Flagship NMR spectroscopy centre and Waters Laboratory open at Imperial

World class cross-faculty facilities unveiled by Rector Sir Richard Sykes - News

By Danielle Reeves
26 September 2006

A world-class, cross faculty centre for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and the complementary Waters Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy were both launched today at Imperial College London.

The new £5 million, SRIF-funded NMR facility features an extremely powerful shielded magnet for studying the composition, structure and interactions of complex molecules at high resolution. The Waters Laboratory contains high-end equipment for mass spectroscopy which will complement NMR facility's work on defining the structure of molecules. The lab is named for the US Waters Corporation which has funded $1 million spectroscopy equipment for the lab.

The NMR centre was officially opened by Imperial's Rector Sir Richard Sykes, who was then joined by Arthur Caputo, President of the Waters Corporation, for the unveiling of the Waters Laboratory plaque. The official opening ceremonies for both facilities were preceded by a special guest lecture from NMR expert Professor Gerhard Wagner of Harvard University in the USA, who flew in for the event.

NMR spectroscopy allows scientists to see the fine details of how molecules are made up, by placing a molecular sample into the ultra-high magnetic field created by the mgnet. Once in the magnetic field, atoms in the molecule interact with the magnetic field, creating an energy which can be detected. Through observing and measuring this energy, researchers are able to determine the molecule's structure and how it interacts with other molecules.

Professor Steve Matthews from Imperial's Division of Molecular Biosciences explains: "NMR holds the key to unprecedented insight into fundamental processes in medicine, biology, chemistry and materials. Our new NMR spectrometer here at Imperial is extremely powerful and will enable researchers from across the College to understand molecular structures and dynamics in greater detail than ever before."

The only one of its kind in London, modern ultra-shield technology allows this extremely powerful magnet to be located in the city for the first time, by preventing stray magnetic fields from impacting on the surrounding urban environment and vice versa.

Thanking Waters Corporation for their support, Jeremy Nicholson head of Imperial's Department of Biomolecular Medicine said: "I'm delighted to welcome Arthur Caputo and his colleagues from Waters Corporation who have travelled from the States to attend the official opening of the Waters Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy. Their investment in the new mass spectrometry laboratory - together with our new NMR facility - means that the College has a uniquely powerful new facility for molecular structure elucidation, which will enable researchers here in the future to develop new disease diagnostics based on small molecule biomarkers and to understand molecular mechanisms of disease."

Imperial's Rector Sir Richard Sykes said: "Imperial has a leading international reputation in applying NMR technologies to solving biological problems so I'm delighted to have this new, leading-edge centre on campus, incorporating the Waters Laboratory. At the College we actively encourage researchers from different disciplines to work together, pooling their knowledge in different areas towards common goals. This new cross faculty facility will mean that NMR and spectroscopy technology can continue to play an important part at the forefront of Imperial's molecular-level research."

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