Core Facilities

Core Research Facilities

The University of Massachusetts has more than 90 core research facilities across the state that are available to researchers from government, academia, and industry on a fee-for-service basis. These shared resources offer a wide range of services to the research community, including cutting-edge technologies, high-end instrumentation and technical support for basic, translational and clinical research.

The capabilities available at each facility are as unique as the researchers found at each location. Our expertise ranges from life sciences to material sciences, nanofabrication to biomanufacturing, robotics to mechanical prototyping, chemistry to high-performance computing, and more.

The capabilities available at each facility are as unique as the researchers found at each location.

Industry/Startup Incubator Space

Amherst–Collaboratories

IP free, affordable, rentable research laboratory spaces available for industry partners, including start-up companies emerging from faculty research projects, to partnerships with more established companies that seek space on-campus to develop medical devices and healthcare/life science-related product candidates.

Boston–Venture Development Center

Serves seed-stage biopharma, life science, health IT and medical device startup companies, offering teams wet and dry laboratory workspace, business mentoring and connections and easy access to advanced scientific and engineering prototyping and characterization equipment and expertise.

Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2) & Biotech Incubator

Resources for small biotech and medical device startups, offering inventors, founders, and executives easy, affordable and coordinated access to world-class researchers and resources. M2D2 member companies receive preferred partner rates at the UMass Core Facilities. In addition to wet labs, office, and conference room space, the Center also provides assistance with business development, business planning, prototyping design & development, as well as support and advice for grant funding, venture investment, market research, and regulatory submissions.

Headshot of Peter Reinhart

Peter Reinhart

UMass Amherst, Founding Director of the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) and 5-Campus Voucher Point Person
Serena Wang

Serena Wang

UMass Boston, Venture Development Center
Catherine Palmer

Catherine A. Palmer

UMass Dartmouth, Office of Research Administration
Karen Hamlin

Karen Hamlin

UMass Lowell, Director, Core Research Facilities
Susanna Perkins smiling into camera

Susanna Perkins

UMass Chan, Director, Research Cores & Operations

Core Facilities on UMass Campuses

UMass Amherst

The flagship campus has capabilities that include metal 3D printing, roll-to-roll fabrication, inductively coupled plasma mass spec, analytical ultra centrifugation, x-ray diffractometry, super-resolution microscopy, whole-room calorimetry, infrared motion analysis, sleep and behavioral observation labs, and a 3 Tesla human MRI/MRS. Enabling internal and external
users the resources to enhance their R&D capabilities, address basic and translational questions, deliver technologies and product candidates more rapidly, receive advanced training, and become more competitive in obtaining state, federal, foundation, and private funding.

UMass Boston

Facilities include a vivarium, which provides staffing with technical and veterinary services, genomics and proteomics, with the latest and most complementary technologies readily available. Other cores include: Imaging, mass spectrometry, fabrication, flow cytometry, and infrared/raman spectroscopy. Researchers specialize in biomedical, health, life and brain sciences. With easy access from the north and south shores of Massachusetts, the campus is close to city incubators, universities and Fortune 500 companies.

UMass Dartmouth

Offers instrumentation within Environmental Chemistry, Biomanufacturing and Mechanical Prototyping Lab at the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments offer a multitude of sophisticated analytical and biomolecular instruments.

UMass Lowell

Providing stream-lined process to quick and easy lab access. Professional staff provides hands-on training and services. An integrated online reservation system that includes a searchable database of resources. State-of-the-art instruments and resources available to academic, government and industry researchers. Supporting research in the fields of bioengineering, biomaterials, chemistry, green chemistry, material sciences, nanotech and nanofabrication, radiation sciences, robotics and much more.

UMass Chan Medical School

Offers 45 facilities, including the second largest sequencing facility in New England, are host to the Northeast PacBio Hub, and are one of five centers across the country for Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping. New highly publicized cores include the Massachusetts Center for High-Resolution Electron Cryo Microscopy.