Letter From The Director
Alan Saltiel, Director and Professor, Life Sciences Institute
Welcome to the Life Sciences Institute
We are now in the midst of a transformational change in science. The combinations of genetic, computational, biochemical and chemical tools now at our fingertips have generated many new ways to attack problems in biology, on a scale never imagined. Of course, this paradigm shift brings with it new challenges, particularly the challenge of collaboration. How will we entice investigators to communicate across their diverse areas of expertise and training, to cooperate in ways that provide true synergy?
The University of Michigan has recognized the importance of this challenge, and created the LSI as a hub for collaboration among outstanding scientists focused on problems of great importance to human health. It is a special place to do science, and I am thrilled to lead it.
We are building a dynamic environment that brings together scientists from different disciplines, and encourages them to look for important problems that will benefit from a multidisciplinary approach. The synergies resulting from the blending of diverse points of view, and between wise veterans and energetic junior researchers, are yielding profound insights into the complexity of life that lies between the genome and the organism.
The success of the Institute depends upon the quality of its science, and results directly from the people we bring together to work here. We are recruiting the best scientists, supporting them well, and creating an intellectual environment that allows ideas to accelerate rapidly and in unexpected directions.
Our connections to the University are the foundation for our success. Through our joint faculty appointments and our shared resources, we facilitate collaboration across the campus, ensuring Michigan’s continued standing as a premier research institution.
We are also supported in this exciting endeavor by formal and informal networks of outside supporters: University alumni, life science industry leaders throughout the world, and local and regional community members. These partnerships are critical as we strive to make the Institute more than the sum of its parts and bring its discoveries to patients and the marketplace.
Collaboration, innovation, creativity and scientific excellence will continue to be our tenets as we move LSI into chapter two. As an agent of change, we will push the boundaries of scientific investigation and operate at the leading edge of research, bearing in mind that there is no single path to knowledge. I invite you to explore the many exciting endeavors of the LSI and join us as we strive to fulfill our ultimate goal: finding new insights into human disease.
-- Alan Saltiel
