PVLSI's research enterprise facilitates development of communities of diverse researchers around specific foci to form "working groups." Members of working groups are research scientists and clinicians whose own activities and interests fall within the working group's general field. Researchers may affiliate with areas based on their interests and can easily belong to more than one group. For example, members of CEAR (Center of Excellence in Apoptosis Research) may belong to a disease-focused working group as well.

Our efforts build upon the expertise and resources of our founders. UMass Amherst has a broad range of biomedically relevant departments and programs including: Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Nutrition, Nursing, Exercise Sciences, Biology, and Biochemistry. In addition, as a research university of international stature, UMass Amherst offers allied scientific programs such as Polymer Sciences, Nanotechnology, Chemical Engineering, Physics, Engineering, Computer Science and Veterinary & Animal Sciences that are increasingly important to translational research. Coupled with Baystate Medical Center's clinical scope, this scientific range allows us to assemble broad, flexible working groups of diverse scientists and clinicians to address medical problems in original ways. For example, scientists representing six UMass Amherst Departments and five Baystate clinical specialties are members of the Breast Cancer Working Group. Additional research areas include apoptosis, and diabetes/metabolism.

The CEAR Pilot Grants and Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellows Grants, along with the UMass Amherst - Baystate Medical Center Collaborative Biomedical Research Program, promote the formation of initial collaborations and research projects between scientists, engineers and clinicians with shared interests. These and other investigator-driven, discipline-spanning efforts inform development of research clusters and working groups.

For information on our research and how to get involved, email Lawrence M. Schwartz, Ph.D.