Regionalization

At The Center of It All: ‘Woomentum’ Takes Hold

“Worcester isn’t up and coming. It’s already here.”

These words from MBI President and CEO Jon Weaver ring true for anyone following the headlines, but more importantly for those collaborating on the ground seeing the growth, opportunity, and innovation taking hold in Worcester. Woomentum is not just a turn of phrase used by those in the know. According to CBRE’s Life Sciences Research Talent 2022 report, Worcester ranked 15th among CBRE’s top 25 life sciences research talent clusters.

The city and the broader Central Massachusetts life sciences cluster is home to a growing number of life sciences enterprises and more than a dozen colleges and universities, including UMass Chan Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). This past fiscal year, Quinsigamond Community College partnered with Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI) and AbbVie, to deliver an innovative entry-level Biomanufacturing On-Ramp Workshop designed to encourage more people to enter the biomanufacturing industry pipeline.

Since its inception, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has committed more than $140 million toward life sciences growth in Worcester. This includes support for the Worcester Public Schools system, numerous infrastructure and research capital grants to institutions such as WPI and Quinsigamond Community College, and job creation incentives at companies like Wuxi Biologics and Mustang Bio.

“Worcester serves as a model for our Commonwealth on how we can endeavor to build out the life sciences on a regional basis," said MLSC President & CEO Kenn Turner. "Right at the center of this cluster is MBI. We are very proud to partner with Jon Weaver and his team and support MBI’s growth and bold vision."

A highlight of the fiscal year took place in May when Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, MBI, and the MLSC kicked-off the expansion of MBI’s Biomanufacturing Center by breaking through a wall in the existing space. The expansion will add 10 new Biomanufacturing Labs to support early-stage clinical companies in process development and early-stage manufacturing. The facility will also include 10 new support offices on a second floor overlooking the labs. The MLSC invested $3 million from its Research Infrastructure program to help fund the expansion, which is estimated to cost approximately $5 million.

MBI represents the power of public-private partnerships to unlock new opportunities that create jobs, spur economic development, and strengthen burgeoning areas of our economy such as biomanufacturing."

Mike Kennealy
Massachusetts Housing and Economic Development Secretary and Co-Chair of the MLSC Board of Directors

The initial StartUp & ScaleUp projects, which opened in mid-2020 and included 28 lab spaces, were fully occupied within 10 months and have already served 26 companies that have raised nearly $150 million and created 111 jobs in the past two years.

At the time of the “breakthrough” event, MBI also announced that it purchased the 50,000 square foot building and an adjacent 7,000 square foot building from the Coghlin family as part of MBI’s long term commitment to fostering the life sciences industry in Central Massachusetts. The unique StartUp & ScaleUp model at MBI bridges the gap between incubator and commercial market spaces for early-stage, growing companies, freeing up space in the incubator for new, promising companies to enter the pipeline. By adding additional capabilities to support early clinical stage companies, the expansion will help more startup companies bring products to patients and build on Worcester’s growing biomanufacturing market.

From MBI to Polar Park to the Reactory, Worcester and its surrounding communities remain a central anchor to Massachusetts’s thriving life sciences ecosystem.

Community-First: Building A STEM Workforce

The MLSC partnered with UMass Dartmouth through the High School Apprenticeship Challenge to offer internships to eight New Bedford High School students. Students have the opportunity to gain experience in fields such as bioengineering and biotechnology.

The High School Apprenticeship Challenge facilitates and funds paid internships for underrepresented and low-income high school students throughout Massachusetts. During this 10-week program, students work on a life science experiment that uses equipment similar to what is used in a college or industry laboratory.

This program also offers a pre-internship laboratory training program for select school

districts that provides rigorous biotechnology/biomedical and professional skills development.

This year, the MLSC provided more than $85,848 to support the Brockton and New Bedford cohort, now totaling $1,979,834 since 2019. Students go on to have paid internships in life science institutions such as the Forsyth Institute, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the Ragon Institute, and Massasoit Community College.

A total of 361 students have participated in the High School Apprenticeship Challenge since it began in 2016.

The program is a great way to strengthen the partnership with MLSC and NBHS and designed to promote the STEM workforce within the community. I also feel it is critical that UMass Dartmouth is a resource for the New Bedford High School students in this program because we are accessible but often unknown to the inner city students."

Dr. Tracie Ferreira
Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, UMass Dartmouth

Transformational Opportunities, from Boston to the Berkshires

The life sciences can offer transformational educational and career opportunities to people throughout our Commonwealth. This includes the Cape and Islands, which saw three awardees receive funding through the Center’s STEM Equipment and Professional Development Grant program and its Workforce Development Capital Grant program.

