GE Healthcare Life Sciences will move its headquarters to the Boston area from Princeton and Piscataway, N.J., in early 2015.

The unit employs 400 people, some of whom may lose their jobs in the move. GE Healthcare notified New Jersey authorities this week that some employees will be laid off and others will be given the chance to relocate to Massachusetts, the Star Ledger reported. Others will be given the option of telecommuting.

GE has not announced the location of the Massachusetts facility. The division specializes in imaging devices and products that support drug development.

Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, said GE has been considering the move for approximately two years. The company is interested in applying for various tax incentives through the state’s $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, which was sponsored by Gov. Deval Patrick and enacted by the Legislature in 2008. The tax incentives are tied to job creation within a 12-month period.

"They had seen some of their competitors winning grants from us and I think they found that kind of interesting," Windham-Bannister said.

GE Healthcare Life Sciences currently has one Massachusetts office in Westborough with a small staff, Windham-Bannister said. GE Healthcare Life Sciences is a $3.7 billion division of Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Co.