MetroWest

When Westford-based Cynosure Inc. announced it would acquire its competitor, Palomar Medical Technologies, in March, it seemed to spell the end for the aesthetic laser manufacturer's presence in town.

From movements and expansions to the growing biotech sector, the pending loss of a large manufacturing operation and a resounding defeat of a casino proposal, here are the top five MetroWestbusiness stories of the year.

Karyopharm Therapeutics, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company in Natick, has been added to the Russell 3000 and Russell 2000 indices as part of Russell Investments' fourth-quarter additions of companies that launched initial public offerings of stock, Karyopharm announced.

Eight public high schools in Central Massachusetts received a combined $685,000 to purchase life sciences training equipment and supplies, the Patrick administration and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) announced today.

Vitasoy USA of Ayer, a processor of soybeans, will pay a state fine of nearly $11,000 and install a sophisticated industrial wastewater pre-treatment system after complaints were lodged over odors, according to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Framingham-based Prelert announced an agreement Monday with OpenWare of Brazil to market its data science applications in South America.

The credit rating for the parent company of Stratus Technologies was downgraded last week due to concerns that the Maynard-based company's debt position wasn't sustainable in the long term.

The catering business that recently announced plans to build in Devens is a harbinger of more economic activity to come, according to Steve Catalano, owner of Dolce Brands, which specializes in serving the film industry. Catalano said he's in talks with other businesses interested in leasing space at the site of the former Hodges Theatre, which Catalano bought with the intention of razing it in the spring to rebuild a state-of-the-art catering facility adjacent to New England Studios. The four-stage studio facility opened this fall, and Hodges scooped up the theater -- which closed along with the former Fort Devens military base in the mid-1990s -- and its 3-acre parcel in anticipation of the start of filming next year.

If you want to talk growth in the northern part of MetroWest, Littleton and Westford are obvious...

Boxborough-based Lightower Fiber Networks said it's expanding its broadband fiber network in the Chicago metro region.