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Governor John Baldacci praised the work of the University of Maine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) — a program he helped create — during the program’s annual meeting Sept. 11.
“GSBS is all that it could possibly have been in terms of the high expectations we have set for this program,” said UMaine President Robert Kennedy.
GSBS is a collaborative graduate education program involving higher education and biomedical research institutions statewide. Baldacci helped make the graduate program a reality and heaped appreciation on the work its students and faculty members have accomplished. After a quick speech, he took a tour of students’ research projects. Stodder Hall was filled with six-foot-tall posters of research methods and hypotheses and tables covered with biomedical research tools. Baldacci perused the posters and tables, stopping briefly to talk with each student about his or her research.
“I’m very proud of the University of Maine being the kind of conduit to bring all of the different businesses and non-profit and research institutions together, so that we can mobilize this state for not only being able to create economic development opportunities, but giving you an opportunity to do it here in our state,” Baldacci said.
Kriston Gabor, one of the graduate students displaying her research during the event, said her research focused on increasing resolution in microscopy to determine if a certain protein is involved in the body’s immune response. Qing He, another student, said her research could help identify a key factor of cancer migration and ways to stop it.
“Three GSBS students have recently completed their doctoral work and are now physicians at General Electric Health Care, the Jackson Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University,” said Carol Kim, director of the GSBS.
UMaine founded the program in 2006 and has since brought 36 students to it. Baldacci’s support was instrumental in winning financial support for GSBS from the state legislature, according to Kennedy. The program provides doctoral-level education in genomics, bioengineering, biophysics, nanotechnology, molecular and cell biology, neuroscience, toxicology and the molecular mechanisms of diseases. In honor of Baldacci, a student scholarship was created in his name. Baldacci last visited GSBS in 2006.
“Three years ago, I stood here to celebrate this bold step and its promise to better align our education system with Maine’s research and development strengths,” Baldacci said. “Students here have access to the talented pool of researchers and educators; they have the opportunity to get quality graduate education in the disciplines of the biomedical sciences. We are driving Maine’s innovation economy by combining cutting-edge research with education training and entrepreneurship. This graduate school is about creating economic opportunities for young people; it’s about attracting graduate students, but it’s also about helping Maine compete with the rest of the world and get the best and the brightest.”
GSBS member institutions include UMaine, the Jackson Laboratory, Maine Medical Center Research Institution, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health and the University of Southern Maine.
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