It’s no secret that N.C . State is big on scientific research. Luckily for scientists on campus, the University may have a one-of-a-kind Nuclear Magnetic Resonance laboratory at its disposal, with the largest nuclear magnetic resonance machine on this side of the planet.
The North Carolina Research Campus, located in Kannapolis , North Carolina, is a satellite research institute that collaborates with colleges and companies in the area, including N.C . State. The research campus features multiple NMR machines. However, they also happen to house the largest NMR machine in the entire western hemisphere: the Bruker 950-megahertz US2 .
Kevin Knagge , the NMR Project Leader and laboratory manager for the NMR facility at the research institute, coordinates projects that relate to analytical sciences involving use of the NMR machines. Knagge works with different companies and universities, such as N.C . State and UNC-Chapel Hill. Knagge is currently working on a project with the University that investigates using chemical compounds to destroy certain viruses and diseases.
The NMR laboratory is working to identify the chemical structure of these compounds.
“Once we have knowledge of what the chemical structure is,” Knagge said, “we can look for it in plants, or contact a chemical company to try and synthesize it.”
NMR spectroscopy is also commonly used to help researchers determine and identify the three dimensional structures of complex molecules such as proteins.
“The folding [of proteins] determines which molecules can interact with them,” Knagge said. “How these proteins fold are very important to understanding their activity, and what they can be used for.”
Knagge said the laboratory is working on several experiments designed to look specifically at carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, and how these atoms are related to each other in a protein to form amino acids, which form long chains, called peptides. The researchers also investigate how one peptide is related to another peptide through bonds and their conformation in space, with the goal of figuring out how certain proteins are folded. For chemists, biochemists and other researchers, this folding unveils the secrets of function. Basically, abiding by the concept of every intro biology class: function follows form.
“If we can determine chemical bonds and space,” Knagge said, “then we can determine which peptides are close to each other because of the protein’s fold.”
The research institute purchased their machine from a corporation called Bruker , but according to Knagge , for an instrument as large as the 950-Megahertz machine, Bruker essentially made it specifically for the facility. The hefty machine was built and tested at the Bruker facilities in Germany, and then shipped to the research institute in Kannapolis .
“We purchased it years before we actually got it,” Knagge said.
The machine arrived in Kannapolis in August of 2008, and since then has been used by many other institutes who collaborate with the facility—institutes such as UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and N.C . State.
According to Reza Ghiladi , professor of inorganic chemistry, power and size don’t always matter in the case of NMR machines. Ghiladi said the University has several types of NMR machines, and although none match the magnetic power of the machine in Kannapolis , they are perfectly suited for spectroscopy that does not involve complex molecules.
Other research projects involving N.C . State include a project headed by Mary Ann Lila, the director of the Plants for Human Health Institute at the North Carolina Research Campus. Her project works to identify compounds in edible plants that have certain bioactivity to benefit human health, including the prevention of malaria.
According to Sheetal Ghelani , the Associate Director of Business Development at the research campus, you don’t have to be in Kannapolis to take advantage of what the NMR laboratories have to offer.
“This is a facility that is available to anyone at N.C . State who would like access to it,” Ghelati said.
