Joint CU-Boulder, UCDHSC news release
Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center today received an enormous yet delicate delivery of a much anticipated $5 million nuclear magnetic resonance magnet.
The delivery came nearly two years after CU researchers were awarded a $6.5 million grant to bring to Colorado the largest NMR magnet available in the world today. It will be the only magnet of its type in the Rocky Mountain region and will be used for biomedical research.
The magnet, which weighs 20,000 pounds and is a story and a half tall, will be housed in the south research tower of Research Complex 1 at Fitzsimons. The giant magnet is wound from several miles of niobium-tin superconducting wire and is almost half a million times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. Due to the magnetic force, the beams in the south tower had to be specially placed to keep them out of the magnet's field. The first three floors of the building were designed to provide a huge open space to accommodate the 17-foot tall magnet and the 34-foot diameter cement pit where the magnet will be placed.
The grant was awarded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health.
CU-Boulder associate professor Deborah Wuttke and CU-Boulder professor Arthur Pardi, both of the chemistry and biochemistry department, are the project leaders for the grant. David Jones, associate professor of pharmacology at UCDHSC will co-direct the facility.
"Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a tool used to solve the structures of both simple and complex molecules," Wuttke said. "This technique is the molecular parallel of magnetic resonance imaging, which provides three-dimensional images of the body. The 900-megahertz nuclear magnetic resonance magnet will be used to determine the 3-dimensional structures of proteins, DNA and RNA by first determining how individual atoms are connected and then how these polymers twist and turn to fold into well-defined structures."
Learning more about these structures is essential for understanding the molecular basis of all biological function and the changes that lead to disease, and is a critical area of biomedical research, she added.
While researchers at CU-Boulder and UCDHSC already use several smaller magnets for research, the giant magnet will allow them to gain more accurate pictures of how molecules work.
"The information obtained can be used to design new therapeutics as well as understand the underlying mechanisms of life," Pardi said. "Researchers who will use this instrumentation will be addressing a variety of biomedical problems, including those involved in cancer, HIV, antiviral activity, effects of environmental estrogens, immune deficiency, birth defects and alcohol sensitivity."
Approximately $5 million of the grant was used to purchase the nuclear magnetic resonance magnet. The remainder of the grant will be used to operate and maintain the facility.
"Planning for this magnet began six years ago, before these magnets even existed," said Dr. E. Chester Ridgway, senior associate dean for Academic Affairs at the CU School of Medicine. "The development of the Fitzsimons campus included this magnet as an integral part of the infrastructure, and this machine will be the cornerstone for development of the premier Nuclear Magnetic Resonance center in the Rocky Mountain region."
CU joins five other institutions chosen by the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences to establish six regional centers for state-of-the-art nuclear magnetic resonance facilities for biomedical research. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York Structural Biology Center, University of Georgia at Athens and University of Wisconsin at Madison received grants in 2002. The University of California at Berkeley was awarded a grant at the same time as CU.
The regional facility will serve institutions including the University of Utah School of Medicine, Texas A&M and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
The University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center is one of three campuses in the University of Colorado system. Located in Denver and Aurora, Colo., the center includes schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry, a graduate school and a teaching hospital. For more information, visit the Web site at .
The University of Colorado at Boulder is a comprehensive public research university located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. More than 29,000 students are enrolled in nine colleges and professional schools on the Boulder campus. The University of Colorado at Boulder is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and offers more than 3,400 courses in 170 fields of study. The faculty received nearly $260 million in sponsored research awards during the 2004 fiscal year. For additional information, visit the university's web site at .
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