Upgrade of NMR Spectrometer Consoles to Secure the Future Operation of the Biomolecular NMR Facility in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. (360G-Wellcome-094234_Z_10_Z)

We seek support for the replacement of our ageing 800 and 600 MHz NMR spectrometer consoles by the current state-of-the-art equivalent and to equip the latter machine with a high sensitivity cryoprobe. The NMR machines are part of the highly successful multi-user Biomolecular NMR Facility in the Department of Biochemistry. The shared facility is accessed by more than a dozen research groups who work on a wide range of biomedical projects. These are all related to the structure and function of mo lecules that are involved in fundamental roles in the diverse processes of life and through their dysfunction are related to disease. Many of the research projects studied in the NMR facility involve work with large proteins or multiprotein complexes, or comprise situations where the use of alternative structural methods such as X-ray crystallography is difficult. Our research covers topics that address elementary problems in biology, such as intra- and inter-cellular signalling, regulation of c hromatin structure, the biosynthesis of complex molecules such as antibiotics and molecular events that concentrate in, at or near cell membranes. Many of these research groups are supported by programme and project grants from the Wellcome Trust and include also a WT senior fellow.