayfish

Early 1950–60s

Alvin Rieck

eastern newt

Richard J. Goss

killifish, salamander, deer

1980s

Charles E. Dinsmore

red-backed salamander

1990s

Hermann Haller

zebrafish

2000s

Voot Yin

zebrafish

Randall Dahn

little skate

Sandra Rieger

zebrafish

Vicki Losick

fruit fly

James Godwin

axolotl

Prayag Murawala

axolotl

James Coffman

zebrafish

Iain Drummond

zebrafish

Romain Madelaine

zebrafish

Light blue denotes current MDIBL researchers

“I had come to a place where I could do research, learn from other scientists, and be stimulated by casual discussions through

Mentored by E.K. Marshall, Thomas H. Maren was recruited to the Laboratory. His basic discoveries about the enzyme carbonic anhydrase lead to the development of valuable diuretics and a powerful treatment for glaucoma.

the free exchange of ideas, whether on the rocks outside the lab, at the cocktail parties or in the laboratories.”

BODIL SCHMIDT-NIELSEN

1960–1999

Physiology & its context: toxins, tissues & environment

Laboratory Director David H. Evans wins a National Institute for Environmental Health Studies award of $850K for the Laboratory’s Center for Membrane Toxicity Studies and the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database, catalyzing infrastructure investments and recruitment of new investigators.

James L. Boyer validates dogfish and skate livers as useful models for human physiology and mechanisms that contribute to liver disease. He would lead the toxicity center for more than two decades, lead liver research at Yale and elsewhere, and create lifesaving techniques for liver surgery and after-care.

In 1978 work on oil ingestion in herring gulls by William B. Kinter and others featured in Science

LEFT TO RIGHT: Drosophila melanogaster cleared for microscopy by Marko Pende, Ph.D. (see QR code); Halyna Shcherbata.

“Leave your institutional baggage at the airport or the state line and prepare yourself for a place of rich history, lofty minds, biological camaraderie, and unaffected research in a cove for science named Salsbury.”

Accomplished

Molecular Biologist Joins

MDI Bio Lab Faculty

Halyna Shcherbata reveals molecular mechanisms of normal and disrupted gene activity

Halyna Shcherbata, Ph.D., will lead a new research group at MDI Biological Laboratory, in the Kathryn W. Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and Aging. She is already developing new facilities for Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies on campus, returning an esteemed stand-in for human physiology to the Laboratory’s roster of animal models.

“We are honored to welcome Dr. Shcherbata to MDI Biological Laboratory,” says President Hermann Haller, M.D. “She is doing important, original work on gene expression and degenerative disease that will complement our faculty’s parallel investigations of nature’s secrets. And we all look forward to learning from her acknowledged mastery using Drosophila as a model for human physiology.”

2000–PRESENT

Year-round research: new models for aging & regeneration

State and federal funding allied with giving campaigns spark an era of winterization, renovation and construction. Efforts include a conference center, dormitory and dining facilities, and culminate in the construction of a 12,500 sq. ft. laboratory building named for philanthropists Wistar and Martha Morris

The National Institutes of Health awards $5.5M to the Laboratory to lead what became the Maine INBRE , a statewide network of research and education institutions sharing expertise and infrastructure. Courses and conferences boom on campus.

KLAUS W. BEYENBACH, RENAL PHYSIOLOGIST

Fruit flies and microRNA

Shcherbata has spent much of her career teasing out the delicate and varied functions performed by microRNA (miRNA), a type of short “non-coding” RNA that is not translated into protein, but instead supports and fine tunes the activities of messenger RNA in gene expression.

All along the way she’s focused on Drosophila melanogaster, pioneering powerful new methodologies and laboratory tools for deploying the fruit fly as a model for human disorders.

“I am using Drosophila to understand the molecular mechanisms of stress, aging, and neuromuscular disorders at the very, very precise level of molecules,” she says. “We still know so little about the involvement of RNA in disease development.”

