An award is made to Claflin University for the purchase of an automated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sample changer to do NMR-based metabolomics research. The field of metabolomics focuses on changes to the small molecules that make up metabolism upon some stressful event or condition. NMR serves as an excellent detector of these small compounds; and statistical analysis is applied to many NMR sample replicates to increase the robustness of the metabolomics technique. The addition of an automated sample changer to Claflin?s existing 700 MHz NMR not only will make metabolomics research more efficient, but also the NMR will be more user-friendly. Specifically, the SampleCaseTM is mounted to the instrument at user height and eliminates the use of a ladder. Undergraduate students will gain more access to collecting NMR data and be trained in cutting-edge NMR-based metabolomics research. Claflin University has the third highest field NMR laboratory in the state of South Carolina, just behind the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML). Although a predominately undergraduate university and HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Claflin's NMR facility is becoming a state and nation wide shared facility with six collaborative metabolomics projects and plans to secure major users of the instrument from other future collaborative partners. The automated sample changer will enhance the current instrument capabilities, and is in line with the chemistry department's mission to not only become a state level shared NMR facility, but to support and enhance undergraduate research participation. With the addition of an automatic sample changer, Claflin's NMR facility will be more attractive to outside users as well as be able to accommodate multiple undergraduate metabolomics research projects. Housed in the Molecular Science and Research Center (MSRC) on Claflin?s campus, the extraordinary collection of state of the art instrumentation, including the 700 MHz Bruker NMR spectrometer, is unmatched by any other HBCU. PI Boroujerdi's laboratory specializes in NMR-based metabolomics research; however, with such a high field magnet, the capability to collect and analyze large bio-molecular samples via NMR is possible and open to any external users.
Claflin undergraduates love NMR-based metabolomics research. PI Boroujerdi is the newest biochemistry faculty member at Claflin, and since the beginning of her tenure three years ago, her metabolomics group has grown exponentially (currently with to 14 undergraduate students, 4 graduate students, and 1 staff). The nature of metabolomics lends itself to collaborations which is ideal for Claflin undergraduates whose research interest are spread far and wide in basic biology research. With 6 collaborators across the nation, and the recent interest in metabolomics research at Claflin, the demand for the 700 MHz NMR has dramatically increased to the point of saturation. With automatic sample collection, the large number of routine one dimensional 1H spectra can be collected more efficiently, and the extremely inefficient personnel time wasted on manual sample insertion and data collection will be refocused on bench work and data analysis, further increasing the quality and quantity of data produced by the metabolomics group. In order to accommodate the increasing number of undergraduates participating in metabolomics research, which includes the requirement for science majors to write and defend a senior thesis prior to graduation, many projects and collaborators have been established, which translates into a large number of NMR samples and a need for more efficient NMR data collection. Sample preparation, interpretation of results, manuscript writing, and presenting results will be increased with the addition of an automated sample changer. Instead of devoting personnel time to manual routine NMR data collection, while data is collected in automation, PI Boroujerdi can devote her time to training undergraduates in metabolite extraction techniques, statistical analysis of NMR data, and combing the literature to understand the biological implications of the metabolomics results.
