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Volume aaa, Number 7 |
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Bowdoin joins BRIN
ALEC SCHLEY
STAFF WRITER
At a news conference in Augusta on October 16, Bowdoin declared that it would join the Maine Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network, or BRIN. BRIN offers training and mentoring programs for faculty and undergraduates and allows students to study the field of comparative genomics.
The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory founded BRIN last year with a grant from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes for Health. A subsequent grant of $2.5 million allowed Bowdoin to participate in the program, joining Bates, Colby, College of the Atlantic, the Jackson Laboratory, and the MDI Biological Laboratory in the consortium.
Comparative genomics, the subject which BRIN students investigate, compares gene function in different species and analyzes how different genes cause disease in humans. Students can learn about comparative genomics through either short courses or summer internships. A semester long course is scheduled for 2003.
According to Ronald Christensen, a James Stacy Coles Professor of Natural Sciences and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the Sciences, "Bowdoin's membership in the BRIN consortium guarantees that at least two Bowdoin students per summer will have the opportunity to work with scientists at Jackson Laboratory, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, or other BRIN institutions as paid summer interns. Internships cover room and board, stipend, plus some travel expenses."
Christensen believes that Bowdoin's association with BRIN may bring several short and long term benefits to the college. Christensen said, "In the long term, Bowdoin students may benefit from short courses offered by MDI Biological Laboratory and Jackson Labs and the possibility of a semester-long course or set of courses that might be appropriate for 'study away' as part of a biology or biochemistry major. The BRIN consortium also will bring speakers from the consortium institutions to Bowdoin, and this might also include video links to seminars and symposia at the other institutions. Another benefit of the BRIN grant is the possibility of a short-term appointment of a faculty member in the area of developmental biology."