MDI Bio Lab Secures Over $4M in NIH Funding with Second Award This Month

Press Release

MDI Bio Lab Secures Over $4M in NIH Funding with Second Award This Month

Federal investment in regeneration science strengthens Bar Harbor research hub, supporting long-term bioscience innovation

The MDI Biological Laboratory has secured more than $4 million in new NIH funding this month, including a second major award from the National Institutes of Health that reinforces the institution's expanding role in the life sciences economy.

The latest award, from the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will support the lab of Prayag Murawala, Ph.D., whose research focuses on how complex tissues can regenerate-work with potential long-term applications in repairing human organs and injuries.

"This is not just a grant-it's recognition of the value of the original work Dr. Murawala has been doing for years," said Hermann Haller, M.D., president, MDI Bio Lab. "It's heartening to see that effort recognized, and it gives the lab the stability to pursue some of the most important unanswered questions in regeneration."

The five-year Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) program provides flexible funding that allows high-performing labs to pursue emerging scientific questions while maintaining continuity in staffing and infrastructure. Earlier this month, MDI Bio Lab's Emily Spaulding, Ph.D., received a five-year, $2.3 million MIRA award; Murawala's award totals $2.1 million over five years.

Murawala studies the axolotl-a Mexican salamander that's one of the most regenerative vertebrates known, capable of regrowing limbs, spinal structures and organs. Working from MDI Bio Lab's Kathryn W. Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and Aging, he is a leader in a growing global effort to reveal the biological mechanisms that make that possible.

"When you look at what they can do, it's like science fiction," Murawala said. But using powerful gene editing systems, big data analysis and other advanced tools, he and his team are drawing out the very real biomolecular details.

They recently demonstrated that different parts of the salamander's body regenerate using distinct biological strategies.

"One of the key insights is that there isn't just one way to regenerate tissue," he said. "In limb regeneration, cells go back to an embryonic-like state; in the axolotl's tail, we showed that a previously unknown, specialized population of progenitor stem cells do the work."

That finding points to future strategies for repairing damaged tissues in humans, particularly in areas where clinical options remain limited, such as vertebrae and tissue reconstruction.

"Axolotl tails may seem far removed from humans, but they contain structures like vertebrae and muscle that are fundamentally similar," Murawala said. "We still don't have good answers for how to repair these tissues in people. Axolotls may provide some of those answers."

Murawala said a key priority in the coming years will be understanding how different cell types coordinate during regeneration-a question that requires integrating multiple advanced technologies and large-scale data analysis.

"When you look at regeneration, it's not just one cell type acting alone," he said. "Multiple cell types are talking to each other and moving in a precise order. We want to understand the signals and pathways that keep that process organized."

The work also contributes to a broader research infrastructure that extends far beyond a single lab. Technologies developed by Murawala and others at MDI Bio Lab-including tools that allow scientists to selectively remove specific cell types-are shared with collaborators and the wider scientific community, helping position Maine as a contributor to the global biomedical revolution.

"Securing two such awards in a single month reflects the strength of the science underway at MDI Bio Lab," Haller said. "It's further evidence that world-class biomedical research can thrive and grow in Maine."

The NIGMS MIRA award number is 1R35GM161492-01

For more information, contact:

Fred Bever

Chief Communications Officer

MDI Biological Laboratory

[email protected] | 207-318-9093