Related research has deepened Shcherbata’s interest in the roles that miRNAs and hormones play in the maintenance, proliferation, and differentiation of stem cells and their niches. And she studies how miRNAs are involved in stress response in muscle and neuronal cells — relationships that affect the development of muscular dystrophies and brain abnormalities.

A collegial context for an international career

A native of Ukraine, Shcherbata earned her Ph.D. at the Lviv National University of Ivan Franko in 1996. Since then, she’s held positions at the University of Washington, the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, and most recently at Hannover Medical School.

Shcherbata spent three weeks on campus in 2022 as a visiting scientist. She says she experienced a valuable kind of collegiality that reminded her of earlier visits to Cold Spring Harbor.

“What is unusual about the laboratory is this scholarly atmosphere; there are many amazing people who are genuinely interested in science,” she says. “I had the feeling there that this is not really work. And I love this… it kind of frees your mind. Makes it free to think.”

A multi-tasking protein’s role in multiple diseases

Shcherbata says that her initial work at MDI Bio Lab will focus on a protein called “Rbfox1,” which is conserved in Drosophila and humans. She’s already shown that Rbfox1 can promote cell survival upon stress and is active during the rapid formation of membrane-less subcellular assemblies of RNA and proteins called ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules, and of amyloid-like fibers.

Laboratory President Kevin Strange leads effort to win $13 million NIH award to designate the Laboratory as a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE ), supporting four new, year-round research groups in the Davis Center and bringing the total to 12.

New investigators leverage non-marine models for comparative biology that are easily adapted to transgenic modification, bioinformatic analysis and light sheet microscopy: C. elegans roundworms, zebrafish, killifish and axolotl salamanders.

“What is unusual about the laboratory is this scholarly atmosphere; there are many amazing people who are genuinely interested in science ... I love this… it kind of frees your mind. Makes it free to think.”

HALYNA SHCHERBATA, PH.D. , MDI BIO LAB INVESTIGATOR

ABOVE: A scientist sorting Drosophilia melanogaster under the microscope.

Kathryn W. Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and Aging established in honor of the long-time benefactor, signaling a new research emphasis for the 21st-century.

That earlier work flowed from an examination of the gatekeeping role a microRNA called miR-980 plays in the control of Rbfox1 levels — a gate that’s released when cells are subjected to stresses such as starvation. It’s known that dysfunctions of human RBFOX1 proteins are associated with a wide range of medical conditions, such as developmental delay, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and diabetes.

The sheer number of RBFOX1-associated diseases suggests that RBFOX1 alterations could have a more general regulating effect on gene expression, so a better understanding of the miRNA/Rbfox1 cascade could lead to new therapeutic targets.

Shcherbata plans continued work on Rbfox1 with her longtime colleague, Travis Carney, Ph.D., who has taken a full-time Senior Scientist position at MDI Bio Lab.

“The Rbfox1 protein is even more complicated than we thought, and for me it’s mindblowing that one protein can be so versatile,” Shcherbata says. The new work will investigate a multiplicity of roles that the protein may play in the functionality of various nuclear and cytoplasmic RNP granules.

“All this stuff is totally new,” Shcherbata says. “I am very excited about this.”

So is the entire MDI Bio Lab community.

To read some of Shcherbata’s key

Aric N. Rogers and Jarod A. Rollins demonstrate dietary methods to increase C. elegans roundworm lifespan by 500%; Iain A. Drummond and Hermann Haller adapt zebrafish kidney tubules for organoid development; Prayag Murawala and James W. Godwin discover new pathways for limb and organ regeneration.

Long-time summer investigator

Hermann Haller takes the reins as President. He focuses on collaboration and enterprise, cultivating new partnerships with research institutions in Maine and abroad.

As we continue to celebrate the Laboratory’s 125th anniversary, an online timeline and exhibit are in the works. Tell us about your favorite people, accomplishments and milestones! Go to: https://mdibl.org/ memories or scan the code at right.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Senior Research Scientist Travis Carney, Ph.D., P.I. Halyna Shcherbata, Ph.D., and Research Assistant Ian Davis.

