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How new 'IU LAB' will reshape Indianapolis' 16 Tech district after $138 million Lilly grant

Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star
·3 min read

Indiana University will use $138 million from the Lilly Endowment — the largest grant the university says it's ever received in support of research and development — to build a new lab facility near downtown Indianapolis to advance bioscience research.

The university announced Thursday that it will build the IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences, to be known as IU LAB, in the 16 Tech Innovation District just northwest of downtown. The six-floor, 150,000-square-foot facility will serve as IU's home in the 50-acre 16 Tech campus, where Purdue University has already established a research presence.

Expected to open by 2027, IU LAB's initial focus will be on research in five critical disease areas: diabetes and obesity, neuroscience, rare diseases, cancer, and bone engineering and regenerative medicine. The university hopes the research leads to startup companies that stay on site at 16 Tech.

IU says the investment is the next step to expand the life and biosciences industry in Indianapolis. IU LAB is set to open the same year as the new IU Health Hospital campus, a $2.3 billion project that will bring three 16-story towers with 864 beds to the near north side.

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The announcement comes months after IU and Purdue split their shared urban campus, IUPUI, after more than 50 years. Both universities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars as they jostle for a stronger foothold near downtown.

"The state-of-the-art facility will empower IU LAB to facilitate critical academic-industry partnerships," IU President Pamela Whitten said in a statement, "that will drive discovery, innovation and the commercialization of new therapeutics, diagnostics and devices that will improve human health in Indiana and beyond."

More: Indiana Ave. fell as IUPUI rose. After Purdue and IU split, can they help renew the Avenue?

IU LAB will also offer youth educational programs and contribute to 16 Tech's Community Investment Fund, which provides grants for neighborhood revitalization near the burgeoning district. Neighbors in nearby Riverside, just north of 16 Tech, have shared concerns about displacement amid rapidly rising home values.

The IU LAB facility will feature six core areas:

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  • The Academic Gateway will offer advanced courses and credentials to students and working professionals.

  • The Futures Center will serve as a space for students and professionals to apply their research through hands-on experiences with technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, biomedical engineering and robotics.

  • The IU Innovates Bio Start-Up Center will provide training and networking to researchers launching new companies, with a focus on new health and medical technology startups.

  • The Public-Private Partnerships Center will combine the efforts of faculty and industry representatives to pursue new lines of research and commercialize new products.

  • The Joint Center of Excellence for Point of Care and Precision Medicine will focus on new technologies and genomics research in partnership with IU Health, Eli Lilly and others.

  • The Translational Bio Center will offer space to life sciences companies and startups for testing their discoveries.

Email IndyStar Housing, Growth and Development Reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU to build new research facility near downtown Indianapolis