This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, Chad Tatko and colleagues Eric J. Arnoys, David E. Benson and Amy Wilstermann from Calvin College will acquire a 500 MHz NMR spectrometer. This instrument will support research in 1) biocatalysts based on peptide structural scaffolds for organic transformations, with the goal of expanding the applicability of enzymatic efficiency to new synthetic conversions; 2) epitope mapping of ligands for topoisomerase II, to aid in understanding at an atomic level the sources of protein binding; 3) identification of the formation and function of cross-linked protein derived cofactors, to determine their role in protein reduction/oxidation activities; and 4) exploration of the role of structural dynamics in Galectin-3's cellular pathways to understand the effect of structural flexibility on nuclear transport.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools available to chemists for the elucidation of the structure of molecules. It is used to identify unknown substances, to characterize specific arrangements of atoms within molecules, and to study the dynamics of interactions between molecules in solution. Access to state-of-the-art NMR spectrometers is essential to chemists who are carrying out frontier research. The results from these NMR studies will have an impact in synthetic organic chemistry and biochemistry. This instrument will be an integral part of teaching as well as research.
