The recent wave of expansions demonstrates that Maine’s life sciences sector is not only growing, but putting down long-term roots.
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Researching new therapies
The largest grant — $2 million — went to Jackson Laboratory, the global biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor. The funding will be focused on renovating a vivarium to create a state-of-the-art production facility to expand capacity for advanced research models critical to immunology, oncology and infectious disease research. Jackson Lab predicts the facility will create skilled jobs and strengthen Maine’s biotechnology sector, and has pledged to match the grant with $3.43 million in additional funding. Mount Desert Island Biological Lab, also headquartered in Bar Harbor, received $960,000 to build a new facility to expand its translational drug research capacity. “The translational process starts with the discoveries, then you have to get a patent and then go out and look for investors,” says Hermann Haller, president of Mount Desert Island Biological Lab.

Producing vaccines for aquatic species
Kennebec River Biosciences, based in Richmond, will use its $800,000 MTI grant to renovate and equip a new lab in a 10,000-square-foot building the company owns in Brunswick Landing. The 30-year-old firm is a testing and diagnostic lab that manufactures veterinary vaccines and probiotics to treat aquatic species grown in fish farms and hatcheries. In Maine, the company works with all commercial aquaculture, state and tribal entities growing aquatic species. The new plant will quadruple capacity, improve biosecurity and processing and create five to 10 new jobs, according to CEO Bill Keleher. Keleher says 60% of the seafood we consume is cultured, 85% to 90% of which is imported. “We want to help fish farmers in the U.S. expand production,” he says. Keleher expects the new lab to be operational in late 2027.Creating skincare products from the ocean
Marin Skincare won a $312,000 grant to double its plant in Riverside Industrial Park in Portland. The startup uses a byproduct of lobster processing to create products that treat eczema and other skin conditions. The firm has seen exponential growth since its inception in 2020, according to co-founder Patrick Breeding. Expansion has gotten underway to accommodate a new 6,100-square-foot lobster glycoprotein purification lab needed to scale the business. Breeding explains that lobster glycoprotein is, “an almost all-in immune system, that helps lobsters to regenerate limbs, fight off disease, heal wounds and transport oxygen, and it’s a beautiful opalescent dark blue.” When applied to human skin, the substance increases collagen synthesis, speeds up regeneration of the dermal layer, reduces inflammation, hydrates, soothes and repairs, he notes. The protein is usually washed down the drain at lobster processing facilities. Marin has an exclusive contract with Portland-based Luke’s Lobster. “There’s so much of it that there’s no issue in supply limiting our growth,” Breeding says. He already sees the need for additional space beyond the current expansion. “We will likely need to loop more space in as well in the near future as we continue to grow our warehouse, marketing and operation teams,” he says. Marin has pledged matching funds for the MTI grant of $652,000, but Breeding says he expects to exceed that number. The company has received over $250K in grant funding since it started, from not only MTI, but the Libra Future Fund, Greenlight Maine, Maine Sea Grant, and the state Department of Economic and Community Development.Kelp skincare
Atlantic BlueBio Corp. is a startup also turning some of Maine’s abundant marine resources into ingredients for skincare products. In 2021, Krista Rosen and Inga Potter founded Cold Current Kelp, a Kittery-based kelp farm and skincare company. They plan to create a small-scale pilot biorefinery to extract ingredients from seaweed to be sold to other manufacturers, through Atlantic BlueBio.