NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Agilent Technologies and the National University of Singapore have announced a collaboration today to further develop research expertise and capabilities in analytical lipidomics.
The goal of the partnership is to develop workflow solutions that will allow researchers a better understanding of disease states, the company and the university said.
As part of the deal, Agilent will provide test and measurement instruments, including platforms for the separation and analysis of lipids from complex mixtures using robotic systems, as well as the latest bioinformatics software tools and electronic laboratory notebooks.
The instruments will be housed in the NUS Center for Lipidomics within the school's Life Sciences Institute. The center, headed by Markus Wenk, associate professor in NUS' department of biochemistry and department of biological sciences, will host researchers and scientists from Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region.
Agilent will also provide NUS access to its scientists in Asia and the US as part of the deal. NUS will be a reference site for Agilent "and allow the company to better understand the needs of the research community," in order to further develop its instruments, the company said in a statement.
The partners will explore opportunities in lipidomics through collaborative research projects, short-term consultancies, customized training programs and workshops, and participation in industry seminars and conferences. The end result of the partnership is to advance research in lipidomics, which could lead to the development of new classes of biomedical research tools and therapies, Agilent and NSU said.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"This strategic partnership with NUS will raise the level of knowledge for lipidomics and potentially pave the way for developments in related fields of research, such as life sciences, nutritional sciences, or environment sciences," Rod Minett, Agilent's general manager for the Life Sciences Group in South Asia Pacific and Korea, said in a statement. "We will collect insights into the use of our instruments in this complex research field and look to further develop and enhance our capabilities, not only in lipidomics, but also in related fields of research."