FEI, OHSU share history and vision for ‘Living Lab’

Good partners often have some shared history.

That’s certainly the case with FEI and Oregon Health & Science University.  FEI and OHSU announced on Sept. 13 that they are working  together to create the Living Lab for Cell Biology. The OHSU/FEI Living Lab will provide researchers with state-of-the-art electron microscopes to advance the understanding and treatment of complex diseases such as cancer and AIDS.

The collaboration is designed to help both partners move forward. OHSU will receive some of the sophisticated tools it needs for research, including a Titan

FEI Helios NanoLab DualBeam microscope

Krios™ transmission electron microscope (TEM) and a Helios NanoLab™ DualBeam™. FEI will gain new insights into how its electron microscopes are used to advance scientific discovery. That knowledge will help FEI refine its next-generation technology, which will combine  electron microscopy with other imaging techniques, such as light and fluorescent (correlative) microscopy.

As OHSU and FEI forge a future, it’s interesting to note their past. Both organizations have ties to the Oregon Graduate Institute, which has served as one of the cornerstones of Oregon’s technology industry since it was  founded in 1963.

FEI was co-founded in 1971 by, among others, Lynwood Swanson and Jonathan Orloff. Swanson and Orloff both served as faculty members at the Oregon Graduate Center, which later became the Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI). And, it was while Swanson and Orloff were building their careers at OGI that their company began to blossom and got on track to become a world leader in electron optics.

OHSU also has grown with OGI. In 2001, OGI merged with OHSU.