Agilent Technologies is planning a collaboration with the University of Southern California (USC) Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience to facilitate transformational research that combines biomedical science and engineering.

The partners will establish the Agilent Center of Excellence (COE) in Biomolecular Characterization, which will specialize in convergent bioscience research. The COE will be housed at USC’s Michelson Hall, a $185 million building that opened in October 2017 as the largest building on the university’s campus.

Michelson Hall is a research facility aimed at establishing a convergence of researchers with science and engineering backgrounds who collaborate on multidisciplinary approaches to developing new drugs, diagnostics, and medical devices. 

The COE will also serve USC undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the company’s customers based in the area, by providing them with access to new Agilent instrumentation and broad exposure to the university’s researchers.

The research will be anchored by the lab of Valery Fokin, Ph.D., a principal investigator at USC’s Michelson Center whose research has focused on chemical reactivity and biological interactions at the molecular level.