In total, the MLSC Board of Directors approved 39 grants totaling more than $14.6 million for the two programs. President Turner joined Lt. Governor Karyn Polito for the announcement of the awards during a visit to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, an awardee of the Workforce Development Capital Grant program. Mass Maritime is receiving $750,000 to create and outfit a Phase I Instrumentation, Operation and Controls engineering laboratory which will modernize, upgrade, and renovate existing resources specifically supporting each of Mass Maritime’s three undergraduate engineering degrees.

Cape Cod Community College is receiving more than $220,000 through the Workforce Development Capital Grant program. Bourne Public Schools is receiving more than $120,000 through the STEM Equipment & Supplies Capital Grant program.

The funding will support new and expanded STEM curricula at 40 schools and enhance and expand industry-aligned training programs at 22 institutions. More than 25,000 students will receive enhanced training and education opportunities that will better prepare them for exciting careers in the life sciences and in other STEM fields.

By investing in training and educational opportunities in regions across Massachusetts, including here on the Cape and Islands, we are preparing students for meaningful careers and positioning the entire state to leverage the growth of the life sciences and other STEM industries."

Lt. Governor Polito

Growth Trajectory: Chen Dong’s Journey from Intern to Data Scientist at Olaris, Inc.

Olaris, Inc., founded in 2014 by Elizabeth “Liz” O’Day, Ph.D., aims to revolutionize how we diagnose and treat patients with life threatening diseases. Put simply, its goal is to “get the right therapy to the right patient at the right time”. In 2018, Olaris was an inaugural awardee of the MLSC’s Massachusetts Next Generation Initiative (MassNextGen), a competitive program for women-led life sciences companies.

Olaris is now based in Framingham, Massachusetts as part of the thriving MetroWest life sciences cluster. Its growing team includes Chen Dong, who after interning

with Olaris and receiving his master’s degree in bioinformatics, joined the company full-time as a Data Scientist.

Chen played a key role in Olaris’ recent study on Parkinson’s Disease. Research shows that nearly 1 in 3 people with Parkinson’s are misdiagnosed. Moreover, many patients do not receive a diagnosis until after they have lost the majority of their dopamine-producing brain cells. The study demonstrates Olaris’ use of metabolites to create a signature of Parkinson’s development in patients with a genetic link. Improving understanding of what changes in the metabolome of patients with Parkinson’s offers significant potential for improving the patient diagnostic journey.

Chen’s internship was made possible through the MLSC’s Internship Challenge, which enhances the talent pipeline for the Massachusetts life sciences industry by creating hundreds of new internship opportunities each year for college students and recent graduates interested in life sciences careers.

As a data scientist at Olaris, Chen develops and

optimizes data analysis pipelines and tools for the team. He works closely with the metabolite science team to find “Biomarkers of Response” to enable clinicians to make optimal treatment decisions. Chen also had the privilege of presenting Olaris’ breast cancer research findings at international conferences such as the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

Eye-Opening Opportunities at Boyd Tech

The engineering “itch” runs in the family for Joe Aberdale. The son of an engineer and math teacher, mechanical engineering fit like a glove for Joe while earning his degree at Western New England University and now on his current career trajectory. The Great Barrington native interned for two summers at Lee-based Boyd Technologies before starting with the company full-time in 2021 in the Engineering department.

Joe is a Process Engineer at Boyd Biomedical and describes his experience as eye-opening to what his career could be. He also greatly appreciates the camaraderie and culture from the top down at Boyd Tech. The company has been one of the highest users of the MLSC Internship Challenge since the program’s inception. Joe doesn’t take any single day for granted. Like so many residents of Western Massachusetts, community is everything. Joe is grateful for the opportunity to live, learn, and build his career in the region he calls home.

I wake up every day where I want to be. I’m working for who I want to work for and I am helping people. What I do for a living, at 23 years old, has a direct impact on society.”

Joe Aberdale
Process Engineer, Boyd Biomedical

Ryan Mudawar
^{Vice President of Education and Workforce Programs}

Ryan Mudawar on Diversifying our Life Sciences Ecosystem in Massachusetts
"The MLSC has created thousands of internship opportunities across the Commonwealth, with a particular focus on increasing access for underrepresented and non-traditional students. The Internship Challenge offers an incentive in the form of additional subsidized internships for companies that hire community college and other two-year/certificate students. We also helped launch Project Onramp, an initiative which secures internship placements for first-generation students. More recently, we partnered with UNCF to pilot a new program that welcomes a cohort of students from HBCUs and minority-serving institutions to the Boston area for internships. Our High School Apprenticeship Challenge, which includes an after-school training program and paid internships, seeks to close the opportunity gap by serving students from low income schools that would not otherwise have access such experiences." Connect with Ryan: Email or LinkedIn