Tour of KGI’s Science Heritage Center

Dr. Jim Osborne, the Robert E. Finnigan professor Emeritus and director of the Center for Biomarker Research created the Science Heritage exhibit that consists of more than 50 instruments spanning multiple generations. And therefore is foremost authority to guide this tour. 

Dr. Osborne, who joined KGI in May 2009, earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees in chemistry from the University of Maryland in Baltimore County and his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore.  From 1974 to 1985, Dr. Osborne investigated cholesterol transport and lipid metabolism as a staff member of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.  He joined Beckman Instruments in 1985 as manager of Applications and Centrifuge Research.  He was named Director of Research and Applications in 1987 and was appointed Vice President in 1992. 

From 1992 to 1996, Dr. Osborne served as Vice President and Director of Advanced Chemistry and DNA Analysis and had responsibility for the Beckman Center of Advanced Capillary Electrophoresis, in addition to various analytical and specific chemistries.  In 1998, he became Corporate Vice President of Advanced Technology.  In 2008, Dr. Osborne transitioned back into academia by joining the faculty of KGI founding the Center for Biomarker Research.

Dr. Osborne is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on protein biophysical chemistry, lipoprotein metabolism and enzymology and has four patents on capillary electrophoresis and DNA sequencing.  He is a member of The Protein Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association of Clinical Chemists.  He serves on the board of the Beckman Coulter Foundation.

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