Before joining New England Bioassay in 1996, Mike worked for the U.S. Peace Corps in Bangkok , Thailand . As a Peace Corps volunteer, he worked with the rural development office in the province of Sakol Nakhon and was responsible for teaching aquaculture techniques to rural farmer groups. Methods taught were hormone-induced spawning of silver barbs, pituitary gland extraction, sexing Nile tilapia, establishing and implementing breeding sets of Nile tilapia, pre-conditioning of juvenile grow out ponds, care and feeding of fry and marketing techniques for the sale of both fry and grow - outs.

At New England Bioassay, Mr. Bourgoin is responsible for developing laboratory techniques for culturing and testing new species, performance of toxicity identification evaluations, and bioreactor studies. His other duties include scheduling of client testing, researching and implementing systems for new test species, and coordinating with outside contractors for any necessary work to be performed at NEB.