Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory has named a professor at Hannover Medical School in Germany as its next president.
Hermann Haller, M.D., is expected to take the leadership reins of the 120-year-old research laboratory in July, when current President Kevin Strange steps down after a 9-year stint serving as the lab’s first full-time director.
The lab specializes is using marine species such as sharks, skates and zebrafish for biomedical research. In 2013, it launched a for-profit venture, Novo Biosciences, that focuses on the therapeutic potential of drugs that help biological tissue heal and stimulate regeneration of damaged or missing body parts.
Haller has been associated with MDI Bio Lab for more than two decades and has served as a member of the faculty since 2007, according to a prepared statement released by lab officials. He received his medical degree at the Free University of Berlin and completed his postdoctoral work at Yale.
He has published more than 700 peer-reviewed articles, holds six world-wide patents and has founded four biotech companies, lab officials said. He also serves on advisory boards for pharmaceutical companies Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genzyme and Novo Nordisk.
“Dr. Haller’s outstanding reputation as an international leader in kidney disease, hypertension and kidney and blood vessel regeneration will be invaluable as we continue to build a world-class research program in the biology of regeneration and aging,” said Peter J. Allen, M.D., chair of the lab’s board of trustees, said in the statement.
Haller said he is looking forward to working with others in the lab’s community in building upon the lab’s “extraordinary legacy” in researching how to repair tissue damaged by disease and injury.
MDI Bio Lab has upgraded and expanded significantly at its Bar Harbor campus in recent years, and just last spring completed a new $3 million, 2,500 square-foot laboratory building that is used to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in biomedical sciences.
Founded in 1898 as a seasonal lab in Harpswell, MDI Bio Lab moved to Mount Desert Island in 1921. In recent decades, the lab has shifted from being primarily seasonal to a year-round research institution, increasing the number of its year-round employees from nine to more than 50.
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