The Graduate School of Biomedical Science & Engineering (GSBSE) offers a doctoral degree in Biomedical Science. Biomedical science combines the fields of biology and medicine in order to focus on the health of both animals and humans, delving into fields such as cell and molecular biology, neuroscience, and toxicology, with classroom and hands-on experience through laboratory work and research. The Graduate School of Biomedical Science & Engineering is a multi-institutional collaboration between: The University of Maine, The Jackson Laboratory, Maine Medical Center Research Institute, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, University of Southern Maine and University of New England. Students admitted to the GSBSE can choose a dissertation mentor from over 150 faculty located at any one of these world-class research and educational institutions. Student access to courses, as well as faculty, is achieved through a high-end video conferencing system. The biology of stress involves the responses and adaptations of a cell or organism to external challenges and is one of the most striking characteristics of all live systems. GSBSE faculty study a broad range of stress responses including those with biomedical implications related to cardiovascular diseases, cancer, infection, inflammation and aging, to those affecting environmental protection and conservation of biodiversity.