Agilent Technologies announced that it has formed a scientific collaboration with the University of Southern California Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience. The collaboration will help create an Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization.
The new center will be located in Michelson Hall at USC. The research facility will help establish a convergence of researchers across science and engineering to work on improving healthcare through new drugs, diagnostics and medical devices. Agilent’s Center of Excellence will foster a scientific environment that provides access to new Agilent instrumentation and technologies for students, customers and researchers.
“Agilent’s collaboration with the Michelson Center is an excellent example of how academia and industry can work together, sharing knowledge and expertise to shorten the timeline between scientific discoveries and real-world applications,” Darlene Solomon, senior VP and chief technology officer at Agilent, said in a press release. “Convergent bioscience research requires successful collaboration across multiple disciplines – a holistic approach that is central to Agilent’s view of the future.”
The collaboration will help facilitate drug discovery projects ranging from chemical synthesis of screening and focused libraries and biological assay implementation to the development of targeted drug delivery systems, diagnostics and vaccines.
“As convergent bioscience becomes a major contributor to scientific knowledge and ultimately improved human health, academic and industry collaboration will play a key role,” said Stephen Bradforth, divisional dean for natural sciences and mathematics at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “I’m pleased that Agilent has the vision to support our efforts in this important emerging research field.”