The University of Michigan is betting more than $100 million on a concept that could not only change biological research around the world but become the crown jewel in the state’s push to build a thriving biotechnology economy. Next month, U-M will invite the public to tour its six-story, 230,000-square-foot Life Sciences Institute, which opened in September. It is one of only three buildings in the country designed to support the hottest experiment in science: collaborative biological research. Under the collaborative approach, lab walls are torn down and teams of researchers from a variety of backgrounds such as engineering, astronomy and dentistry work together generating discoveries. Although each researcher stays connected to his or her college, they all work together in the LSI.
