Arizona State University’s (ASU) Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC) was set-up in the new interdisciplinary science and technology complex (ISTB1) in 2005 by Professor Jeff Yarger who was its founding director until 2017. Since this time, the ASU MRRC has primarily been operated as an NMR/MRI user facility (ASU-KED). The original concept was to develop a general purpose research center where all things dealing with Magnetic Resonance (MR) could be explored at ASU (and the surrounding greater Phoenix area in Arizona). Below is some information and most importantly an updated current events in Magnetic Resonance posting.
MRRC Core Facility Seed Funding – PDF
NMR COVID19 Group
Secondary structure determination of conserved SARS-CoV-2 RNA elements by NMR spectroscopy
Bruker on-demand: Using NMR spectroscopy, all proteins relevant to the virus are being structurally investigated and RNA elements are forming potential targets for new drugs. Furthermore, RNA and proteins will be screened against a fragment library which is designed for an easy follow up chemistry.
Comparability studies of Pharmaceutical Proteins by 2D NMR fingerprint
Bruker Live Webinar on Sept 8, 2020 by Dr. Joan Malmstrøm, Novo Nordisk. NMR can provide more detailed information on the HOS of pharmaceutical proteins and can be more sensitive towards changes occurring during production including oxidation, degradation, and chemical modifications such as acylation compared to the cell-based assays.
Characterizing Pharmaceutical Formulations Using Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy
Bruker Live Webinar on July 28, 2020 by Prof. Eric Munsen, Purdue University. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy is a powerful technique to study polymorphism, form changes upon processing, the presence of small amounts of amorphous drug in crystalline solids, and small amounts of crystalline drug in amorphous solid dispersions.
The David H. Murdock Research Institute (DHMRI) on the NC Research Campus in Kannapolis. NMR Research Services including a 950 MHz NMR system.
Solid-State NMR pioneer is elected into the NAS (2020): Dr. Rob Tycko. Liquid-State NMR pioneer, Prof. Lewis Kay, was elected in the US NAS in 2020.
Bruker’s Virtual Tour for Analytical Magnetic Resonance Solutions
Prof. Rachel Martin is a professor at UC-Irvine and does both solid-state and liquid-state NMR of biomolecular systems. She has taken up the call of scientists to stop non-essential research projects and work on COVID-19. An recent article at UCI with some details can be linked to here: https://news.uci.edu/2020/03/31/chemistry-faculty-launch-antiviral-research-project/ (Links to an external site.) She said they are potentially running out of NMR capacity at UC-Irvine. So, the ASU-MRRC is planning to collaborate and help out with this essential research that Prof. Martin is spearheading. The MRRC faculty, staff and associated students are all encouraged to get involved and help out.
Dr. Craig Campell (craig.campbell@chem.ox.ac.uk) is teaching a course in Practical Chemistry at Oxford University (Department of Chemistry) and like all chemistry courses, was required to teach online because of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. ASU’s MRRC is providing essential remote NMR support for this newly online teaching course. ASU has one of the largest online University degree programs and the first to offer an online biochemistry degree. ASU is currently working to offer an online chemistry degree. The expertise and experience ASU faculty and staff have with online teaching, instruction, technology and scientific instrumentation is being offered out to any and all educational institutions world-wide in an effort to collaborate and support each other in this stressful and quickly changing time. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Prof. Yarger, Dr. Cherry or Dr. Amin if you would like to request online support or assistance from ASU and the remotely and automated MRRC (NMR and MRI instruments).
ASU ONLINE BIOCHEMISTRY has several innovative methods for conducting chemistry and biochemistry laboratories, which are an important and critical component of any degree program in chemistry and/or biochemistry. One of the major hurdles is how to teach organic chemistry laboratory (practical and/or hands-on experimental organic chemistry). Prof. Ian Gould and others at ASU has been incredibly successful with an intensive 1/2 week summer organic chemistry lab for online students. While this has been overwhelmingly successful, there is still a huge need for the conveniences of remote access and asynchronous ‘hands-on’ practical activities. The MRRC at ASU is working with the developers of online education at ASU to bring automated and remote NMR to the organic chemistry student in a way that makes it identical to being at the instrument.
NMRs have goals, too (A comic collaboration between C&EN and ChemScrapes cartoonist Brendan Burkett)
Info on 2020 NMR Conferences
NMR Related Webinars
Feb 5, 2020
BioPchem 