Agilent Technologies and Harvard’s Wyss Institute Announce Collaboration to Advance Burgeoning Discipline of Biologically Inspired Engineering

Organizations Will Work Jointly to Engineer New Life Sciences Technologies, Instruments

SANTA CLARA, Calif., and BOSTON, --

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University today announced an agreement to work together to develop innovative tools, technologies and instruments that will advance human health and improve the environment.

“Agilent is very pleased to collaborate with the Wyss Institute as we share a strong commitment to innovation, interdisciplinary contribution, and high-impact research,” said Darlene Solomon, Agilent chief technology officer. “Wyss offers access to visionary researchers and physicians collaborating on enabling technology platforms to address some of the world’s most significant technological and societal challenges.”

The Wyss Institute operates as an alliance among premier academic and clinical institutions in the Greater Boston area, bringing together world-renowned scientists, engineers and physicians to explore the design principles used in nature, and to apply their insights to engineer new materials and devices for medicine, industry, and the environment. Agilent is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in life sciences, chemical analysis, electronics and communications.

Under the multi-year agreement, Agilent will provide financial support, unique tools and materials to support Wyss’ biomaterials evolution, programmable nanomaterials and biomimetic microsystems platforms. Agilent also will contribute its technical expertise to the collaboration.

Wyss Institute researchers leading the collaboration include its founding director, Donald E. Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard’s schools of Medicine and Engineering and Children’s Hospital Boston; and three other Wyss core faculty members: Harvard Medical School professor George Church, Ph.D.; Boston University professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator James J. Collins, Ph.D.; and William Shih, Ph.D., associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

“We’re very proud to partner with a company that -- like us -- constantly looks to the future, and measures the success of its technological innovations in terms of the impact they have on people’s lives and the entire global community,” said Ingber. “The enormous synergies between our expertise and technical capabilities, combined with our shared vision for the future of life sciences and engineering, should enable us to create transformative new technologies and research tools that will accelerate development of clinical diagnostics and therapeutics, and utterly change the way we harness energy in the future.”

As a state-of-the-art laboratory focused on technology development and translation in diverse research disciplines ranging from medicine to bioenergy, Wyss will become a center of excellence to help advance Agilent’s extensive measurement capabilities. Wyss will be equipped with Agilent’s unique products and know-how in areas ranging from nanobiotechnology to electronics and automation.

Through its collaboration with pioneers in the fields of synthetic biology and programmable nanomaterials at the Wyss Institute, Agilent aims to identify new high-value applications and challenges, as well as to advance its already powerful technological capabilities in genome engineering and nanobiotechnology. In the newly emerging field of mechanobiology, the Agilent/Wyss collaboration will develop new integrated force analysis and imaging capabilities that combine advanced optics and nanomechanical measurements. The goal is to provide deeper insights into the way physical forces and the mechanical properties of living tissues influence cell behavior and contribute to the onset and progression of diseases such as cancer.

About the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University (wyss.harvard.edu) uses nature’s design principles to develop bio-inspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. Working as an alliance among Harvard’s schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Arts & Sciences in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Boston University, the Institute crosses disciplinary and institutional barriers to engage in high-risk, fundamental research that leads to transformative technological breakthroughs. By emulating nature’s principles for self-organizing and self-regulating, Wyss researchers are developing innovative new engineering solutions for health care, energy, architecture, robotics, and manufacturing. These technologies are translated into commercial products and therapies through collaborations with clinical investigators and corporate alliances.
About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in life sciences, chemical analysis, electronics and communications. The company’s 18,500 employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $4.5 billion in fiscal 2009. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com.