Launched as a pilot in 2021, the program pairs Colby undergraduates with JAX research teams. The endowment expands the program through the year.
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The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor received a $1.5 million gift from the Lunder Foundation to endow and expand an experiential learning initiative that enables Colby College undergraduate students to pursue biomedical research training under the guidance of JAX faculty mentors.
Launched as a pilot in 2021, the JAX-Colby Mentored Research Program pairs Colby undergraduates with JAX research teams. The Lunder endowment allows JAX to offer academic-year and summertime research opportunities.
The endowment “highlights the value that a liberal arts education brings to hands-on scientific training,” said Lon Cardon, JAX’s president and CEO.
Over the past five years, there have been 15 students in the Lunder-funded program.
The JAX-Colby program is one in a series of training initiatives overseen by JAX Genomic Education, which offers educational programming for a variety of cohorts, including K-12 teachers bringing genetics and genomics into their classrooms, students and clinicians who want to apply genomics to patient care. Philanthropy helps fund the programs.
The lab is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution with nearly 3,000 employees in Maine, Connecticut, California, Japan and China.
Founded in 1813, Colby is a private college in Waterville with roughly 2,300 undergraduates.
The Lunder Foundation was founded in 1988 by Paula and Peter Lunder, philanthropists, Colby alumni and longtime supporters who have made gifts totaling over $200 million to the college’s art museum, among other contributions. Based in Portland, it ranks No. 4 among top Maine charitable foundations in the Mainebiz 2025 Giving Guide, with $38.3 million in revenue in fiscal year 2023.
The foundation primarily supports organizations in Maine and Massachusetts that focus on improving education, health, arts and culture
