Jackson Laboratory

The Jackson Laboratory (often abbreviated as JAX) is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution. It employs more than 2,100 employees in Bar Harbor, Maine; Sacramento, California; and at a genomic medicine institute in Farmington, Connecticut. The institution is a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center and has NIH Centers of Excellence in aging and systems genetics.
The laboratory is also the world's source for more than 8,000 strains of genetically defined mice, is home of the Mouse Genome Informatics database and is an international hub for scientific courses, conferences, training and education.
Major research areas.
Jackson Laboratory research, represented by the activities of more than 60 laboratories, performs research in six areas:
History.
Historic research highlights.
The Jackson Laboratory was founded in 1929 in Bar Harbor, Maine, by former University of Maine and University of Michigan president C. C. Little under the name Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory. (Roscoe B. Jackson was a one-time head of the Hudson Motor Company who helped provide the funds for the first laboratory building at the property and the first five years of operation.)
Recent research has provided insight into cancer stem cells and treatments for leukemia; progress with type 1 diabetes and lupus; and a breakthrough in extending mammalian life span.
The Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center.
The Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center (JAXCC) first received its National Cancer Institute designation in 1983 in recognition of the foundational cancer research conducted there. The JAXCC is one of seven NCI-designated Cancer Centers with a focus on basic research.
The Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center has a single program, “Genetic Models for Precision Cancer Medicine,” composed of three biological themes: cancer cell robustness, genomic and genetic complexity, and progenitor cell biology. The themes emphasize the systems genetics of cancer and translational cancer genomics, and all are supported by the JAX Cancer Center's technological initiatives in mouse modeling, genome analytics and quantitative cell biology.
The Morrell Park fire.
On May 10, 1989, a flash fire destroyed the Morrell Park mouse production facility. The fire raged for five hours, requiring over 100 firefighters from 15 companies and a total of 16 trucks for the fire to be contained. Four workers of the Colwell Construction Company who were installing fiberglass wallboard in the room where the fire broke out were injured, one with burns over 15 percent of his body. While none of the foundation strains were lost, 300,000 production mice (about 50% of their stock) died, resulting in a national shortage of laboratory mice and the layoff of 60 employees.
This was the second fire to severely affect the laboratory; the 1947 fire that burned most of the island destroyed most of the laboratory, and its mice. Worldwide donations of funds and mice allowed the lab to resume operations in 1948.
Business model.
The Jackson Laboratory is recognized by the IRS as a public charity. According to organization literature, revenue comes primarily from the sale of materials and services (~70%) and from government support (~25%). Less than 5% of 2012 revenue came from charitable donations.
Controversy.
In 2013, a jury in Maine found that Jackson Laboratory did not violate that state's whistleblower protection law when they fired an employee who claimed to have been terminated after reporting her concerns about the treatment of animals to the National Institutes of Health Office for Laboratory Animal Welfare. The worker accused the laboratory of “allowing mice to suffer and then die in their cages instead of euthanizing them” and of cutting off the toes of mice to identify them. Jackson laboratory denied the allegations and said the worker was fired for her confrontational demeanor.
In 2009, Jackson Laboratory was fined $161,680 by the EPA for improperly handling and storing hazardous materials.