Equipment: Helium Recovery Equipment: Securing Rhode Island and Southern New England NMR structural biology infrastructure

布朗大学获得了一项奖励，以支持购买氦气回收设备，以回收布朗大学结构生物学核心设施中三个核磁共振（NMR）光谱仪使用的氦气。布朗大学的研究人员在罗德岛州和新英格兰东南部使用布朗大学的核磁共振光谱仪，它利用极高的磁场，以原子分辨率观察蛋白质和生物分子在基本生物过程中的结构、运动和相互作用。布朗结构生物学设施也是该地区研究人员努力的重要组成部分，以产生广泛和持续的教育影响，鼓励罗德岛学校缺乏服务的学生进入STEM管道-包括课堂教学，培训来自科学代表性不足群体的学生，收集数据并作为培训平台，作为与当地缺乏服务的公立学校持续互动的一部分。这些核磁共振光谱仪使用由液氦冷却到绝对零度以上几度的超导磁体来保持这些高磁场所需的超导性。结果，氦不断地从核磁共振系统中蒸发并逃逸到大气中。因此，仪器的维护和操作需要持续的氦气供应。氦气是一种昂贵且不可再生的资源，因此回收氦气在财政和环境上都是负责任的。由于制造和供应链的条件，目前全球氦气供应处于极度短缺状态。获得该奖项支持的液氦回收系统将捕获和再液化从核磁共振光谱仪释放的氦，并提供用于核磁共振操作的所有氦的高效回收。该项目能够获得氦气液化和收集设备，为三个磁体系统每年回收约2200升液氦。850兆赫的核磁共振（罗德岛最高的磁场，新英格兰第二高的磁场）每隔几周就需要补充一次，因此该设施受到短期供应中断的严重威胁。该项目稳定了氦气供应，提供了延长850 MHz系统填充时间的重要附加好处，使每年的使用时间更长。这些氦回收工作所提供的光谱仪提供了原子水平的洞察：1)所有真核生物中核酸相互作用蛋白的必需谷氨酰胺富域的功能以及调节它们相互作用的机制；2)Cas9中的变构信号，从而产生对DNA编辑的首次见解，以进一步改善实验室科学和精准医学。3)肽-蛋白相互作用动力学，以调节和研究细胞网络，以及其他项目。氦气回收确保了这些努力的继续，这是绘制生物序列、结构和功能之间的机制联系的长期目标的第一步。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to Brown University to support the acquisition of helium recovery equipment to recycle the helium used by the three nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers in the Structural Biology Core Facility at Brown University. Used by researchers at Brown, in Rhode Island, and across southeastern New England, the NMR spectrometers at Brown University employ extremely high magnetic fields to see the structure, motions, and interactions of proteins and biomolecules involved in essential biological processes with atomic resolution. The Brown structural biology facility is also an important component of efforts by researchers in the region to make broad and sustained educational impacts, encouraging underserved Rhode Island school students into the STEM pipeline – including classroom teaching, training of students from groups under-represented in science, and collecting data and serving as training platform as part of a sustained interactions with local underserved public schools. These NMR spectrometers use superconducting magnets cooled by liquid helium to a few degrees above absolute zero to maintain superconductivity needed for these high magnetic fields. As a result, helium constantly boils off NMR systems and escapes to the atmosphere. Hence, a constant supply of helium is needed for the maintenance and operation of the instruments. Helium is an expensive and non-renewable resource, so it is fiscally and environmentally responsible to recycle helium. The global supply of helium is currently in an extreme shortage due to manufacturing and supply chain conditions. The liquid helium recycling systems acquired with support from this award will capture and re-liquefy the helium released from NMR spectrometers and offer high efficiency recovery of all helium used for NMR operation. The project enables acquisition of the helium liquification and collection equipment necessary for recycling approximately 2200 liters of liquid helium per year for three magnet systems. The 850 MHz NMR (highest magnetic field in Rhode Island and second highest in New England) requires refills every few weeks – hence the facility is severely endangered by short-term supply outages. This project stabilizes helium supply, providing the important added benefit of lengthening time between 850 MHz system fills, enabling more usage time per year. The work enabled by the spectrometers served by these helium recovery efforts provides atomic-level insight into 1) the function of essential glutamine-rich domains of nucleic-acid interacting proteins across all eukaryotes and the mechanisms that regulate their interactions, 2) allosteric signaling in Cas9 to yield first-of-its-kind insight into DNA editing to further improve laboratory science and precision medicine, 3) peptide-protein interaction kinetics to modulate and study cellular networks, among other projects. Helium recycling ensures the ability to continue these efforts, the first steps in long-term objectives to map mechanistic links between biological sequence, structure and function.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.