WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center

The WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center is the first new facility built at Gateway Park. This new center serves as the focal point for graduate education and research in the life sciences and related engineering fields at WPI.

Located at 60 Prescott Street, the WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center consists of two main buildings connected by a landscaped courtyard and a four-story connecting structure containing core facilities for both main wings (including elevators) along with retail, office, and meeting space.

One of the buildings has been newly constructed as a four-story laboratory facility, which provides state-of-the-art facilities for "wet" research in the life sciences. Additionally, the laboratories were designed to easily allocate and reallocate space as the needs and interests of researchers change, by creating modular lab bench areas, flexible enough to anticipate the changing nature of advanced research in the years ahead. Currently housed
is the site of advanced research in such areas as regenerative medicine, molecular nanotechnology, and biosensors, plant systems, tissue engineering, and untethered healthcare.

The second structure is a renovated industrial building that provides space for faculty and administrative offices, meeting rooms, and other amenities. Most of the center is occupied by WPI including WPI's Corporate and Professional Education Department, the WPI Bioengineering Institute, and faculty researchers from the academic departments of: biology and biotechnology, biomedical engineering, chemistry and biochemistry, and chemical engineering; the remainder is being leased to business and commercial entities including Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a non-profit entity that specializes in promoting the growth of start-up biomedical companies.

 

Facts and Figures

  • Completed: April 2007
  • 124,600 square feet; four stories
  • $50M investment by WPI
  • Home to the following WPI Departments:
    • Biology and Biotechnology (BBT)
    • Biomedical Engineering (BME)
    • Chemistry and Biochemistry (CBC)
    • Chemical Engineering (CHE)
  • WPI Interdisciplinary Research Groups ("Centers")
    • Tissue regeneration and stem cell biology (BBT, BME)
    • Tissue mechanics and mechanobiology (BBT, BME)
    • Plant systems (BBT, BEI, CBC)
    • Molecular nanotechnology and molecular sensors (BEI, CBC, CHE)
    • Applied molecular genetics (BBT)
    • Advanced technologies in biological imaging and sensing (BME, BEI Center for Untethered Healthcare, ECE, ME)

 

The Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center is also home to:

 

Also located in Gateway Park

  • ECI Biotech (Mitch Sanders), a leading-edge company engaged in research and development of new antibody detection technologies
  • A 100 seat state-of-the-art auditorium; dessert café; conference rooms, etc. for use by companies in the Park