Wolverine State Brewing Co made a major expansion last year, both in its production facility and its tap room. The Ann Arbor-based craft brewer that specializes in lagers added a rental hall to its tap room on West Stadium Boulevard in the old Big George's space. The Gulo Room, named after its signature pale ale lager, has proven quite popular for a broad range of local clientele. "I have rented it out for baby showers and birthday parties," says E.T. Crowe, co-owner & marketing director of Wolverine State Brewing Co. "Groups seek it out and hold presentations there." Wolverine State Brewing Co specializes in lagers, a light-specialty beer that often takes a month longer to brew than the average ale. The company got its start in 2006 contracting its brewing out to a larger brewery. It opened its current location on the west side of Ann Arbor in 2010, which currently houses its tap room and production facility. The brewery installed three new fermentation vessels late last year, allowing the firm to up its production. It sold 1,100 barrels of lager last year and is on track to hit 1,500 barrels in 2013. The overall production numbers are lower than other breweries because lagers are more difficult to brew. "Lager yeast moves slower and has to be much colder," Crowe says. "Our infrastructure has to be much more intense." Wolverine State Brewing Co has hired three people over the last year, including a brewer, a brewery worker and a bartender. It now has a staff of 12 people and is looking to capitalize on its most recent gains. "This was a huge leap to make inside of a year," Crowe says. "We are now sitting tight this year and catching up." Source: E.T. Crowe, co-owner & marketing director of Wolverine State Brewing Co Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

A sizable round of seed funding has gotten Ann Arbor-based Seelio onto Forbes' radar. Excerpt: "Seelio is especially popular with educational institutions  for students to showcase their school projects.   Today Seelio has announced that they have raised $900,000 in a seed round of funding from First Step Fund, Michigan PreSeed Fund, and several angel investors... Many institutions have been using Seelio non-traditional educational programs like boot camps and training programs.   A couple of examples of these programs include the Digital Media Institute at the  University of Texas at Austin  and the  University of Michigan Design Expo... Seelio is now being used by thousands of students across 500 campuses." More here.

Ann Arborites are among the country's most prolific page-turners, according to major bookseller Amazon.com Excerpt: "Last year, Ann Arbor placed fourth. The 2013 list ranks Ann Arbor behind Alexandria, Va.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Miami, Fla.; Cambridge, Mass.; and Orlando, Fla... The list "is proof that the country is reading," Sara Nelson, Amazon's editorial director of books and Kindle, said in a press release." More here.

The Boston Marathon bombing showed that anything can happen on a second's notice. You can never be too prepared. Excerpt: "You can learn a lot from a zombie. At least that’s what a University of Michigan professor hopes her 31 graduate students took away from Tuesday’s bizarre, albeit bloody, “zombie apocalypse.” The classroom exercise was designed to get School of Public Health students thinking about what the appropriate response should be during a disaster... "'Zombie apocalypse' sounds a bit silly, but the point of this is to show that if we're prepared for any hazard, even the unimaginable hazards, like zombies — because we know they don't exist — we are capable of preparing ourselves for perhaps anything that might occur," said Dr. Eden Wells, the epidemiology professor who teaches the course and serves as the brains behind the exercise." More here.

Source: Dr. Suzanne Jones, Michigan Vein Care Specialists Writer: Natalie Burg

The Nutritional Healing Center's staff has expanded as well. Since October, five new employees have been hired, bringing the total number of staff to 14. Source: Jessica Bonesteel, Nutritional Healing Center of Ann Arbor Writer: Natalie Burg

ONL Therapeutics is growing and the most visible sign of that is the expansion of its leadership team. The Ann Arbor-based start-up recently hired a vice president of research and development, bringing its headcount to four employees and a few independent contractors. The 2-year-old firm recently completed its pharmacology study and is developing the plan and design for its clinical trials. "We will complete the formulation of the product and manufacture the supplies to conduct the final, formal safety study and supplies for the clinical trial," says Raili Kerppola, CEO of ONL Therapeutics. ONL Therapeutics is developing a new retinal therapy to help prevent retina detachment and blindness in some cases. It spun out of the University of Michigan's Kellogg Eye Center and is working with the university's Office of Technology Transfer. ONL Therapeutics recently obtained an orphan drug designation because it treats a rare affliction. The designation is expected to help clear the path to the market. Kerppola expects the clinical trial for the therapy to begin next year. Commercialization is expected to take about five years. Source: Raili Kerppola, CEO of ONL Therapeutics Writer: Jon Zemke