{"607396":{"#nid":"607396","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Atlanta NMR Consortium Now Open for Business","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENMR \u0026ndash; nuclear magnetic resonance \u0026ndash; is a powerful tool to investigate matter. It is based on measuring the interaction between the nuclei of atoms in molecules in the presence of an external magnetic field; the higher the field strength, the more sensitive the instrument.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor example, high magnetic fields enable measurement of analytes at low concentrations, such as the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/600559\u0022\u003Ecompounds in the urine of blue crabs\u003C\/a\u003E. High-field NMR has also allowed scientists to \u0026ldquo;see\u0026rdquo; the structure and dynamics of complex molecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and their complexes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENMR is used widely in many fields, from biochemistry, biology, chemistry, and physics, to geology engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, medicine, food science, and many others.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENMR instruments, however, are a major investment. The most advanced units can cost up to up to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.the-scientist.com\/technology-profile\/taking-it-higher-55417\u0022\u003Emillions of dollars per piece\u003C\/a\u003E. Maintenance can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. The investment in people is also significant. It can take years of training before a user can perform some of the most advanced techniques.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor these and other reasons, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Georgia State University have formed the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/atlantanmr.com\u0022\u003EAtlanta NMR Consortium\u003C\/a\u003E. The aim is to maximize use of institutional NMR equipment by sharing facilities and expertise with consortium partners.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough the consortium, students, faculty, and staff of a consortium member can use the NMR facilities of their partners. The cost to a consortium member is the same as what the facility charges its own constituents.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;NMR continues to grow and develop because of technological advances,\u0026rdquo; says \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chemistry.emory.edu\/home\/people\/faculty\/lynn-david.html\u0022\u003EDavid Lynn\u003C\/a\u003E, a chemistry professor at Emory University. To keep up, institutions need to keep buying new, improved instruments. Such a never-ending commitment is becoming untenable and redundant across Atlanta, Lynn says. Combining forces is the way to go.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EImmediately, the consortium offers access to the most sensitive instruments now in Atlanta \u0026ndash; the 700- and 800-MHz units at Georgia Tech. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/581934\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech invested more than $5 million to install the two high-field units, as well as special capabilities, in 2016.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough the consortium, partners can gain access to Georgia State\u0026rsquo;s large variety of NMR probes. Solid-state capability, which is well established in Emory and advancing at Georgia Tech, will be available to partners.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENeedless to say, the consortium offers alternatives when an instrument at a member institution malfunctions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond maximizing use of facilities, the consortium offers other potential benefits.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding community\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The biggest benefit is community,\u0026rdquo; says \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/people\/anant-paravastu\u0022\u003EAnant Paravastu\u003C\/a\u003E. Paravastu is an associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is also a member of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Each of us specializes the hardware and software for our experiments,\u0026rdquo; Paravastu says. \u0026ldquo;As we go in different directions, we will benefit from a cohesive community of people who know how to use NMR for a wide range of problems.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EParavastu previously worked at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nationalmaglab.org\/\u0022\u003ENational High Magnetic Field Laboratory\u003C\/a\u003E, in Florida State University. That national facility sustains a large community of NMR researchers who help each other build expertise, he says. \u0026ldquo;We Atlanta researchers would benefit from a similar community, and not only for the scientific advantage.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth Lynn and Paravastu believe the consortium will help the partners jointly compete for federal grants for instrumentation. \u0026ldquo;A large user group will make us more competitive,\u0026rdquo; Lynn says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The federal government would much rather pay for an instrument that will benefit many scientists rather than just one research group in one university,\u0026rdquo; Paravastu says.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESharing expertise\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The most important goal for us is the sharing of our expertise,\u0026rdquo; says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gsu.edu\/profile\/markus-germann\/\u0022\u003EMarkus Germann\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor of chemistry at Georgia State. A particular expertise there is the study of nucleic acids.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMore broadly, Georgia State has wide experience in solution NMR. Researchers there have developed NMR applications to study complex structures of biological and clinical importance. Germann offers some examples:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EStructure and dynamics of damaged and unusual DNA\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EStructure and dynamics of protein\u0026mdash;DNA and protein\u0026mdash;RNA complexes\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EStructural integrity of protein mutants\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ESmall ligand-DNA and -RNA binding for gene control\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EProtein-based contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;For me, there\u0026rsquo;s a direct benefit in learning from people at Georgia State about soluble-protein structure,\u0026rdquo; Paravastu says. He studies the structures of peptides; of particular interest are certain water-soluble states of beta-amyloid peptide, in Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease. These forms, Paravastu says, have special toxicity to neurons.