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V O L . X X I I N O. X X I V O C T O B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 6 18 W hen it comes to breeding and studying mice to learn more about human disease, e Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor sets the bar high in both science and business. e lab says its economic impact in Maine is substantial: in 2015 it employed 1,441 people, generated $202 million in operating revenue, shipped 3 million research mice worldwide, paid more than $105 million in salary and benefi ts and spent about $20 million on non-operating expenses, much of which went to the lab's 683 Maine vendors based in 106 communities across the state. Breeding research mice and providing research services accounts for almost two-thirds of its global annual operating revenue, which was $300 million last year and is expected to hit $330 million in 2016, according to Charles Hewett, executive vice president of the lab. " e increase is primarily from the sale of mice and research services," Hewett says, explaining that an expected spike in federal research grant funding to about $80 million this year, up from $75.5 million last year, builds on the success of mice sales and services. at research funding amount dwarfs the totals pulled in by other private laboratories in the state. Despite the $80 million expected this year — JAX already has 19 grants awarded through the fi rst three quarters of this year — there's still a dire need for more funding. Just ask any researcher. "I spend more than 50% of my time writing grants," notes Jennifer Trowbridge, assistant professor, who is studying adult acute myeloid leukemia, a bone marrow cancer that will aff ect some 20,000 Americans this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Her lab is studying how certain cells mutate or change to become cancerous, under what conditions and what methods might be developed to prevent the damaging changes. Trowbridge will become one of the more recent recipients of grant money via e V Foundation for Cancer Research on Oct. 15, with $200,000 over two years to use novel mouse models that replicate cer- tain AML conditions in mice to gain better insight into human outcomes. Still, she says getting addi- tional money is always on her mind. e current grant will cover tests in mice. e next step is to test what's discovered in mice in human cells to make sure the information is correct for use in humans. While Trowbridge says she has a 70% success rate so far in getting grants, she notes the time spent writing grants is time not spent in the lab or training the young people who work with her. "We want everyone to know the only way in which we'll get better at helping people as they age or in treating diseases is by doing science," she says. "It's critical that scientifi c research remains funded. at's a challenge for us now." Many federal science budgets have been virtu- ally fl at over the past 10 years. An exception is the National Institutes of Health, whose budget has been nudging up around 5%, says Hewett, and from which JAX gets most of its federal funding. Trowbridge adds that as scientifi c technology advances, it's becoming harder to convince students to get into STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — as a career path, because every year it gets more diffi cult for scientists to win funding, and it gets more diffi cult for PhDs to get jobs in their fi eld. Doing science takes money Hewett says writing grants is an important skill for researchers, and helps them hone their grant applica- tions. "We have a consistent success rate at JAX that is close to 50%, or about double the national average," he says. He says each grant is reviewed internally before it is submitted, which is essential to its success. " e process of writing a grant forces you to think how you'll approach the problem," he adds. "It's funda- mental to conceptualizing the work they do. You want to put in a highly credible grant to score in the top 8% to 10%." JAX teaches its postdocs how to write grants. $3,400,000 6/29/16 Use: Five-year grant to boost vaccine effectiveness Funding source: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases $10,500,000 6/30/16 Use: Five-year grant for JAX's Gene Expression Database Funding source: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development $28,305,235 8/4/16 Use: Five-year grant for Knockout Mouse Production and Phenotyping Project Funding source: National Institutes of Health $11,714,623 8/8/16 Use: Five-year grant for a new Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction Funding source: National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health $1,219,140 8/17/16 Use: Four-year grant to develop mouse models for inherited peripheral neuropa- thies and neurodegenerative diseases including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Funding source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke $225,000 8/24/16 Use: Support a postdoctoral fellow for three years Funding source: Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation Inc. $2,348,313 9/15/16 Use: Four-year grant for better prevention, treatments for pneumonia Funding source: National Institute on Aging $15,000,000 9/22/16 Use: Five-year grant for new Alzheimer's Disease Precision Models Center at JAX ($15 million) and Indiana University School of Medicine ($10 million) Funding source: National Institute of Aging (shared) $1,793,750 9/26/16 Use: Five-year grant for tools to analyze how multiple genes interact in complex diseases Funding source: National Institute of General Medical Sciences Of mice and money Jackson Lab draws major funding for mouse research, but how much is enough? B y L o r i V a l i g r a Jackson Lab Funding, Q1–Q3 2016 S O U R C E : Jackson Laboratory Grant info Grant use and funding source $1,000,000 1/12/16 Use: Gift to support cancer and immunology research Funding source: Dennis Paustenbach $1,500,000 2/24/16 Use: Philanthropic gift to create Janeway Distinguished Chair for ongoing research Funding source: Weslie Janeway $1,281,975 5/12/16 Use: Five years for teacher professional development to enhance high school genetics instruction Funding source: Science Education Partnership Award, National Institutes of Health $4,878,587 4/20/16 Use: Continuation grant for Mouse Genome Database Funding source: National Human Genome Research Institute $3,436,466 5/18/16 Use: Four-year grant to develop data resources, mouse models for genetic disorders Funding source: National Institutes of Health $3,281,515 6/2/16 Use: Five-year grant for better ways to diagnose, treat chronic fatigue syndrome Funding source: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases $872,924 6/7/16 Use: Five-year grant to train PhDs, postdocs in developmental genetics Funding source: Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute for Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health $8,410,000 6/8/16 Use: Enhance cancer diagnostics and treatment in Maine Funding source: Harold Alfond Foundation $3,381,769 6/20/16 Use: Five-year grant to fi nd genetic vari- ants that raise addiction susceptibility Funding source: National Institute on Drug Abuse $248,000 6/23/16 Use: Four-year gift to support new STEM education Funding source: Petit Family Foundation Grant info Grant use and funding source M I D C O A S T / D OW N E A S T R E G I O N F O C U S We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the We want everyone to know the only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better only way in which we'll get better at helping people as they age or in treating diseases is by doing science. It's critical that scientific research remains funded. — Jennifer Trowbridge, assistant professor

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