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January
Imaging and Molecular Biology of the Brain

February
Molecular Biology Research Techniques

March
Functional Genomics of Membrane Transport

Environmental Toxicogenomics

Evolutionary Molecular Genetics

April
35th Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium

May
Experimental biology

Community Ecology of Coastal Maine

Structure and Function of Polarized Epithelial Cells - Pitt

June
10th Annual Quantitative Fluorescent Microscopy

Structure and Function of Polarized Epithelial Cells - Yale

July
15th Annual Environmental Health Sciences Symposium

August
Mount Desert Island Stem Cell Symposium

Health Management of Laboratory Fish

September
BIDMC Comparative Physiology

Renal Fellows: Origins of renal physiology

Courses and Conferences 2008

Imaging and Molecular Biology of the Brain
Dates: January 14-25, 2008
Faculty: Dr. Andrea Tilden, Colby College
Location: MDI Biological Laboratory
Sponsors: Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE)

INBRE short courses are open to undergraduates from Colby College and other Maine colleges. This is a two-week research-based undergraduate short course incorporating advanced microsurgery, cell culture, and electrophysiology techniques. Student participants will have hands-on training in advanced neural imaging techniques including wide-field and confocal fluorescence microscopy. The model organisms for neural studies will be crustaceans, including crab and lobster.


Molecular Biology Research Techniques
Dates:February 18-22, 2008
Faculty: Dr. Charles Wray, MDIBL
Location: MDI Biological Laboratory
Sponsors: Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE)

This is a hands-on laboratory course in molecular biology, focusing on experimental procedures including RNA and DNA extraction, Polymerase Chain Reaction and DNA sequencing. In 2008 a variety of molecular techniques will be used to investigate the functional genomic effects of calcium deficiency in Maine, hatchery raised, Brook Trout. In particular, students will use newly learned techniques to look for differential gene expression in normal versus calcium deficient Brook Trout. The curriculum will mix intensive, hands-on laboratory work with several informal seminars. The course will meet at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory February 18-22, 2008 and will culminate in research summaries or poster presentations at MDIBL. All course expenses are paid through the Maine INBRE grant. Course limited to 12 students.


Functional Genomics of Membrane Transport
Dates: March 3-14, 2008
Faculty: Dr. Denry Sato, MDIBL; Dr. Bruce Stanton, Dartmouth Medical School
Sponsors: Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE)

INBRE short course open to undergraduates from the University of Maine and other Maine colleges. The course will focus on cystic fibrosis as a model disease that can be studied with a variety of techniques currently used in biomedical research, and it will consist of both lectures and hands-on training in the laboratory. Cystic fibrosis is caused by genetic mutations resulting in functional defects in a chloride ion transport protein called the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Students will use electrophysiological methods to assay CFTR function in transfected cultured mammalian cells and in Xenopus oocytes. Students will also learn to culture cells in vitro and examine the subcellular localization of CFTR in stem cells by confocal microscopy. They will determine CFTR sequences and use informatics and computational techniques to compare sequences. The course will be team taught by faculty from the University of Maine, Dartmouth Medical School, and the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.


Environmental Toxicogenomics
Dates: March 8-14, 2008
Faculty: Dr. Antonio Planchart, MDIBL
Sponsors: Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE)

INBRE short course open to undergraduates from Bowdoin College and other Maine colleges. This is a course in zebrafish developmental biology taking advantage of the studies that Carolyn Mattingly and Tony Planchart are doing regarding effects of arsenic on the perturbation of gene networks important for development. Students will learn principles and techniques of toxicology, genomics, and developmental biology. Using primary literature, and working in pairs, students will form hypotheses about organ systems and genes that are likely targets of developmental and adult arsenic exposures. The course will examine the quantitative changes in expression of subsets of genes or gene networks as well as determine temporal and spatial expression profiles in whole embryos after treatment of arsenic.


