Hopkinton

Fueled by communities near I-495 and the Massachusetts Turnpike, the Central Massachusetts region grew 8.1% in population from 2010 to 2020, outpacing both the state (6.0%) and nation (6.5%), according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Decennial Census of Population and Housing.

Central Massachusetts is home to a wide range of manufacturing companies, including healthcare, industrial, and technology. Here are the five largest manufacturers in the region when ranked by number of local employees, according to surveys completed by the WBJ Research Department.

Lykan Bioscience, a Hopkinton manufacturer specializing in cell-based therapies, announced Thursday a partnership with San Francisco software company Vineti.

The Town of Hopkinton has signed a 99-year lease with the nonprofit 26.2 Foundation for a 19-acre site on East Main Street, where the organization plans to build an International Marathon Center less than a mile from the Boston Marathon starting line.

Hopkinton life sciences manufacturer Lykan Bioscience has named Kenneth LeClair as its chief technology officer.

Home prices continued to spike throughout Massachusetts in March, according to Peabody real estate data firm The Warren Group, with the median single-family sale price spiking 14.4% to $460,000, up from $402,000 in March 2020.

Worcester, Framingham, Fitchburg, Hudson and Hopkinton are among 31 youth substance abuse prevention programs across the state sharing in $3.8 million in new state grants.

Two corporations with major presences in Central Massachusetts, the manufacturer Saint-Gobain and the tech company Dell Technologies, are among 310 businesses that signed a letter to President Joe Biden urging the United States to take more action to tackle climate change.

Hopkinton life sciences manufacturer Lykan Bioscience has named Patrick Lucy the company’s new CEO.

Golf needed a boost, and the pandemic gave it to a sport that lends itself well to social distancing. Now courses are working to keep the golfers playing all those extra rounds.