Establishment of a High Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility University of Minnesota

This proposal from a consortium of faculty from six different departments at the University of Minnesota and researchers from surrounding institutions (e.g., the Mayo Clinic) and the commercial sector seeks support from the NSF Academic Research Infrastructure Program to assist in the establishment of a cutting edge NMR resource. The University of Minnesota is committed to a developing Program in Structural Biology that will be housed in the new Basic Health Sciences Building scheduled for completion in August, 1996. The NMR facility (4,000 sq. Ft.) will be located on level one along with other integral components: X-ray, EPR and other spectroscopies, electron microscopy, mass spectroscopy, microchemical facilities and computational resources which will include a supercomputer center sub-site. The centerpiece of this application is the acquisition of a 1 7.6T NMR spectrometer (1H resonance frequency of 750 MHz) as well as upgrades of existing 11.7 and 14.2 T NMR spectrometer consoles. Over the past few years, multidimensional and high field NMR methodology has revolutionized the role that NMR plays in the chemical and biological sciences. In recognition of these developments, the University of Minnesota has pledged a substantial commitment to the establishment of a premier NMR facility to support its own faculty and those from other academic/research institutions and the commercial sector in the State of Minnesota. As part of this undertaking, it is proposed that the NSF play a pivotal role in the establishment of a broadly based NMR facility. An initial group of 14 scientists who would use the facility has been identified. Research pursued in these laboratories impacts upon a wide spectrum of problems ranging from health to material science whose solutions are rooted in the NMR structural elucidation of proteins, nucleic acids, membrane assemblies and inorganic polymers.