Request to Purchase a Varian High Resolution NMR Replacement Console

Ackerman, Joseph

Abstract

The Washington University High Resolution NMR Facility requests funding to purchase a Varian DirectDriveT console for an aging 500 MHz NMR instrument and a magic angle sample spinning NanoprobeT to allow for studies of metabolite profiles from cancer tissues. These requests are for supplementing and modernizing a shared magnetic resonance resource that serves 38 separate research groups spanning departments of Anesthesiology, Biochemistry &Molecular Biophysics, Chemistry, Cardiology, Engineering, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Pathology, Pharmacology &Molecular Biology, Physics, Radiation Oncology, and Radiology. The NMR Facility is an active resource housing five instruments and staffed with seasoned professionals committed to user training and collaborative research. The Facility is open and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and committed to service for its extensive user base. This request is prompted by significant down time and maintenance expense associated with the existing Facility 500 MHz instrument that dates back to 1986. This instrument has served research needs for dozens of principal investigators for over two decades and is now dated and unreliable. The scientific basis for this proposal spans a user group with longstanding interests in health related issues. These including research areas of light initiated alterations of DNA structure, the creation of molecular structures that mimic neural communication networks, understanding markers for the genesis of and recognition of cancer, tissue damage caused by reactive oxidative molecules in living systems, and understanding the altered metabolism of the diabetic heart. This request, $314,395, is made with a financial matching commitment from Washington University in the sum of $75,000.