Acquisition of Bruker 900 MHz NEO console and probes

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This S10 grant application requests funds to purchase a modern 900 MHz NMR spectrometer console and probes that would leverage the unique opportunity to rescue a Bruker US2 900 MHz (21 Tesla) superconducting magnet that would otherwise be lost to the US scientific community. The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) operated this instrument at its Center for Structural Biology since its purchase with NIH funds and installation in 2004 (Gettins, P41GM068944). UIC has recently determined that it is no longer able to keep this instrument running and approached the National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison (NMRFAM) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) to request that NMRFAM move and update this instrument for the benefit of the overall scientific user community. NMRFAM has all the infrastructure in place, including helium recycling capability, to maximize long-term effective operation of this instrument. NMRFAM also has expert staff to maintain this instrument and ensure it operates in the most efficient manner to produce high- quality research results for our user community. NMRFAM has well-established procedures for user access, training and data management. Bruker has already de-energized the magnet and the full costs of the magnet move have already been committed by UW-Madison. The request of this proposal is solely for the NEO console and probes, one for solution NMR and one for solid-state NMR, that would most substantially update the performance of this system and thereby have the most immediate and lasting impact for a large group of NIH-funded investigators in need of high field NMR resources. With demand for 900 MHz NMR time by the NMRFAM user community at historically high levels exceeding our current capacity, this instrument will meet the demand for access to 900 MHz solution and solid-state NMR capabilities in a well-established shared facility. The proposed acquisition would also bring new NEO console technology and ultrafast (>100kHz) MAS capabilities to the NMRFAM user community, addressing requests for these cutting-edge technologies. Therefore, this proposal presents a special opportunity to most effectively steward precious scientific resources for the nation and to make a high-performance NMR spectrometer available to the user community for a fraction of the price of a new instrument.