BAR HARBOR, Maine — Cancer research in Maine got a big boost here in the state thanks to the Harold Alfond Foundation.
An 11.8 million dollar grant will go to Jackson Lab’s Maine Cancer Genomics initiative. The group's goal is to make the latest personalized medicine available to cancer patients throughout Maine.
Jackson Lab’s President and CEO, Dr. Edison Liu says the grant money will help expand their infrastructure so that more people will have access to testing.
“So, what we’ve done, I’m talking about all the colleagues that work on the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative, is to put Maine on the map as a place of innovation for how we deliver complex technologies on behalf of our cancer patients in a distributed and mostly rural state,” said Dr. Edison Liu.
Dr. Liu also said they are very grateful for the generous grant by the Alfond family and the foundation.
“It allows the network of oncologists and surgeons with our education program, our training program, to enhance their understanding of how to use the Complex diagnostics and together we’re gonna work through how best to use that to select the optimum therapy for our patients,” Liu said.
Liu said they will use the gift as a vision to make Maine a healthier and more prosperous and dynamic place.
More information about the Maine Cancer Genomics initiative can be found here.