Lab milestones
The Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory was founded in 1929 by Clarence Cook Little, a Harvard-trained geneticist who had served as president of the University of Maine and the University of Michigan.
Little created the first inbred (genetically uniform) mouse strains and wanted to use them experimentally to establish that cancer was a genetic disease, not an infectious disorder, as was widely thought at the time. He gained initial financial support for the Laboratory from Detroit industrialists Edsel Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company, and Roscoe B. Jackson (for whom the Laboratory is named), president of the Hudson Motorcar Company.
Little chose Bar Harbor as the site for his new research institution because he had successfully brought students to the area for summer field studies in natural history. The Laboratory was built on land donated by Little’s family friend, George B. Dorr.
In 1933 the Laboratory began providing genetically defined mouse strains to the scientific community as experimental models for various human diseases.
In 1963 the Laboratory was renamed The Jackson Laboratory.
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Year |
Milestone |
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2000 |
Genetics Resources building opens. |
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2000 |
A $16.3-million grant from the NIH funds a major new research program at The Jackson Laboratory to increase the number and availability of mouse models for human neurological diseases such as epilepsy, addiction, and neurodegenerative disorders. |
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2000 |
The NIH awards a $14-million grant to The Jackson Laboratory to establish a center for mouse models of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders. |
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2002 |
Richard Woychik, Ph.D., is named director. |
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2004 |
75th Anniversary celebrations include a scientific symposium: "The role of the mouse in biomedical research--past, present and future," featuring prominent researchers in cancer, retroviruses, MHC, stem cells, metabolism, genomics, and interdisciplinary science. |
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2006 |
Center for Genome Dynamics established to study systems genetics with $15.1 million grant from NIH. |
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2006 |
East Research Building opens with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by U.S. senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, U.S. Representative Tom Allen, and Maine Governor John Baldacci. |
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2007 |
Robert Braun, Ph.D., assumes role as Associate Director and Research Chair at the Laboratory. |
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2009 |
JAX—West's new facility opens in Sacramento, Calif., greatly expanding the Laboratory's West Coast presence. |
Milestones home
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Year |
Milestone |
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1960 |
The Laboratory helps conduct the first Medical Genetics Short Course, organized by Victor McKusick & John Fuller. |
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1963 |
The official name of the institution changes to The Jackson Laboratory on September 18. |
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1968 |
Annual research grant total reaches $2 million. |
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1974 |
Mouse Genetics Laboratory is dedicated and named for Earl Green on his retirement. Doug Coleman is appointed interim director. |
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1976 |
Richmond Prehn is appointed the third director of what is now the world's largest center of mammalian genetics research: 450 employees, 700,000 mice, $9 million budget. |
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1979 |
The Frozen Embryo Repository is established, directed by Dr. Larry Mobraaten (today known as the Cryopreservation Resource). |
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1980 |
George D. Snell, Senior Staff Scientist Emeritus, accepts the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. |
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1980 |
Biomedical Research and Animal Research Laboratories completed (Snell wing). |
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1981 |
Barbara Hugus Sanford named director. |
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1983 |
National Cancer Institute awards CORE grant, making The Jackson Laboratory the only mammalian laboratory designated as a Cancer Center. |
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1989 |
On May 10, a fire destroys the Morrell Park mouse production facility; half a million mice are lost. Kenneth Paigen, whose appointment as the next director was to begin in October, is visiting the Lab that day and immediately takes over as director. |
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1992 |
New Morrell Park opens. |
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1993 |
North Research Building completed. |
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1999 |
The 40th anniversary of the Short Course on Medical and Experimental Mammalian Genetics closes with a major genetics symposium. |
Milestones home
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Year |
Milestone |
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1923 |
Clarence Cook (C.C.) Little, president of the University of Maine, holds the first summer laboratory session the Bar Harbor area with six students. The camping trip is for a field study project in natural history. |
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1929 |
C.C. Little ends his term as president of the University of Michigan and founds the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory in Bar Harbor. Support came from Detroit industrialists such as Edsel Ford and Jackson, president of the Hudson Motorcar Company, with land donated by family friend George B. Dorr. |
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1930 |
The staff consists of Clarence Cook Little, Elizabeth Fekete, Joseph Murray, Arthur Cloudman, Leonell Strong, Charles Green and John Bittner. |
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1931 |
The Jackson Laboratory hosts its first summer students, including Caroline Silence. |
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1933 |
The first Jackson mice are sold to researchers at other institutions. |
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1941 |
The first edition of Biology of the Laboratory Mouse—the first book devoted to mouse biology and genetics—is published. |
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1947 |
A fire destroys most of the Jackson Memorial Laboratory and its mice. Researchers rally to rebuild stocks; donations and mice come in from around the world. |
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1948 |
Jackson Laboratory newly rebuilt from donations and mice from around the world. |
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1951 |
Morris / Hawkes estate donates Highseas. |
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1956 |
C. C. Little retires; Dr. Earl Green appointed as new director. |
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1958 |
Acquisition of Morrell Park from Louise Drexel Morrell. Built in 1898 as Robin Hood Park, the land was used for carriage, harness, and flat horse racing; renamed in 1919 in memory of Morrell’s husband. |
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