About the Department
Established in 1972 as the Department of Life Sciences, the department acquired its current name in 1982 in recognition of the emergence of the rapidly growing industry of biotechnology, which applies the principles and techniques of biology to produce new medications, diagnostic techniques, and other products that elevate our quality of life. Today, the department is in the midst of another transformation as life scientists increasingly cooperate with physical scientists and engineers to create cutting-edge advances in medical science, therapeutics, medical devices, and the environment.
Examples of this crossover include the department's academic and research programs in regenerative biology, which bring together scientists advancing the field of developmental biology and engineers working in tissue engineering and wound healing to develop techniques for regenerating human digits and limbs. Additional examples are our work in plant therapeutics, which combines expertise in plant genetics, biochemistry, and plant bioreactors to produce valuable products and therapeutics agents, and computational biology, which applied the techniques of computer science to complex problems in genetics and other areas of biology.
The WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park, the new home for graduate research in the departments of Biology & Biotechnology, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Chemistry & Biochemistry, is expressly designed to encourage and nurture such cross-disciplinary collaborations centered on the life sciences. Within the building's modern laboratories, faculty, graduate students, and select undergraduate researchers will be occupy laboratory space according to their research focus areas, rather than by department, promoting the kind of cooperation, synergy—and even serendipity—that can lead to new areas of research and development.
The faculty in the Biology and Biotechnology Department have a broad range of interests, encompassing the subdisciplines of cell and molecular biology and genetics, ecology and environmental biology, organismal biology, developmental and regenerative biology, bioprocess technology, and computational biology. Faculty engage in learning in these fields through active scholarship and teaching, and encourage students to share in these pursuits, excel in their own fields of study, and broaden their education beyond those specialties. The department's mission is to prepare well-educated students who are lifelong learners able to pose compelling questions and approach challenging problems with creativity and flexibility.
A key element in the development of these scientists is active participation in the process of scientific discovery. Students gain an understanding of the experimental basis of biological science, beginning with laboratory work in the freshman year, culminating in the Major Qualifying Project (MQP). All faculty members are actively engaged in research and provide opportunities for students to pursue MQPs in their own laboratories and through collaborations with the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, WPI's Bioengineering Institute, and a number of regional biotechnology companies, which also provide students with opportunities to pursue research and project work.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: November 01, 2006 15:47:34