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BIDDEFORD, Maine

UNE students and faculty to attend regional research conference in Bar Harbor

On September 24, 2015 12 students and faculty members from the University of New England joined more than 300 scientists, students and research administrators from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and Delaware to highlight the success of the Institutional Development Award (IDeA), a federal research program that benefits states with historically low levels of research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

At the conference, two UNE professors, Ling Cao, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Lei Lei, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Masters student, Kayla Gjelsvik, College of Arts and Sciences, gave oral presentations on there research. Six other attendees presented posters during poster sessions.

NIH funding has been critical in UNE’s growth as a research institution. The university’s Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for the Study of Pain and Sensory Function (COBRE) was awarded $10 million dollars in 2012 (to spend over the following five years) from the NIH to further its research of chronic pain. “With the help of the COBRE award, UNE has built on our strength in the neurosciences to become one of the leading institutions for pain research,” said COBRE director and conference attendee Ian Meng, Ph.D., Professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

To date, as a result of data collected from this research, COBRE researchers have received more than $1.8 million in addition extramural support for their research.  "Infrastructure building grants from the NIH COBRE program has had tremendous positive impacts on the University of New England and its biomedical research programs,” said UNE vice president research and scholarship Ed Bilsky. “The investments in facilities and equipment have allowed for the expansion of what we can do as individual investigators and as an institution. It has also allowed us to expand academic offerings and recruit incredibly accomplished faculty scholars who in turn help recruit outstanding students. As a result, we have seen consistent growth in our NIH funding dollars over the past 5 years despite the intense competition and flat NIH budgets.”

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.