Haris Panagos - Jueves 31 de Mayo 13:30 hs

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in biochemical research: Challenges and novel opportunities

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been an instrumental part in biochemical research over the past 50 years, essential in the determination of the structure and activity of organic molecules, as well as inorganic compounds. Despite its remarkable past contributions, in this age of fierce competition and continuously diminishing funding for research, NMR science finds itself vying for resources with other analytical techniques like Mass Spectrometry, which are cheaper and more sensitive.
This short seminar will partly focus on the unique capabilities of NMR spectroscopy, which have made it indispensable. Towards that end I will illustrate examples where NMR provides essential information on the structural analysis of biomolecules and natural products. Additionally, some of the novel and fast growing fields within research, like metabolomics and hyperpolarisation, have naturally gravitated towards NMR and will be discussed here. This expansion of NMR spectroscopy in combination with the continuous improvement of NMR hardware have paved the way for NMR to reassert its strong place not only in biochemical research but also in the medical sciences.