FEI
and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) announced a partnership to
create the OHSU/FEI Living Lab for Cell Biology that will provide
researchers with several electron microscopes to advance the understanding and
treatment of complex diseases, such as cancer and AIDS.
The OHSU/FEI Living Lab will be
equipped with a variety of high-performance equipment including a Titan Krios
transmission electron microscope (TEM) and a Helios NanoLab DualBeam.
The lab will be run by Joe Gray,
PhD, a renowned cancer and genomic researcher recently recruited to OHSU from
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. With the creation of the Living
Lab, Gray and other OHSU scientists will be able to visualize cell structure at
a level of detail that wasn’t possible before, enabling them to explore, among
other things, how cancer cells function differently as they spread from the
site of origin to other parts of the body.
The collaboration will also help Hillsboro-based FEI gain an
even deeper understanding of the total workflow of electron microscopy in
cellular biology and, ultimately, develop next-generation tools. To that end,
FEI scientists appointed to the project will partner with OHSU scientists who
will share their expertise. The partnership will provide scientists in the
Living Lab with access to early versions of next-generation microscopy systems
so that they can contribute to the product development process. The focus of
this work will be on the combination of electron microscopy with other imaging
techniques, such as light and fluorescent (correlative) microscopy. This next-generation
technology is being designed with the goal of making it possible for scientists
to better understand the genetic mutations that drive cancer and other diseases
and understand how these mutations work together.
FEI Company, www.fei.com