AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) accepted an invitation from Dr. Agnès Lacreuse to visit the Lacreuse Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where marmosets are studied and allegedly experimented on. Thirty cats seek loving homes after being rescued from Massachusetts home The marmoset lab at UMass has been a subject of controversy for years among students and animal rights activists. Lacreuse researches neurocognitive decline and health in relation to sex and aging using primates and has said that her testing is non-invasive. However, since 2021, PETA has begun protesting on the UMass campus due to claims that the lab is harming the monkeys. In an article in the UMass publication 'The Daily Collegian' on December 29, students visited the Lacreuse Lab and interviewed her, in which she was quoted saying she would "welcome" a visit from PETA to her lab in order to prove that the treatment of the marmosets is safe and fair. She added that she felt doubtful that PETA had a genuine interest in the cause. “It has nothing to do with animal welfare. I’ve been harassed by these people for three and a half years now, and not once have they asked to visit my lab,” Lacreuse said. “This is such a scam, because you would think that the first thing they would ask for is to see the animals, [to] verify that they’re in good health. No, they have no interest. It’s about claiming that, ‘we ended primate research at UMass, give us more money.’ It’s a fundraising machine.” On January 7, PETA Chief Scientist Katherine V. Roe replied to Lacreuse's invitation by letter, formally accepting the invitation and requesting that PETA's neuroscientist and primate scientist be allowed to witness her research and take photos and video evidence. "Given the number of times university officials have ignored our requests to discuss our concerns about marmosets, as well as the resistance we have received from your laboratory to release any videos of the marmosets to PETA (as you know, PETA is having to sue the university to obtain public records), we were pleasantly surprised that you would welcome us into the laboratory to view the animals themselves," Roe said in the letter. Roe said that she and primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel would be willing to meet with Lacreuse in the next two months to visit the lab. Lacreuse has not yet made a public response. Local News Headlines Holyoke Mall secures three-year loan extension Local 5th graders learn about weather and journalism Westfield police seeking help in identifying individuals suspected of package theft State program offers winter heating bill relief WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.