LEARN MORE

INTO THE FUTURE Mark the moment and take it forward

YOUR support ensures that this tradition of hands-on mentoring continues to thrive, providing our scientists and students with the tools they need to succeed.

Learn more about how your generosity can sustain the people and programs at the heart of the Bio Lab at mdibl.org/support

Gabriela Johnson Launching a Career of Discovery at MDI Bio Lab

Maine native Gabriela Johnson knew she wanted to study amphibian regeneration: now she’s working side-by side with world-class scientists to design state-of-the-art tools for research in axolotl salamanders.

Growing up in rural Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, Gabriela Johnson never imagined her fascination with the axolotl, a salamander with amazing regenerative abilities, would lead her to a science career in Bar Harbor.

Now a graduate student in the lab of MDI Bio Lab scientist James Godwin, Ph.D., Johnson is working to develop regenerative therapies that may one day benefit humans.

Since its beginning 125 years ago, the MDI Bio Lab has been rooted in a spirit of collaboration and mentorship. This unique scientific community provides an ideal environment where young scientists like Johnson can flourish.

“I love that MDI Bio Lab is a small community. You can share ideas, get a lot of feedback and learn about different aspects of regeneration and aging. Everyone is very accessible and open. It’s one benefit of being a small organization. Even as we’re expanding, we remain a tight-knit community.”

If you are interested in learning more about how you can support students like Gabriela, email jeri@mdibl.org for more information.

LEARN MORE

Hear from Johnson in her own words about how she went on to become a University of Maine Ph.D. candidate based at MDI Bio Lab, and her groundbreaking research with axolotl.

TOP TO BOTTOM: Gabriela Johnson, a Ph.D. student who is creating new laboratory tools for exploring the axolotl salamander’s unequaled regenerative abilities; juvenile axolotls.

“I didn’t even think there would be axolotl research going on in Maine. It’s like the stars aligned.” – GABRIELA JOHNSON , GRADUATE STUDENT

Lab Notes

Maine’s Oldest Bioscience Forum Turns 50

Some 200 people attended the 50th edition of Maine’s oldest gathering of biomedical scientists: the Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium (MBMSS) held at MDI Bio Lab in late April. Since 1973 the symposium has brought together participants in Maine’s scientific community from all corners of the state. Old hands, new researchers and the rising generation of budding scientists took advantage of the unique opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas across institutions and scientific disciplines.

Learn more at mdibl.org/mbmss-turns-50

INBRE Supports Research Experiences with State-of-the-Art Biotech Resources

Over the winter and spring, fifty-five students attended six INBRE courses, studying topics such as Microscopy and CRISPR-Genome Engineering, Biotechnology and Bioentrepreneurship: From the Laboratory to the Market, and Molecular Mechanisms of Human Disease

Maine’s federally funded IDeA Network of Research Excellence now includes 14 biomedical research and education institutions in the state who share infrastructure and expertise.

Learn more at mdibl.org/biotech-entrepreneurs

Community news about the developments and scientists that are shaping the future of the MDI Bio Lab.

For the latest news, visit mdibl.org/news

Congress Votes Funding for MDI Bioscience

In December, Congress appropriated $600,000 for the Laboratory’s new division, MDI Bioscience. The enterprise is developing new methodologies to deploy non-traditional animals such as zebrafish and roundworms for fast, efficient discovery and screening of new medications and therapies. MDI Bioscience is using the allotment to finance the renovation and retrofit of a historic campus structure into a secure, state-of-the-art facility for drug discovery and high-throughput molecular analysis.

Learn more at mdibl.org/congress-votes

MDI Bio Lab Partners With UMaine for NIH Award of $11.4 Million

The National Institutes of Health awarded a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) award to support interdisciplinary biomedical research at UMaine and MDI Bio Lab in April. More than $1 million goes to the laboratory of MDI Bio Lab’s Romain Madelaine, Ph.D. The funding will support his group’s work to better understand biological processes that underlie muscle tissue’s regenerative capacity, and how impairment at the genetic, molecular and

cellular levels contributes to muscle aging and degeneration.

