Technological Platforms

The NMR equipment at CIC bioGUNE is highly complementary, and ideally suited for a double-track strategy: a 600 MHz medium-field spectrometer with flexible configuration and ample accessories allows for a variety of highly specialised NMR experiments beyond standard biomolecular applications; and a 800 MHz high-field spectrometer with fixed configuration and a cryo-probe to run classical biomolecular NMR applications with highest sensitivity. Both BRUKER spectrometers are of the most modern AVANCE III generation.

To complement the modern NMR hardware, an ongoing project of the NMR platform is the continuous optimisation of existing NMR experiments with regard to user friendliness, robustness and maximum sensitivity. Recent improvements have already yielded an average of 50% sensitivity gains compared to conventional implementations of NMR experiments. We are currently exploring the limits of these sensitivity-enhancement schemes, and their broadness of application.

Furthermore, in collaboration with partners from the Max-Planck-Institutes (Tuebingen), we are developing NMR methodology to cleanse spectra from uninformative components or artifacts, and to measure new NMR parameters required for a novel streamlined protocol for fast protein structure analysis with highest resolution.

Exploiting the ample extra accessories available for the 600 MHz, especially its set of dedicated probe-heads, we are also extending the range of conventional biomolecular NMR applications to, e.g., study more exotic nuclei. In a collaboration project with partners from the CIB (Madrid) and Ludwig-Maximilians-University (Munich) we have developed a novel NMR approach to study carbohydrate-protein interactions. This technique has already been shown to yield unique new insight into binding kinetics and substrate specificity, and is now being developed further and applied more broadly.