NSF EPSCoR Initiative to Establish Research
Competitiveness in Biophysical Sciences in Maine
The
University of Maine's Institute for Molecular Biophysics received its public
launch on May 2, 2003 in a press conference when Maine Governor John Baldacci
announced the $6 million NSF EPSCoR grant to createe the institute.
In Maine's largest biotech collaboration to date, the Institute for Molecular
Biophysics (IMB) represents a UMaine research and graduate education initiative
in a collaborative partnership with The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor and the Maine Medical
Center Research Institute in Scarborough.
As science progresses and scientists study the building blocks of life in
greater and greater detail, our knowledge leads us to a place where scientific
disciplines must merge.
To follow existing clues and begin to piece together a "big picture" view of
how life's building blocks fit together and interact, scientists need a place
like the Institute for Molecular Biophysics where scientific disciplines like
the following can work together:
- Biochemistry
- Bioinformatics
- Biology
- Biophysics
- Chemistry
- Computational Biology
- Genetics
- Genomics
- Image Analysis and Visualization
- Information Technologies
- Mammalian Physiology
- Material Science
- Mathematics
- Molecular Biology
- Physics
- Spatial Engineering
- Structural Biology
The NSF EPSCoR RII Award:
The FY2003-2006 National Science Foundation EPSCoR RII award to Maine has the
following objectives:
- Create a nationally recognized interdisciplinary center for research and
graduate education in molecular biophysical sciences through an effective
partnership between The University of Maine, The Jackson Laboratory and Maine
Medical Center Research Institute
- Increase Maine's academic and nonprofit federal funding in the biological
and physical sciences
- Increase Maine's production of Ph.D.s in science and engineering
- Increase Maine high school and undergraduate students' awareness of
science and engineering career options
- Increase the participation of underrepresented groups including women,
minorities and first generation college students, in science and engineering
in Maine
- Improve the transfer of technology from Maine's research institutions to
the private sector
For More Information:
Visit the
Institute for Molecular Biophysics Web Site
for additional information.