Evolutionary Molecular Genetics
Dates: March 17-28, 2008
Faculty: Dr. Charles Wray, MDIBL
Dr. Chris Petersen, COA
Sponsors: Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE)

INBRE short course open to undergraduates from College of the Atlantic and other Maine colleges. This is a hands-on laboratory course in molecular genetics, focusing on genomic DNA isolation, genomic library construction and amplification of molecular markers by polymerase chain reaction. Participants in the course will be introduced to a variety of molecular techniques that can be used to investigate population genetics of animal species. In particular, we plan to have students apply newly learned techniques to marine species, with an emphasis on shark and skate species.


35th Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium
Dates:April 25-26, 2008
Location: MDI Biological Laboratory Conference Center
Sponsors: Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE), MDI Biological Laboratory, and The Jackson Laboratory

The 35th Maine Biological and Biomedical Sciences Symposium will be held April 25-26, 2008 in the Maren Auditorium and Dahlgren Hall Conference Center at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Salisbury Cove, Maine. The Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium (MBMSS) is a state-wide gathering of researchers and students—an opportunity to share research results, exchange ideas, promote collaboration, and network with Maine scientists in a variety of disciplines. Invited and selected speakers will present short research reports, followed by question/answer and open discussion. A poster session and a special networking session for Maine junior faculty will also be held.

All Maine researchers, science faculty, graduate, undergraduate and high school students are cordially invited to attend.


Experimental Biology
Dates: May 5-16, 2008
Organizers/Faculty: Dr. Pamela Baker, Bates College
Sponsors: Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Maine INBRE)

INBRE short course open to undergraduates from Bates College. This course introduces beginning biology and non-biology majors to how scientific knowledge is produced by designing and carrying out lab and field research projects. Working in groups, students learn the fundamentals of data collection, interpretation, and presentation. Through discussions and attendance at formal scientific seminars, students also consider the nature and social value of the scientific process. The course will spend two weeks at Bates making use of the Imaging and Computing Center, then two weeks at MDIBL, where work will include DNA sequencing and confocal microscopy. In the final week, the course returns to Bates where students learn to prepare and present their findings in a poster session.


Community Ecology of Coastal Maine
Dates: May 19-30, 2008
Organizers/Faculty: Dr. Martin Connaughton, Washington College

Open to students at Washinton College. The course will focus on the communities (groups of interacting plant and animal species in a given area) of coastal Maine, as represented by the communities within Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, Maine. The course will begin with the geological history of Mount Desert Island and a consideratioin of the oceanographic features of the surrounding waters that, in conjunction with geology and climate, have lead to the wide diversity of communities found in the region. The students will visit and characterize (through species identification) many of the diverse forest, freshwater, and marine communities represented on the island. We will also consider how variations in abiotic factors, such as soil type, ground slope, and exposure to wind, moisture, and salt can shape communities.


Structure and Function of Polarized Epithelial Cells
Dates: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine--May 24-31, 2008
Yale University School of Medicine--June 7-14, 2008
Course Directors: Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. John N. Forrest, Jr.; University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Ray Frizzell

Intensive one-week course in biomecial research protocols and techniques is open to first-year medical students from Yale University School of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Four biomedical research topics are the focus of each course: 1) physiological studies of chloride transport in an intact epithelial organ from Squalus acanthias; 2) ion channel gene expression in a heterologous expression system (Xenopus oocytes); 3) studies in isolated tubule preparations, including immunocytochemistry of phosphorylated vs. non-phosphorylated co-transporters, tissue processing, confocal microscopy, Western blots, and antibody design; molecular biology of membrane proteins and transporters in shark salt gland, including methods in RNA, cDNA, PCR, cloning, and sequencing.


