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Release date: March 2002
NMR collection drives cellular research
The 750 megahertz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer allows scientists to better understand molecules relevant to biological and environmental studies.
(Image available to download from PictureThis.)
While most people's exposure to magnets has been limited to childhood science classes, a large group of researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have dedicated their lives to working with magnets on a larger, more powerful scale—and for a higher purpose. Their classroom is the High Field Magnetic Resonance Facility at the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, or EMSL, where the Western Hemisphere's most comprehensive collection of nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers is located and available to the scientific community for research use. These spectrometers—similar to hospital magnetic resonance imaging devices, or MRIs—use high-field superconducting magnets to study molecules and cells on a microscopic scale.
Nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, spectrometers are helping scientists from PNNL and around the country learn the most fundamental information about molecular structure, cellular mechanisms, materials science and chemical processes in hopes of addressing society's most complex challenges.
PNNL's NMR collection is worth more than $21 million, and the 15 spectrometers range in power from 300 to 900 megahertz (MHz)—about three to 12 times more powerful than MRIs. The cornerstone of this collection is the recently delivered 900 MHz wide-bore magnet, which is the world's highest performing NMR spectrometer.
Some of the research being conducted on these systems by PNNL scientists includes:
Protein structure studies: EMSL scientists are studying how proteins behave in cell walls and their interactions with other cellular components. Information obtained in these studies may increase the understanding of how proteins interact with each other to carry out complex cellular functions. DOE and the National Institutes of Health support this research.
PNNL physicist Robert Wind developed a combined optical and magnetic resonance microscope that may have great value in cellular research.
(Image available to download from PictureThis.)
How cells react to stress: Combined with an optical microscope, NMR spectrometers can provide new insight to the environment's impact on people at the cellular level. The combined optical and magnetic resonance microscope will allow scientists to study how live cells react over time when exposed to environmental insults, such as heat, stress and chemicals. With funding from the National Cancer Institute, EMSL scientists are using the combined microscope to study programmed cell death in hopes of more accurately evaluating a patient's response to chemotherapy.
Radioactive waste studies: Understanding the chemistry of radioactive waste is necessary for determining its fate in the environment and deciding how it should be processed. Yet the radioactivity hazards have inhibited scientists from fully characterizing waste using traditional methods. To address this problem, PNNL scientists are constructing a unique laboratory designed to analyze radioactive samples with modern NMR spectroscopy methods. The lab will enable scientists to characterize radioactive tank waste stored at DOE facilities and obtain the basic scientific information needed to determine how waste should be processed and how it might be transformed during storage. For example, they will be able to identify chemical forms of aluminum and differentiate various oxidation states of Technetium-99 present in samples. A custom-built NMR spectrometer is being developed with PNNL internal funds, while DOE and Bechtel, a management contractor at Hanford, are supporting the purchase of a commercial high-field instrument.
Impacts of pollution: PNNL scientists have employed NMR technology to provide the data needed to study how pollutants impact the respiratory system. Using NMR spectrometers, scientists have gathered structural information on a rat's nose, larynx and lungs essential to modeling the respiratory system. The data is recorded into a computer model, which will allow scientists to study the effect of pollution on diseased and healthy lungs.
The 200,000-square-foot EMSL opened in 1997 on the PNNL campus. As a DOE national user facility, its equipment and labs are available to non-PNNL scientists through a competitive process. Each year, about 50 scientific projects are carried out on the NMR spectrometers by users, many of whom never visit the lab but instead access its equipment remotely. Users can take advantage of virtual collaborative studies, through which they operate NMR spectrometers by a secure, remote Internet connection.
Important links
EMSL: http://www.emsl.pnl.gov
EMSL High Field Magnetic Resonance Facility: http://www.emsl.pnl.gov/hfmrf/
To view a virtual tour of the NMR lab, go to: http://www.emsl.pnl.gov:2080/using-emsl/tour/EMSL1611.html