What happens when you cross the talents of premier life scientists and engineers at a major university with the clinical expertise of doctors who practice at a top-rated hospital? Well, if you’re talking about Western Massachusetts, you’d get the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute (PVLSI). Founded in 2002 by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, the PVLSI was created to bring together the two sides of medical innovation: theory–as in basic research, and practice–as in clinical applications.
Under PVLSI’s roof, teams of biologists and engineers from UMass Amherst and physicians from Baystate are working together to find and test novel treatments for cancer, neurological and autoimmune disorders, heart disease and other illnesses. They’re also partnering with biomedical companies that are creating products to deliver these new treatments. One promising avenue of research is into something called programmed cell death, or “apoptosis”. In 2006, the PVLSI became home to a new Center of Excellence in Apoptosis Research or CEAR.
In this edition of TechCast at UMass we talk with Dr. Larry Schwartz, Professor of Biology at UMass Amherst, CEAR Director, and Science Director of PVLSI about apoptosis and the work of CEAR. We also talk to the Institute’s Executive Director, Dr. Paul Friedmann who exemplifies the clinical side of the PVLSI partnership. He was chairman of surgery at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield for 27 years and has been involved with PVLSI since the concept stage.
Related Links:
- Larry Schwartz, UMass Amherst faculty member, PVLSI Science Director and CEAR Director
- Paul Friedmann, PVLSI Executive Director
- Biomedical Research Models, Inc.
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TechCast at UMass #2: Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute [21:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
