Biotechnology & Life Sciences Research

The mission of this new center is to dramatically advance education and research in the life sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. As the focal point for the university’s interdisciplinary research programs in biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, biotechnology, and related science and engineering disciplines, the center is accelerating advances and innovations that will help transform health care and medicine.

Creating a life sciences–oriented research entity of impressive size and breadth, the center brings together under one roof the life science-related research programs of four academic departments:

  • Biology and Biotechnology
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Chemistry and Biochemistry

It also houses the WPI Bioengineering Institute, an interdisciplinary research and development organization that identifies emerging biomedical technologies and nurtures them toward commercialization through its applied research centers in such areas as biomaterials, bioprocessing, molecular sensors, nanoscience and technology, and untethered healthcare.

With its open-laboratory design, the Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center fosters a collaborative, cross-disciplinary atmosphere for research and graduate education. Faculty members are allocated research bench space and access to shared facilities based on their interests, not according to their home departments. As a result, researchers tackling similar problems, but from the vantage of differing backgrounds and expertise, work side-by-side, creating opportunities for the kind of synergy that produces more creative and groundbreaking solutions to challenging problems.

Researchers in the Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center are tackling a wide range of interdisciplinary research programs, many with the potential to produce new breakthroughs, new treatments, and new medical products, devices, and technology. Here is just a small sample of current research areas:

  • Biology of in vitro cultured plants and their tissues
  • Biomaterials
  • Biomechanics of soft tissues and mechanobiology
  • Bionanotechnology and BioMEMS
  • Cardiac tissue engineering and cardiovascular biomechanics
  • Cell and tissue engineering
  • Design of neurotrophic factors for treating Alzheimer's disease and stroke
  • Developmental cell biology and animal somatic cell cloning
  • Evolutionary ecology of marine and aquatic invertebrates
  • Fungal pathogenesis and its regulation by small molecules
  • Invasive and noninvasive blood gas monitoring
  • Mechanism of ion transport by P-type ATPases
  • Plant-microbe interactions and viral suppression of host resistance responses
  • Polymorphism in pharmaceutical solids
  • Regenerative properties of stem cells, and human limb regeneration
  • Self-assembly approaches to nanofabrication
  • Supramolecular chemistry in solids and on surfaces
  • Surface chemistry, chemical surface modification, and thin film devices