A deal has been signed for a suite of equipment that will promote research collaboration at the new Molecular Sciences Research Hub in White City.

Agilent Technologies designs and creates instruments, software, services, and solutions for scientific analysis. As part of the deal, they will equip a new Agilent Measurement Suite in the Molecular Sciences Research Hub as well as provide other instrumentation throughout the building.

The state-of-the-art technology will help Imperial researchers push forward their interdisciplinary research in areas such as clinical diagnostics, biopharmaceuticals, energy and chemicals, environmental science, food testing and agriculture, and materials research.

Imperial’s new partnership with Agilent is a significant development as we strengthen our industry collaborations. Professor Alice Gast Imperial President

The suite will also serve as an Agilent instrument demonstration lab and showcase for customers to experience the company’s definitive workflow solutions, from measurement to innovation.

Imperial’s President, Professor Alice Gast, commented: “Imperial’s new partnership with Agilent is a significant development as we strengthen our industry collaborations.

“Agilent's best-in-field equipment in the Molecular Sciences Research Hub at White City will catalyse forefront multidisciplinary research on societal challenges from understanding disease on a molecular level to developing clean sources of energy.”

Agilent president and CEO Mike McMullen said: “Imperial College London plays a very important role in advancing a deeper understanding of the world through their lab instruction and research. We recognize the important contributions made by university scientific research to solve real-life challenges from finding new ways to fight cancer, to ensuring the purity of food, to solving major environmental issues.

“It is an honour for Agilent to support Imperial in building an advanced scientific measurement and analytical laboratory on their new White City Campus. We value our partnership and look forward to taking this important step together.”

Driving research forward

The partnership between Imperial and Agilent is expected to drive further collaborative projects to the benefit of both partners, and to move cutting-edge research forward.

Professor Tony Cass, from the Department of Chemistry and Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial has been appointed Director of the Agilent Measurement Suite. Professor Cass will oversee the collaboration with an objective to develop and facilitate translation of research, tools and technology from academia to industry.

The new collaboration will support the Department of Chemistry’s six strategic themes: synthesis and catalysis; chemical biology and healthcare; environmental and green chemistry; energy; imaging, sensing and analytical chemistry; and material and molecular design.

Professor Cass highlighted some of the ways new Agilent technologies will help researchers make progress in specific areas of research. For example, efficient and accurate instruments will help studies into the microbiome, the mechanisms of arsenic poisoning, and the properties of surfaces such as on medical implants.