News

Congratulations to the UMass startups who have been selected as the 2025 Western Massachusetts Health Tech Challenge finalists!

In an interview with WesternMass News Katherine Reeves and Chang Liu discuss how their work to revolutionize PFAS research.

Dr. Pradeep Fulay, Program Director for the Directorate for Technology and Partnerships at the National Science Foundation (NSF), came for a site visit to learn what UMass Amherst Accelerating Research Translation (ART) has been doing to accelerate translational research on campus.

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) allows scientists to view biological molecules at a level of detail that was once unimaginable by sending electrons through samples frozen in ice. 

IALS has received more than $4.4 million from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) to acquire an 800 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer. This high-field atomic resolution instrument will aid researchers working to develop the next generation of drugs to treat high unmet-need diseases, including various types of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Michael Busa, director for the Center for Human Health and Performance and technology and consulting company, REOFTech, have been awarded $280,000 from Mass AITC to conduct a pilot study to develop a new at-home technology platform to help patients and their caretakers manage Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).

New research led by Wouter Hoogkamer and his team shows that super spikes, scientifically described as advanced footwear technology (AFT) spikes, can give runners about a 2% edge in middle-distance track races, like the 800- and 1,500-meters.

A device for monitoring sweat and hydration based on a rigorous study from UMass Amherst is commercially available for the first time and ready to help protect “industrial athletes” from dehydration and its role in workplace accidents.

Sarah Perry, associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Bioactive Delivery, Models to Medicine Center, has been chosen as one of two national recipients of the 2024 American Chemical Society (ACS) Macro Letters/Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Young Investigator Award for her contributions to the field of polyelectrolyte self-assembly and the incorporation of proteins into these assemblies.

A team of researchers, jointly led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Plymouth, along with collaborators from the University of Maine and UMass Chan Medical School, have discovered that a population of symbiotic microbes, living in an overlooked sub-organ of the gut called the “typhlosole,” have the ability to secrete the enzymes needed to digest lignin — the toughest part of wood.

Craig Martin, professor of chemistry, Models to Medicine Center, and Sarah Perry, associate professor of chemical engineering, Center for Bioactive Delivery, recently received support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an innovative approach toward efficiently, reliably and cost effectively synthesizing novel strands of specialty “long RNA.” Future genetic research into everything from basic cell biology to advanced therapeutics depends in part on having just the sort of complex, modified RNA that Martin and Perry will be working to make widely available.

Alicia Timme-Laragy, professor of environmental health sciences, Models to Medicine Center, whose research focuses on developmental toxicology and environmental pollutants, recently served as an expert consultant for the National Academies Committee for their study, “The Role of Seafood in Child Growth and Development,” for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Sleep scientist Rebecca Spencer, funded with $6.7 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched two unprecedented studies that will track over time the brain development of infants and preschoolers to confirm the role of napping in early life and to identify the bioregulatory mechanisms involved.

More than 80% of stroke survivors experience walking difficulty, significantly impacting their daily lives, independence, and overall quality of life. Now, new research from UMass Amherst pushes forward the bounds of stroke recovery with a unique robotic hip exoskeleton, designed as a training tool to improve walking function. This invites the possibility of new therapies that are more accessible and easier to translate from practice to daily life compared to current rehabilitation methods.

Elena Pobezinskaya is a faculty member in the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences and member of the Center for Bioactive Delivery and the Models to Medicine Center.

Health Tech for the People (HT4P), funded by IALS/CPHM, is a new thrust focusing on the ethics of technology and accountable, human-centered design, evaluation and translation of health monitoring technologies for the public interest. This research foci incubates interdisciplinary and community-led teams and technologies in the domains of aging care and reproductive health.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by biologists at UMass Amherst recently published the results of a first-of-its-kind study investigating the links between gene expression and brain evolution across 18 primate species.

The new device is built of two critical components, explains lead author Hongyan Gao, who is pursuing his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at UMass Amherst. The first is a three-dimensional cardiac microtissue (CMT), grown in a lab from human stem cells under the guidance of co-author Yubing Sun, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at UMass Amherst.

Ernest Pharmaceuticals and Organicin Scientific have won the top prizes at Lever’s 2024 Western Massachusetts Health Tech Challenge