Isabel Tehan

Large for-profit life sciences companies have called Central Mass. their home for decades. Now, they play an important role in bringing talent, investment, and research to the region.

Researchers across Central Mass. are leading development of cutting-edge ideas and therapies to provide the next generation of solutions to present and future problems.

Fitchburg nonprofit The Arc of Opportunity has become an affiliate of Chelmsford-based Incompass Human Services, which serves nearly 500 individuals with brain injuries and intellectual disabilities in the Greater Lawrence and Greater Lowell areas.

Athma Pai, assistant professor of RNA therapeutics at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, has received a $1-million CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation.

Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester has added a new program to close the gaps in communication that can lead to negative outcomes for those giving birth and their babies.

UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester had $358 million in research and development expenditures in fiscal 2022, leading the record-breaking $813-million year throughout the entire UMass system.

The average compensation for an employee on the City of Worcester’s payroll was $61,129 in 2022, which marked the first time the figure surpassed $60,000. The average pay is up 13% since 2015.

Travelers from Worcester Regional Airport will soon be able to fly direct with JetBlue to two new Florida destinations.

Biostage, a cell-therapy biotech company based in Holliston, has received $6 million in commitments from investors to accelerate its clinical development program.

Kristen Billiar, researcher and department head for biomedical research at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, has received a $430,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to research how blood flow impacts engineered heart valves.