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Research and Innovation to Translate Basic Science into Product Candidates

The Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) translates fundamental research into innovative product candidates, technologies, and services that deliver benefits to human health and well-being. Our specific objectives are to: (1) Become a catalyst and resource for ‘applied’ and ‘translational’ R&D activities; (2) Establish industry engagement models and industry collaborations; (3) Contribute to workforce development; and (4) Participate to innovation & entrepreneurship culture on campus.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

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    Startup Law Office Hours

    10:00 am - Virtual
    IALS Venture Development offers Startup Law Office Hours with Matt Whitehead for founders who want to gain a better understanding of legal issues in support of their efforts toward startup formation, team development, and working with investors.
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    Is the Activate Fellowship right for you?

    12:30 pm - LSL S330
    Join us for an informational session to learn more about the 2026 Activate Fellowship, a program that supports science and technology innovators as they advance their research toward real-world commercialization.
  • Recent News

    Recent News

    Center for the Future of Food
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    UMass Amherst Launches Historic, Transformational $120 Million Future of Food Initiative

    UMass Amherst is launching a $120 million effort to address real-world concerns as the global food system faces critical challenges related to climate change and sustainability, food safety and a growing population expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050. The initiative will include a new 36,000 square foot research facility, a multidisciplinary collaborative research center, an endowed chair in food science and three endowed faculty positions who will examine crucial questions about the future of our global food system.

    Translational Research

  • A gel meant to suspend cells to test environmental toxicity accidentally formed a bubble which altered the colors of the cells around it. Fluorescently stained cancer cells suspended in a hydrogel matrix during a live/dead staining. A bubble trapped during the crosslinking process warps the image and cells around it. Shane Priester, Biomedical Engineering Department
    • Models for Optimized Drug Delivery 

    Center for Bioactive Delivery

    CBD creates new ways to deliver “The right drug to the right place: by creating novel delivery platforms for small and large molecules.”  Developing a wide range of delivery platforms matched to bioactive molecular delivery needs based on fundamental design principles, including nanoemulsions, nanoparticles, hybrid particles, bacteria, and hydrogels.

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  • Center for the Future of Food
    • Food Innovation for a Healthier Future 

    Paul and Diane Manning Center for the Future of Food

    Food sits at the center of our health, our economy, social interaction and family life, and our planet’s future. As climate change, food insecurity, and global supply disruptions reshape how we grow, process, and consume food, bold solutions are urgently needed.

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  • Tracking Trainers CPHM
    • Wearable Sensors for Precision Healthcare Delivery & Biometric Monitoring 

    Center for Personalized Health Monitoring

    CPHM seeks to tackle real-world problems in the emerging field of digital healthcare, wearable sensor technologies, and personalized, precision healthcare delivery, interfacing closely with provider networks, hospitals, and industry across the Massachusetts Commonwealth, and the world.

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  • microscope view of a filamentous fusarium
    • Translating Fundamental Biology into New Targets, Leads & Disease Models 

    Models to Medicine Center

    M2M leverages mechanistic insights into molecular pathways implicated in cell health and in disease pathology to identify novel drug targets and therapeutic candidates.

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    Welcome to the IALS Virtual Tour

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    Shared Resources

    UMass Amherst Core Facilities

    We work together with researchers toward a singular goal: advancing applied science and technology to address the world’s most pressing challenges. The UMass Amherst Core Facilities offer expertise and resources that create new opportunities, not only for scientific achievement, but also for establishing new models of collaboration.

    Small Molecule Screening

    The Small Molecule Screening Facility assists researchers in developing high-throughput (HT) screening assays, performs HT screens of chemical libraries to identify new small molecules that can be used to probe biological processes of interest.

    Mass Spectrometry

    Expertise measuring molecular weights of small molecules, biological and synthetic macromolecules, qualitative and quantitative proteomics, protein dynamics.