BAR HARBOR — Thirty-two summer fellows participated in the MDI Biological Laboratory’s summer fellowship program for undergraduates, including 24 from Maine colleges and universities.

The program provides undergraduates with hands-on research training in an advanced laboratory environment. On-campus co-curricular and residential life programs extend the impact of the programs, helping students develop professional skills and fostering connections in the research community. Each student works with a faculty mentor and other researchers on a specific research project in the biomedical field.

The three area summer fellows were supported by Maine INBRE, a network of 13 Maine educational and research institutions led by the MDI Biological Laboratory. The aim of Maine INBRE, which is funded through the National Institutes of Health, is to create a biomedical training and research ecosystem for Maine to catalyze innovation and drive the creation of 21st-century jobs for Maine students.

The Maine INBRE fellows worked at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, and on the campuses of INBRE partners statewide.

Area students funded through the Maine INBRE program are:

Rebecca Fernandez, Monmouth, University of Maine at Machias; research site: Bowdoin College; mentor: Patsy Dickinson, PhD, Josiah Little Professor of Natural Sciences, Bowdoin College; research topic: A comparative study of the stomatogastric nervous system in related crab species Pugettia producta and Libinia emarginata.

Callie Greco, Greene, University of Maine Honors College; research site, University of Maine; mentor, Kristy Townsend, PhD, assistant professor of neurobiology, University of Maine; research topic, Tanycyte plasticity in the hypothalamus with the regulation of energy balance.

Liesel Krout, Fayette, University of Maine at Farmington; research site, Colby College; mentor, Joshua P. Martin, PhD, assistant professor of biology, Colby College; research topic, RNA sequencing and analysis of gene expression in Tenodera sinensis.