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V O L . X X I N O. X I I J U N E 1 5 , 2 0 1 5 16 PI has to support all of their research and staff with grants." Each of the cur- rent 18 labs has a PI and from two to seven researchers on staff . Friesel holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the George Washington University School of Medicine Most of the research funding for MMCRI comes from NIH or the Department of Defense, though foundations like the American Heart Association, American Cancer Institute, Maine Cancer Foundation and philan- thropies also contribute, as does Maine Medical Center, says Dr. Donald St. Germain, director of MMCRI and vice president for research at Maine Medical Center. MMCRI's budget is $22 million. It is a division of Maine Medical Center, whose budget tops $1 billion. About 5% to 10% of MMCRI's budget comes from services provided to other research institutes, such as mass spectrometry, magnetic resonance imaging scanning and use of its confo- cal microscope. "We are also very open to collabo- rations with the business community," St. Germain says. "We can provide services to biotech companies, and we can have intellectual collaborations in the basic and clinical research and the commercial arenas." He expects funding to rise 5% to 10% next year, even in the face of tight federal budgets for science, as the cen- ter's researchers have had success in getting NIH and other grants. e research center itself was built up using funds from two NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE, awards, which are given to individual institutions in states like Maine that lie in the lower half of the NIH funding range. e money goes to building labs, buying the laboratory equipment and to research projects. MMCRI received two such grants, which give $2 million per year for fi ve years, and then are renewable twice. e annual amounts decrease over time. Friesel says one grant focuses on vascular biology and the other on stem cells and regenerative medicine. e total for both COBREs is $44 million. Since one of the grants is set to expire in nine months, MMCRI is readying a new grant with a diff erent theme, bone and fat metabolism. COBRE support comes in three sequential, fi ve-year phases. Phase I focuses on developing research infra- structure and providing junior investi- gators with formal mentoring, as well as research project funding to acquire preliminary data and compete for independent research grants. Phase II is used to further improve the research infrastructure and continue developing a critical mass of investigators. After 10 years of COBRE support, centers are expected to be able to compete success- fully for other sources of research fund- ing. Phase III money aims to sustain a collaborative, multidisciplinary research environment with pilot project programs and mentoring and training components. Friesel says MMCRI looks for funding everywhere, but the hospital's development offi ce does fi ll funding gaps when needed, such as for operating costs. Maine Medical Center also con- ducts about 350 clinical trials involv- ing about 100 physicians. Companies pay the center to test their drugs on patients. St. Germain says it's still a small amount of income. MMCRI initially was located near the Maine Mall, but St. Germain says the current facility in Scarborough, built in 2001 and added onto in 2008, occu- pies 77,000 square feet. ere are 16 PIs, each with lab staff , to total 166 employ- ees. St. Germain says another 40 people conduct research across the hospital's clinical and ambulatory facilities as well as its health services research group. Tech transfer MMCRI still isn't highly productive when it comes to patents and licensing intellectual property, St. Germain says. "Our primary goal isn't so much intel- lectual property, but top-notch, state- of-the-art medical research. We have a research and patient impact in Maine." But he does like that intellectual prop- erty and potentially product develop- ment can result from the research. Todd Keiller, director of the Offi ce of Technology Transfer at MMCRI, has spent 25 years working to transfer technology from various institutions, including Worcester Polytechnic » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E " " " Sometimes You Need to Break the Mold IT Solutions Designed for Your Business Managed Services Cloud/Virtualization Data Management Networking Security IT Consulting n n n n n n www.WGTECH.com 207.856.5300 " Need to Break the Mold Peter Brooks Senior researcher/principal investigator, Center for Molecular Medicine, MMCRI Education: Ph.D. in cellular and developmental biology, State University of New York at Stony Brook Research: Cancer treatments typically target only cancer tumor cells, aiming to kill them. But Brooks believes treatments can be more effective by also targeting the microenvironment surrounding the tumor, which acts almost as soil would in protecting and feeding a planted seed. He is working on potential drugs, and is the scientific founder of a related startup company called CryptoMedix LLC. He already has three sets of granted patents from his former lab at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and at Maine Medical Center. Clifford Rosen Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, MMCRI Education: M.D. from the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center. A residency at the Berkshire Medical Center. A fellowship at Dartmouth Medical School. Research: According to the MMCRI website, the clinical and translational research community at MMCRI "is a closely linked, multi-disciplinary scientific enterprise in which basic, clinical and translational investigators plan and conduct studies as collaborators and scientific colleagues. With the tripod of research, education and patient care as the center of our endeavor, forging the interdisciplinary divide between clinical, translational and basic research." Robert Friesel Director of the Center for Molecular Medicine, MMCRI Education: Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the George Washington University School of Medicine Research: Dr. Friesel's career has concentrated on growth factor-mediated mechanisms of angiogenesis, tissue remodeling and development. These studies include several approaches such as transgenic and knockout mouse models, cell and molecular biology, in vitro and in vivo imaging and proteomics. His laboratory investigates the molecular basis of blood vessel growth regulation by tyrosine kinase receptors (RTK) and the mechanisms by which RTK signaling is regulated, according to MMCRI.org. Three MMCRI researchers, at a glance

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