10th Annual Course in Quantitative Fluorescent Microscopy
Dates: May 31 - June 7, 2008
Faculty: Dr. Simon Watkins, Course Director, Univ. of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Dr. David Piston, Vanderbilt University
Sponsors: MDIBL, Support from various microscopy/imaging companies (listed here)

This one week, intensive microscopy course will cover all aspects of the technology from the principals of fluorescence imaging to multidimensional imaging in living cells. Lectures dealing with the theory, mechanics, and application of fluorescent imaging methods will be intermingled with extended laboratory practicals in which students will be encouraged to use their own specimens, to optimize the utility of the course. Our goal will be to provide students with the knowledge and expertise to implement cutting edge microscopic methods within their own laboratories. Registration deadline is April 1, 2008. Early registration is recommended--enrollment is limited to 30 students


15th Annual Environmental Health Sciences Symposium
Dates: July 9-10, 2008
Organizer: Dr. Ned Ballatori, University of Rochester
Sponsors: NIEHS Center for Membrane Toxicity Studies at MDIBL; Yale University Liver Center; Kinter Memorial Lectureship Fund

"Comparative toxicogenomic strategies for unraveling mechanisms of environmentally-related diseases"

Program information and registration to be posted.


Mount Desert Island Stem Cell Symposium: Epigenetic Regulation of Stem Cells
Dates: August 8-9, 2008
Organizers: Dr. David Barnes, MDIBL; Dr. John N. Forrest, Jr., MDIBL; Dr. Barbara Knowles, The Jackson Laboratory; Dr. Edward Benz, Dana Farber Cancer Inst. and MDIBL; Dr. Paul Collodi, Purdue University; Dr. Jonathan Epstein, U Pennsylvania SOM; Dr. John Macauley, TJL; Rajesh Rao, Yale Univ. SOM; Dr. Leonard Zon, HHMI and Harvard School of Medicine.
Sponsors: NIDDK/NIH

A joint symposium of MDIBL and The Jackson Laboratory.  This meeting will bring together some of the leading experts on epigenetics and stem cell regulation and will provide a forum for the efficient exchange of new ideas and directions.


Health and Colony Management of Laboratory Fish
Dates: August 25 - 29, 2008 [changed from week of September 22]
Faculty: Dr. Paul Bowser, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Mike Kent and Dr. Jan Spitzbergen, Center for Fish Disease Research, Oregon State University.
Sponsors: NIEHS Center for Comparative Toxicology at MDIBL

A short course for principal investigators, technicians, or core managers who utilize or plan to utilize fish models in laboratory research. Topics covered include:

Fish Disease: identification, treatment & management
General training: anatomy, histology and necropsy techniques
Core management: water quality, facility considerations
Species covered: Zebrafish, Fundulus, Medaka, Elasmobranchs


Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Course in Comparative Physiology
Dates: September 6-12, 2008
Course Directors : Dr. William C. Aird, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center/Harvard Medical School; Dr. Mark L. Zeidel, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center/Harvard Medical School
Sponsors: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center / Harvard Medical School

This one week intensive course for junior medical residents at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is designed to engender an understanding of, and appreciation for major physiological mechanisms. The course will provide residents will an opportunity to conduct hands-on research using invertebrates and fish. Working in teams, they will generate, interpret and present data relevant to the hematologic and cardiovascular systems, as well as water homeostasis and salt secretion. Using a comparative approach, participants will gain an understanding of fundamental physiological processes that are common to humans.


National Renal Fellows Couse : Origins of Renal Physiology
Dates: September 14-20, 2008
Course Directors : Dr. Mark L. Zeidel, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center/Harvard Medical School; Dr. Vikas Sukhatme, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center/Harvard Medical School; Dr. John N. Forrest, Jr., Yale University School of Medicine and MDIBL; and, Dr. Joseph Bonventre, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Endorsed by the American Society of Nephrology

A one-week national course open to renal fellows. Classical physiological experiments will be coupled to modern mechanistic studies:

  • Water Homeostasis
  • Collecting Duct Sodium Transport
  • Distal Nephron Acid Secretion
  • Glomerular Filtration
  • Salt Secretion and Salt Balance
  • Proximal Tubule Function


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