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EParavastu also studies proteins that self-assemble. \u0026ldquo;People at Emory have a different approach to studying self-assembling proteins,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;We have a lot of incentive to strengthen our relationships with other groups.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Different labs do different things and have different expertise,\u0026rdquo; Lynn says. \u0026ldquo;The consortium lowers the activation energy to take advantage of partners\u0026rsquo; expertise.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEven before the consortium, Germann notes, his lab has worked with Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/biosci.gatech.edu\/people\/francesca-storici\u0022\u003EFrancesca Storici\u003C\/a\u003E on studies of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27504600\u0022\u003Ethe impact of ribonucleotides on DNA structure\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/-\/content\/articlelanding\/2014\/nr\/c4nr01794c\/unauth#!divAbstract\u0022\u003Eproperties\u003C\/a\u003E. Storici is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and a member of IBB.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGermann has also worked with Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/faculty\/hud\/\u0022\u003ENicholas Hud\u003C\/a\u003E on the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1021\/ja410698u\u0022\u003Ebinding of small molecules to duplex DNA\u003C\/a\u003E. Hud is a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a member of IBB.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;While collaboration\u0026nbsp;between researchers in Atlanta Universities is\u0026nbsp;not new,\u0026rdquo; Paravastu says, \u0026ldquo;the consortium will help facilitate ongoing and new collaborations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBreaking barriers \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat will now be tested is whether the students, faculty, and staff of the partners will take advantage of the consortium.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETravel from one institution to another is a barrier, Lynn says. \u0026ldquo;Are people going to travel, or will they find another way to solve the problem? How do you know that the expertise over there will really help you?\u0026rdquo; he asks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The intellectual barrier is very critical,\u0026rdquo; Lynn says. \u0026ldquo;We address that through the web portal.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/nmr.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E website \u003C\/a\u003Edefines the capabilities, terms of use, training for access, and institutional fees, among others. Eventually, Lynn says, it will be a place to share papers from the consortium partners.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Like many things in life, the consortium is about breaking barriers,\u0026rdquo; Paravastu says. It\u0026rsquo;s about students meeting and working with students and professors outside their home institutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlready some partners share a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/tesla.ccrc.uga.edu\/courses\/bionmr\/\u0022\u003Egraduate-level NMR course\u003C\/a\u003E. For the long-term, Paravastu suggests, the partners could work together on training users to harmonize best practices and ease the certification to gain access to facilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We can think of students being trained by the consortium rather than just by Georgia Tech, or Emory, or Georgia State,\u0026rdquo; Paravastu says. \u0026ldquo;By teaming up, we can create things that are bigger than the sum of the parts.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech joins Emory and Georgia State in sharing facilities and expertise"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Atlanta NMR Consortium is a partnership among Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Georgia State University to broaden research capabilities by sharing world-class facilities and expertise.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech joins Emory and Georgia State in sharing facilities and expertise."}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2018-06-28 21:49:31","changed_gmt":"2018-07-02 15:00:46","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-07-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-07-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"607397":{"id":"607397","type":"image","title":"Atlanta NMR Consortium","body":null,"created":"1530222652","gmt_created":"2018-06-28 21:50:52","changed":"1530222652","gmt_changed":"2018-06-28 21:50:52","alt":"","file":{"fid":"231687","name":"2018 Atlanta NMR Consortium banner.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Atlanta%20NMR%20Consortium%20banner.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Atlanta%20NMR%20Consortium%20banner.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":303096,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20Atlanta%20NMR%20Consortium%20banner.jpg?itok=jnfbygkk"}},"607393":{"id":"607393","type":"image","title":"David Lynn","body":null,"created":"1530220894","gmt_created":"2018-06-28 21:21:34","changed":"1530220894","gmt_changed":"2018-06-28 21:21:34","alt":"David Lynn, Emory University","file":{"fid":"231684","name":"2018 David Lynn Emory.sq250.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20David%20Lynn%20Emory.sq250.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20David%20Lynn%20Emory.sq250.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":36386,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20David%20Lynn%20Emory.sq250.jpg?itok=bu3QHCC-"}},"607394":{"id":"607394","type":"image","title":"Anant Paravastu","body":null,"created":"1530220959","gmt_created":"2018-06-28 21:22:39","changed":"1530220959","gmt_changed":"2018-06-28 21:22:39","alt":"Anant Paravastu, Georgia Tech","file":{"fid":"231685","name":"2018 Anant Paravastu.sq250.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Anant%20Paravastu.sq250.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Anant%20Paravastu.sq250.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":43620,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20Anant%20Paravastu.sq250.jpg?itok=ShwkkSD_"}},"607395":{"id":"607395","type":"image","title":"Markus Germann","body":null,"created":"1530221022","gmt_created":"2018-06-28 21:23:42","changed":"1530221022","gmt_changed":"2018-06-28 21:23:42","alt":"Markus Germann, Georgia State","file":{"fid":"231686","name":"2018 Markus Germann.sq250.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Markus%20Germann.sq250.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Markus%20Germann.sq250.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":34787,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20Markus%20Germann.sq250.jpg?itok=0RcPosrx"}}},"media_ids":["607397","607393","607394","607395"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/atlantanmr.com\/","title":"Atlanta NMR Consortium"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/581934","title":"Georgia Tech NMR Center Open House on Homecoming Week"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"178447","name":"Atlanta NMR Consortium"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi, Ph.D.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}