NMR Facility

 

Established more than 10 years ago, NMR spectroscopy has had a prominent history in Cleveland. In May, 2006 the NMR Center hosted a National Symposium to celebrate the expansion of the NMR infrastructure. The program and pictures from that meeting are available here. The NMR facility is now part of CCMSB.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy is a very versatile technology for the characterization of structure and dynamics of small molecules as well as biological macromolecules in solution, but also in membrane mimicking environments, in solid powders or microcrystals.

CCMSB houses state of the art equipment primarily for solution NMR (Bruker 600, 800 and 900 MHz spectrometers), and a solid state facility has been added to the Bruker 800 MHz spectrometer. A typical aqueous sample consists of a 200-500 microL solution with 10microM to > 1mM relatively pure molecule of interest. For well structured macromolecules the technique gives interpretable spectra up to 60-200 kDa molecular weight, although studies can become very time consuming due to the number of signals that need to be identified. Structure determination, characterization of molecular dynamics and protein-ligand or protein-protein interactions are more routine in the sub-30 kDa range. For most applications, it is necessary to obtain isotope- labelled forms of the molecule to be detected (15N and/or 13C labelling). Thus most proteins are expressed in bacteria or other cells which can be grown in isotope enriched media. Training for independent use of the instruments is mandatory, but assisted use can also be provided by facility manager, Dr. Xi-an Mao. We also encourage investigators to contact local PIs to obtain assistance and support for pilot projects, and to inquire regarding possible collaborations. User time must be booked via this website, please also read the rules associated with the booking of NMR time.