Agilent embraces systems biology
all its gene expression, proteomics and reagents activities under
one umbrella.
The move is designed to improve the way in which the company handles contact with customers working in basic research, drug discovery and early-stage drug development.
It also lends more focus to Agilent's pharmaceutical analysis unit, which focuses on later-stage drug development and manufacturing.
The unit, known as Integrated Biology Solutions, will be headed by Fran DiNuzzo, who has held several senior R&D, manufacturing and marketing positions at Agilent during the past 20 years, most recently, as vice president of the bio-reagents, consumables and services business.
"The new structure…will enable the rapid development of products that bridge multiple disciplines, thereby facilitating a more integrative study of biological organisms often referred to as 'systems biology'," said DiNuzzo.
Scientifically, the rationale behind the move is to bring together all of Agilent's technologies used in the research of potential new drugs together, with a view to developing new products that can be used for broader applications.
"Pharmaceutical, biotech and academic customers use a combination of technologies to research disease and potential new drugs [and] the data obtained during research is applicable to the broader study of biological systems such as molecular pathways and cellular metabolism," said Agilent in a statement.
"But it has traditionally been very difficult to integrate these diverse technologies and the data they produce," it added.
