Acquisition of a High-Field Multi-Nuclear FT-NMR Instrument

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A grant has been awarded to California State University-Hayward under the direction of Dr. Michael P. Groziak for support of a compact, high-field (400 MHz), multi-nuclear Fourier Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FT-NMR) instrument system. A core group of four active researcher-educators will manage this NMR instrument system, conducting their own research dependent upon hands-on access to just such equipment and helping other researchers both on and off campus with NMR-related research. The instrument being acquired is the most compact on the market, and it is equipped with a computer workstation, state-of-the art software, and various probes for recording signals from many different nuclei in the periodic table.The core users have set up their research laboratories, they have attracted students to their groups, and they have already obtained external funding for research in areas traditionally supported by the NSF. The focus of their investigations is in the fields of bio-organic and biophysical chemistries, where they are poised to advance scientific knowledge and understanding. Specifically, they will be studying viral membrane proteins and nucleic acids, new boron heterocycles and tethered nucleotides, enzyme inhibitors, the interaction of small molecules with artificial membrane systems, and metabolites of cytochrome P450 oxidation of organic contaminants. The instrument will be integrated into the Department's teaching curriculum for the purpose of training young researchers. The results of all of these research-centered efforts will be broadly disseminated in meeting presentations and scientific publications, and they will be highlighted on the Department's Web site. Because of their prior extensive experience with this type of instrument, the core users group is well qualified to maintain it and to use it to its full capacity to support their research efforts and those of others.California State University-Hayward is one of the last few remaining in the CSU system to obtain this type of modern NMR instrument. It is an Undergraduate Research Institution ranking 39th in the nation for granting baccalaureate degrees to minority students. The presence of this instrument on campus will stimulate an enhanced interest among a large number of minority and female students to pursue research activities and degrees in the chemical sciences and related fields. This expectation is supported by the Department's graduating student track record, its ongoing participation in several highly successful minority research programs, and by the student composition of the University as a whole. The instrument will have an immediate and deliberate impact upon many of the Department's research training-focused laboratory courses, thus providing even more encouragement for students to become involved in NMR-related research activities as upperclassmen. Finally, it will have a significant impact upon the larger society as a whole. In particular, the community colleges in the immediate vicinity of CSU-Hayward will be well served by the core users when they run spectra, hold workshop training sessions, present seminars, and provide access to this modern research instrument.