NMR Spectroscopy

The School has a long-standing and evolving commitment to the application of high field NMR spectroscopy to the study of biomolecular structure, analyte identification and quantification in tissues and fluids, in the kinetics of membrane transport and metabolism, and in molecular diffusion. Concomitant with the applications has been the implementation and design of novel NMR procedures for the study of biological systems including magnetic field and diffusion theory relating to cells and the development of new radio-frequency pulse sequences.

The School houses a Bruker AvanceIII 400 wide-bore NMR spectrometer equipped with a mini 0.5 micro-imaging system for small animals, a high field gradient (1000 G/cm) diffusion probe, a Doty variable angle spinning probe, and several high resolution probes. It also houses a Bruker Avance III 600 narrow-bore NMR with two cryogenic probeheads (TCI and CH dual) that are used for protein/nucleic acids structural and high-sensitivity metabolism work, respectively.

Our School is currently installing a Bruker 800 MHz spectrometer with a TCI cyrogenic probehead for high resolution and high sensitivity biomolecule structural studies. Another recent acquisition in collaboration with the School of Physics is a Minispec low resolution spectrometer primarily for educational use.

• Prof Philip Kuchel - Cellular function and diffusion, quadrupolar nuclei and peptide structure
• A/Prof Joel Mackay - Protein/nucleic acids structure and interactions
• Dr Dave Gell - Regulatory protein structure and interactions
• Dr Ann Kwan - NMR facility manager and protein structure