Learn more at mdibl.org/umaine-partnership

State-of-the-Art 3D Microscope is in Business

In the last issue of Breaking Through we previewed MDI Bio Lab’s initiative to establish a 3D mesoSPIM light sheet microscope on campus. Now it’s constructed and in action. Scientists such as Marko Pende, Ph.D., and Prayag Murawala, Ph.D., are working with Light Microscopy Facility Director Frederic Bonnet, Ph.D., to produce images of unprecedented scientific value (not to mention jaw-dropping beauty). The technology is evolving fast, though, thanks to continued innovation by the technology’s creator, Fabian Voigt, Ph.D. Upgrades are expected when Voigt returns to the Lab this summer as a visiting scientist.

Learn more at mdibl.org/3d-microscope

TOP TO BOTTOM: Dr. Hermann Haller, M.D., received two major honors last fall: the German Nephrology Society’s Franz Volhard Medal and induction into the German National Academy of Sciences — both in recognition of his long career of scientific achievement, photo: Aey Congresse GmbH; Romain Madelaine, Ph.D.

ABOUT US

We aim to improve human health by discovering novel mechanisms of tissue repair, aging and regeneration, translating our discoveries for the benefit of medicine and society and developing the next generation of scientific leaders.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Alan W. Kornberg, Esq., Chairman

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Edward J. Benz Jr., M.D., Vice Chairman

Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Thomas A. Boyd, Ph.D., Treasurer Anthology BioDevelopment LLC

Janis L. Coates, Ph.D., Secretary Island Readers and Writers

Hermann Haller, M.D., ex officio MDI Biological Laboratory, President

James L. Boyer, M.D., Honorary Trustee

Yale University

Phoebe C. Boyer

The Children’s Aid Society

Terence C. Boylan

The River Press

Ruth Cserr

Sigmar H. Gabriel

John A. Hays

Christie’s

Anne H. Lehmann

Alan B. Miller, Esq.

I. Wistar Morris III

Margaret Myers, M.D.

Dennis L. Shubert, M.D., Ph.D.

Christopher P. Sighinolfi

Bruce A. Stanton, Ph.D.

Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Clare Stone

Daphne W. Trotter, Esq.

McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Robert Taft Whitman

Published by the Office of Development and Public Affairs

Writing, Editing + Research Jeri Bowers, Fred Bever, Anna Farrell

Design + Art Direction Cushman Creative

Photography Kevin Bennett, Anna Farrell, Romain Madelaine, Marko Pende, Rogier van Bakel

Special Thanks David H. Evans, Ph.D., author of Marine Physiology Down East:

The Story of the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory

MDI Biological Laboratory

PO Box 35, Salisbury Cove, ME 04672

Website: mdibl.org

Email: breakingthrough@mdibl.org

Noah Lind Finds a True Science Community

Noah Lind first heard of MDI Biological Laboratory when his high school AP teacher mentioned that a former student had enjoyed a summer fellowship here.

Drawn by a desire to integrate with a true science community, Noah enrolled.

“It gave me a realistic lab experience; a chance to see what it is like to be a scientist on a daily basis,” he says. “Students walk away with a great representation of what a science career feels like.”

Noah has since earned a B.S. from the University of Vermont and he’s now a Research Assistant back at the Laboratory. Graduate school is next, where he plans work on the efficiency of biomedical research systems.

Noah says the Laboratory’s unique environment was critical to his early growth as a scientist.

“Even if the Bio Lab doubles or triples in size, the way it started remains at its heart,” he says. “It’s a sense that we’re all in this together, that we learn from each other. No other institution does that as well as MDI Bio Lab.”

To learn more about how to leave your legacy at MDIBL, please contact Jeri Bowers, Director of Development, at jeri@mdibl.org or 207-288-3147.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT