🔒Biotech building boom: Maine innovators expanding facilities, staff

Maine’s biotech industry is growing — and the evidence is the expansion of its physical presence. Agnieszka Carpenter, executive director of the Bioscience Association of Maine, says the recent wave of expansions demonstrates that Maine’s life sciences sector is not only growing, but putting down long-term roots. “We’re seeing expanded labs, new collaborations and increased research capacity that will generate high-quality jobs and strengthen Maine’s competitive edge, particularly in biomedical research, marine science and bio-based innovation,” she says. The industry has seen a 31% increase in bioscience-related jobs in Maine in the last 5 years, and salaries are averaging $108,000. Maine Technology Institute announced in February the distribution of over $25 million in state funding to support economic growth across a range of sectors, through a bond approved by voters in 2024 — the first research and development bond passed in Maine since 2017. The funding was through MTI’s Technology Asset Fund 3.0. “BioME worked with partners across the state to advocate for the bond because we understood that strategic public investment would unlock private growth,” Carpenter says. “Given the strong return on the state’s previous investment, BioME is currently supporting a proposed $50 million R&D bond to help scale research, commercialization and infrastructure across Maine.” Four biotech firms received more than $4 million in funding through MTI, and have pledged a total of $8.5 million in matching funds for facilities and research expansion projects — a total investment of over $12.5 million.

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.

The organization is focused on developing new therapies to treat disease and to set the stage for potential commercial enterprises through a collaboration with the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, based in East Boothbay. The partnership draws on Bigelow’s extensive microalgae collection to identify bioactive molecules that may have therapeutic value for acute kidney injury, immune-related conditions and exposure to environmental toxins such as PFAS. The new facility will support testing and validation for compounds identified through the collaboration, as well as other projects. The lab will train students not only to do experiments at the bench, but also to use AI and to understand the patent process and intellectual property. As Haller says, it’s important for scientists to understand how to move the discoveries into the real world and onto the market. MDI Biological Lab trains students from a number of universities and collaborates with Northeastern University’s Roux Institute, which is also expanding in Portland. MDI Biological Lab’s newest research space will replace one of the 100-year-old campus’s original buildings; detailed planning for the facility is still underway. Additionally, MDI Biological Lab has recently built student housing and is currently renovating the century-old Neal Laboratory — a project made possible by a $1.6 million federal appropriation. The lab also received close to $2 million through the 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill, signed into law early this year. That funding will support the renovation of Bowen Hall into a center for advancing science education and entrepreneurship. The 2,000-square-foot center will facilitate workforce training and research development under the Bioscience Initiative.

“We aim to develop a new cohort of leaders for the biotech industry,” Haller says. “The center will help students find their place in Maine’s expanding life sciences industry.” The center will host seminars, career development sessions, networking and industry meetings. A primary role will be to support training programs sponsored by a federally funded network of 17 colleges, universities and independent research institutions, led by MDI Biological Lab. The program has provided hands-on research experience to more than 3,000 undergraduates while financing startup laboratories for more than 50 early-career faculty.

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.

The company currently shares Cold Current Kelp’s facility off Route 236 in Kittery but plans to move into its own space later this year and to have the biorefinery operational in mid-2027. To date Atlantic BlueBio has been founder-financed, but the team expects to seek outside support as the project gears up.