The Jackson Laboratory Receives Gift From Pharmacia Corporation

Date: April 17, 2003

Bar Harbor, Maine - The Jackson Laboratory has received a major gift from Pharmacia Corporation, in support of a young investigator whose research interests include cancer and infertility.

At the suggestion of Neal Goodwin, Ph.D., a senior staff scientist at Pharmacia Corporation in Kalamazoo, Mich., and a former postdoctoral fellow at The Jackson Laboratory, Pharmacia made a gift of $50,000 to support a new postdoctoral fellow at The Jackson Laboratory. The grant will support the development of resources for modeling pharmaceutical targets in the mouse.

Laura Bannister, Ph.D., won the award, and currently studies genetic instability in the laboratory of Dr. John Schimenti-the same laboratory in which Dr. Goodwin received his training. With support from the Pharmacia gift, Dr. Bannister has begun four projects in mouse genetics with potential to enhance treatment of cancer and infertility. She stated, "I think John is brilliant and consider myself lucky to work in his laboratory."

Regarding his former mentor, Dr. Goodwin said, "I think he is recognized as very innovative in the development of mouse genetics tools for discovering disease-causing genomic conditions." Dr. Schimenti develops new mouse models for human disease, particularly in the areas of reproductive biology and cancer.

Drs. Goodwin and Bannister agree on the high value of postdoctoral fellowships at The Jackson Laboratory. Dr. Goodwin commented, "I don't think I could have started out anywhere better than The Jackson Laboratory. The quality of the seminars and conferences they offer, and the cooperation between faculty and postdocs is just phenomenal. Laura has a great training environment and I have no doubt she'll have a successful career."

Pharmacia is a member of the Research Affiliates Program at The Jackson Laboratory. The Affiliates program links scientists and corporations, and is designed to foster collaborations like this one.

Contact(s): Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058, joyce@jax.org

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