The Jackson Laboratory was founded in Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...

 in 1929 by former University of Maine

University of Maine

The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...

 and University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 president C. C. Little

C. C. Little

Clarence Cook "C.C." Little was an American genetics, cancer, and tobacco researcher and academic administrator.-Biography:...

 under the name Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory.

The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research

Biomedical research

Biomedical research , in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research, applied research, or translational research conducted to aid and support the body of knowledge in the field of medicine...

 institution, dedicated to contributing to a future of better health care based on the unique genetic makeup of each individual. With more than 1,400 employees in Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...

, and Sacramento, California

Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

, the Laboratory's mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community. The institution is a National Cancer Institute

National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...

-designated Cancer Center and has NIH

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 centers of excellence in aging and systems genetics. The Laboratory is also the world's source for more than 5,000 strains of genetically defined mice, is home of the mouse genome database

Mouse Genome Database

The Mouse Genome Database is database for phenotype and functional annotations of mouse genes....

and is an international hub for scientific courses, conferences, training and education.

Major research areas

The lab's research, represented by the activities of some 35-40 laboratories, is largely sponsored by NIH grants and is focused in six major areas:

• Bioinformatics: mouse genome informatics, comparative genomics
• Cancers: bone, brain, leukemia, liver, lymphoma, mammary
• Development and Aging-Related: birth defects, Down syndrome, osteoporosis, lifespan
• Immune System and Blood Disorders: AIDS, anemia, autoimmunity, immune system disorders, tissue transplant rejection, lupus
• Metabolic Diseases: atherosclerosis, diabetes, gallstones, hypertension, obesity, kidney disease
• Neurological and Sensory Disorders: blindness, cerebellar disorders, deafness, epilepsy, glaucoma, macular degeneration, neurodegenerative diseases

Historic research highlights

Some 22 Nobel prizes have been associated with Jackson Laboratory research, mouse models, educational programs or the genetic principles set out by founder Clarence Cook Little.

• George Snell won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in elucidating the immune system, work that paved the way to organ transplantation
• The first evidence that viruses can cause cancer
• The discovery of the existence and nature of stem cells;
• The first successful mammalian bone marrow transplantation to cure a blood disorder
• Shaw Prize-winning research that led to the discovery of leptin, a key factor in metabolism, weight maintenance and obesity.

Recent research has provided insight into cancer stem cells and treatments for leukemia; progress with type 1 diabetes and lupus; and a breakthrough in extending mammalian life span.

The Jackson Laboratory fire

On May 10, 1989, a flash fire destroyed the Morrell Park mouse production facility. The fire raged for five hours, requiring over 100 fire fighters from 15 companies and a total of 16 trucks to be contained. Four workers of the Colwell Construction Company who were installing fiberglass wallboard in the room where the fire broke out were injured, one with burns over 15 percent of his body. Additionally, half a million mice were lost, resulting in a national shortage of laboratory mice and the layoff of 60 employees.

This was the second fire to severely affect the laboratory; the 1947 fire that burned most of the island destroyed most of the laboratory, and its mice. Worldwide donations of funds and mice allowed the lab to resume operations in 1948.