{"id":136,"date":"2023-08-28T18:16:45","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T01:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-usc-dornsife.pantheonsite.io\/agilentcoe\/?page_id=136"},"modified":"2026-03-06T08:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:24:28","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/","title":{"rendered":"About us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-646 size-full\" src=\"\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture5.jpg\" alt=\"Lab Photo\" width=\"980\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture5.jpg 980w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture5-300x79.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture5-768x203.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Agilent Center of Excellence (COE) in Biomolecular Characterization was established as a genuine partnership between the University of Southern California (USC) and Agilent technologies, a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets. The center is housed in Michelson Center for Convergent Biosciences (MCB) of University Park campus.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The goal of establishing this research facility is a convergence of researchers across science and engineering to work together on multidisciplinary approaches for the development of new drugs, diagnostics, and medical devices. The Agilent COE provides a collaborative scientific environment with access to new and cutting-edge Agilent instrumentation and technologies for diverse research groups, graduate students and local customers to accelerate biomolecular characterization and advanced discoveries in life sciences.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Agilent COE facility is available for all USC researchers and researchers outside of USC. The broad type of instrumentation in the facility support diverse research activities over the community.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch: Get to Know the Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-Cg2xZydxG4?si=zLpTddymlkID7vn-\" title=\"USC Michelson - Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>Directors<\/h2>\n<p>Agilent COE is governed by two co-directors. Dr. Valery Fokin, USC Dornsife Professor of Chemistry, is one of the COE\u2019s two co-directors. His research focuses on molecular level biological interactions and chemical reactivity. The other co-director is Dr. Richard Roberts who has focused his research on the engineering new peptides and proteins for biology, diagnosis, and therapy using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/MRNA_display\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mRNA display<\/a>. He is Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Molecular and Computational Biology. The collaboration also involves some of the world\u2019s most influential scientists in MCB focusing their research on structural biology.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-656 size-full\" src=\"\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture6.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of people in the lab\" width=\"980\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture6.jpg 980w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture6-300x92.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2023\/09\/Picture6-768x235.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":1161,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-136","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About us - Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About us - Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-06T16:24:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1-1024x589.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"589\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/\",\"name\":\"About us - Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-29T01:16:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-06T16:24:28+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1.png\",\"width\":1896,\"height\":1090},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About us\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/\",\"name\":\"Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"About us - Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"About us - Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization","og_url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/","og_site_name":"Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization","article_modified_time":"2026-03-06T16:24:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":589,"url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1-1024x589.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/","name":"About us - Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1.png","datePublished":"2023-08-29T01:16:45+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-06T16:24:28+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/07\/videoframe_4257-1.png","width":1896,"height":1090},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"About us"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/","name":"Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/agilentcoe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}