Electronics Upgrade for 11.7 T

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA

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Abstract

Project Summary Funding is requested for an electronics upgrade to our 11.7 tesla nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer for solutions applications at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Our current 11.7 T NMR is very heavily used and currently supports 24 NIH-funded projects from 8 NIH institutes. The existing spectrometer was purchased 10 years ago with a shared instrumentation grant and has been extensively used to support a wide range of NIH-funded research as evidenced by over 70 papers in PubMed that acknowledge the original shared instrumentation grant. However the the current instrument is increasingly unreliable and is not well supported by the manufacturer any longer. The proposed upgrade will replace the aging electronics with a state of the art three channel console, two probes, an autosampler, and a variable temperature system. This new instrument will be a crucial component in facilitating the development and synthesis of novel molecular imaging probes and contrast agents. The dual mission of the Martinos Center is technology development and translational research involving advanced imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, optical imaging, and magnetoencephalography. Analytical and physical chemistry underpins much of this work. For instance in molecular imaging probe development, NMR is vital for identification of key synthetic intermediates and for proof of structure the final compound. It is also a key method to determine compound purity. NMR is routinely used to characterize the biophysical properties of contrast agents, e.g. water and proton exchange kinetics, solution dynamics, and protein binding interactions. NMR is also used to monitor chemical kinetics. Finally, NMR is a quantitative technique that is routinely used to accurately determine concentrations. The requested instrumentation will be administered as a shared resource for the Martinos center, the larger MGH research community, as well as other institutions in the greater Boston area. The Principle Investigator and Advisory Committee will ensure both equitable and cost-effective operation of this system. The electronics upgrade to this 11.7T NMR will greatly benefit our research community and we expect it will play an essential role in driving many new discoveries pertaining to a host of medically related issues including cancer, diabetes, drug addiction, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, liver disease, stroke, kidney disease, and neural plasticity.