Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Research Core provides Rensselaer researchers, in addition to academic and industrial users throughout the community, access to state-of-the-art, ultra-high field NMR instrumentation.  The diverse capabilities of the facility are enabled with an array of fixed and broadband tunable probes for solution and solid-state NMR, and resonators and high power gradients for diffusion and magnetic resonance microimaging.  The NMR core actively supports research programs including structure determination of small molecules, proteins, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and macromolecular complexes at atomic resolution, quantitative analysis of complex mixtures, metabolomics applications, diffusion analysis, characterization of materials, and MR microimaging.

Expert training and assistance is available in experiment design and/or pulse sequence customization, sample preparation, data acquisition, processing, analysis, and reporting of results (e.g. manuscript and/or grant preparation) in addition to comprehensive fee-for-service support.

Contact Information:
Scott A. McCallum, Ph.D.
BioImaging & NMR Research Core Director
518-276-2856
mccals@rpi.edu

High sensitivity cryoprobes from 5 to 1.7mm (500 to 30 ul sample volumes) are available on 800 and 600 MHz instruments with autosample changers for detection of routine (1H, 2H, 13C, 15N, and 19F) nuclei in solution. Additional room temperature probes from 800 to 500 MHz are available in sizes from 5 to 1mm for solution-state detection of routine and less commonly studied nuclei (e.g. 6Li, 7Li, 11B, 23Na, 29Si, 35Cl, …) that accommodate sample volumes of 500 to 10 ul.  4mm HXY MAS and 3.2mm E-Free H,C,N/P MAS are available for solid-state NMR studies.

  • 1D analysis of 1H, 13C, 19F, 31P,29Si and more nuclei by solution and solid-state NMR including  quantitative NMR (qNMR), multiplicity editing, TOCSY/NOESY, CP-MAS
  • 2D experiments (HSQC, HMBC, H2BC, COSY, TOCSY, NOESY/ROESY, HETCOR, double CP)
  • Chemical structure and composition validation of major and minor components
  • 3D structure determination and analysis of confrontational dynamics
  • 1D and 2D drug screening experiments (e.g. STD, WaterLOGSY)
  • 1D and 2D characterization and editing by diffusion spectroscopy (DOSY)
  • Copolymer composition analysis including confirmation of rare linkages
  • Determination of affinity constants and interaction sites involving biomolecular interactions

A wet lab for sample preparation complete with a Tecan liquid handing robot, tabletop, micro, and NMR tube centrifuges, pH meter, fume hood, and wet bench is available to facility users. In addition, the facility offers both LINUX and Windows based workstations complete with a variety of software packages for data processing and analysis and a dedicated LINUX cluster for performing advanced NMR data processing, structure determination calculations, and restrained molecular dynamics simulations.

Major research programs at RPI utilize NMR methods in the engineering of biotherapeutics, to reveal protein folding and aggregation mechanisms/kinetics central to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's, and HIV diseases, and many others including structural informatics/gene discovery, cancer biology, bone mineralization, and drug discovery for preventing infectious microbial diseases.

Technology

Bruker 800 MHz Spectrometer
Bruker 800 MHz Spectrometer
Bruker 800 (18.8 Tesla) 4 channel AVII NMR spectrometer with cryoprobe and sample changer.
Bruker 600 MHz Spectrometer (CBIS)
Bruker 600 MHz Spectrometer (CBIS)
Bruker 600 MHz (14.1 Tesla) 4 AVII channel NMR spectrometer with H/F tunable TCI cryoprobes including and sample changer. This solution NMR system ideal for conducting chemical analysis, structure validation, structure determination, quantitative analysis, diffusion analysis, and characterization of biomolecular dynamics.
Bruker 600 MHz Wide-Bore Spectrometer and MRI Scanner
Bruker 600 MHz Wide-Bore Spectrometer and MRI Scanner
Bruker 600 MHz (14.1 Tesla) Wide-Bore 4 channel AVIII solution and solid-state NMR spectrometer and Microimaging MR scanner.
Bruker 600 MHz Spectrometer (Cogswell)
Bruker 600 (14.1 Tesla) 5 channel AVIII NMR spectrometer with 60 position sample changer and 1.7mm microcryoprobe. The 600 MHz NMR standard-bore spectrometer in Cogswell 216 is ideally suited for high-throughput automated sample handing such as in drug screening, protein expression/condition optimization, and metabonomic applications.
Agilent 500 MHz Spectrometer (Cogswell)
Agilent 500 MHz Spectrometer (Cogswell)
Agilent 500 (11.7 Tesla) 4 channel DDR2 NMR spectrometer with numerous probes including H/F, triple resonance, and broadband tunable capabilities. This instrument is ideal for short duration studies and ‘walk up’ acquisitions where high-sensitivity is not required.
TECAN Freedom EVO 150 Liquid Handling Robot
TECAN Freedom EVO 150 Liquid Handling Robot
High through-put assay development, automated sample preparation.

Required Acknowledgement and Authorship

Please acknowledge the CBIS Core Facilities in all publications and grant applications where our equipment and/or personnel have facilitated the work. These acknowledgements are very important because documenting our contributions helps to ensure that the resources of the Core Facilities are sustainable.

  • Equipment: If you used Core Facility equipment, please note this in the Materials and Methods. e.g., Thermogravimetric analysis was carried out using a TA Instruments TGA-Q50 (Rensselaer CBIS Analytical Biochemistry Core Facility).
  • Personnel: Please consider including CBIS personnel as co-authors on your publications when they have made a significant intellectual contribution to the research. Include CBIS Core Facility directors or staff as co-PI or co-investigators in grant applications when they provide a significant contribution to the grant proposal and scientific/intellectual leadership for the proposed work. Please follow these guidelines: ABRF Recommended Guidelines for Authorship on Manuscripts. Also, our Core Facility personnel always appreciate when they are mentioned in the Acknowledgements section of publications.
  • Required Funding Authorization Form: Rensselaer researchers must fill out the CBIS Cores Authorization Form (PDF) to use the CBIS Core Facilities.

Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for
Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies

1623 15th Street

518-276-4259

Staff Directory

CBIS Building

Connect with CBIS on Twitter

Back to top