Approved by MaineHealth, MHIR and NorDx leadership in August 2021, the Center for Applied Science & Technology (CAST) is co-directed by Anne Breggia, PhD, MHIR Center Director and by Robert Carlson, MD, NorDx Laboratory Medical Director.

Through resource sharing and collegial collaborations established in 2019, Dr. Breggia and Dr. Carlson have facilitated numerous investigator-initiated studies, expanded human sample collection and distribution to support the research of MMC/MHIR physicians and scientists, and successfully executed a variety of Precision Medicine focused projects that have helped to improve the care of MaineHealth patients.

Meet Key Members of the CAST Team

Dr. Anne Breggia is the Director of the Center for Applied Science and Technology, Chair of the Maine Health Precision Medicine Council and serves as a Clinical Coach for the MaineHealth Innovation Center. Dr. Breggia joined Maine Health in 1991 and has over 30 years of experience in clinical laboratory diagnostics and basic science research. Dr. Breggia is the principal investigator for the NIH/NCI Cancer Moonshot Biobank study conducted at the NCORP/MaineHealth Cancer Care Network. Learn more about Dr. Breggia

Dr. Robert Carlson is the Chief Medical Officer at NorDx, the MaineHealth clinical diagnostic laboratory, and the co-Director of the Center for Applied Science and Technology at MHIR. Prior to joining MaineHealth in 2019, Dr. Carlson served as the Vice President of Medical Affairs at ACM Laboratories in Rochester NY, the Laboratory Director for NxGen MDX in Grand Rapids MI, CEO and Chief Medical Officer at Swallow Solutions in Madison, WI., and as both the Director of Laboratory Medicine and Director of Applied Science at Marshfield Clinics, Marshfield, WI.  Learn more about Dr. Carlson

Sue LaPierre is the Scientific Manager of the MaineHealth Biobank. Prior to joining MaineHealth, Sue began her career at the Foundation for Blood Research in Scarborough, as a Research Associate, later supervising the Molecular Genetics Laboratory. Sue’s work experience includes medical research, assay development, clinical diagnostic testing, clinical and research laboratory supervision, biobanking, program oversight, and operations management.

Lindsey Gower is the Technology Manager, of the Research Laboratory Services.  Lindsey previously conducted kidney injury research in Dr. Leif Oxburgh’s lab and studied collagen epitopes in the tumor microenvironment under Dr. Peter Brooks. Before joining MaineHealth, she worked in pharmaceutical research in Boston, then returned to Portland to contribute to diagnostic research at Chemogen Inc., Inverness Medical (Abbott), and Envirologix Inc. Lindsey’s work experience includes molecular biology, animal husbandry, pharmaceutical and diagnostic research; bio-specimen collection, processing, and testing; assay design and development; phlebotomy; and research lab management.

Saeed Amal, PhD, is an Affiliated Faculty from the Roux Institute, Northeastern University where he is an Assistant Research Professor. Dr. Amal received his PhD and MSc degree in Computer Science from the University of Haifa and a BSc degree in Computer Science from Technion.  Dr. Amal’s research is focused on the applications of AI to improve healthcare especially in oncology and cardiovascular disease.