Proposal

Narrative

The Chemistry Department at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) seeks to enhance the problem-solving and analytical skills of its students by including a series of discovery-based experiments involving nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic techniques throughout the undergraduate laboratory curricula. At present, NMR spectroscopy, which is an essential tool in many chemistry disciplines, is taught to undergraduates at FAU primarily on a theoretical level and on small portative low field NMR (40 MHz) purchased from the FAU-Tech fee grant. The request for this “new” MR instrument purchase is well aligned within the different programs that compose the FAU strategic pillars and platforms (e.g. Drug Discovery program is a part of Healthy Aging and Neuroscience pillars). Indeed, NMR spectroscopy is a premium tool for analytical chemistry and biochemistry, structural elucidation of molecules as well as structural biology, proteomic and even studies of metabolic pathways. The 400 MHz MR technologies that will be offered to FAU students can enrich their modern and effective analytical skills essential in today’s industry and the world of Biotech and Pharma. We propose to acquire an additional (high filed, high resolution) 400 MHz MR in order to adapt and implement a series of dynamic NMR laboratory techniques that would be implemented in several courses through the curriculum and in upper division of UG research. Given that the 40 MHz (portable) benchtop NMR are used to learn the basics of this spectroscopy but is limited in the quality of data acquisition, the 400 MHz MR instrument proposed for funding will enable students to learn real-world techniques and obtain data of higher resolution that will enable a complete structure elucidation of the sample. This instrument will be dedicated to foster the next generation of skilled workforce at the interface between analytical and medicinal chemistry to fuel the local biomedical industry in Florida. Implementation in courses: CHM 2211L; CHM 3103L; CHM 4139L and CHM 6380/CHM 4399. The incorporation of the NMR-technology into teaching and research training will be achieved as follows: 1) Incorporation of NMR technology component within the upper-level division lab courses, such as Biochemistry Lab (BCH 3103L), Bioanalytical Instrumentation Lab (CHM 4139L) and Organic Chemistry Lab (CHM 2211L). Offering an “OPEN” access to the 400 MHz MR in these laboratory courses with a walk-in protocol will certainly enrich the educational experience and enhanced the required professional skills of our undergraduate students which will reflect into the expertise that our graduates will have through such training by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry’s faculty. In more details, the NMR experiments proposed in BCH 3103L (Dr. Haces) would be a characterization and quantification of ATP which can be done by phosphorous NMR (only available on 400 MHz and not 40 MHz). We also propose a study of peptide characterization (see figure 1) to test the difference in sensitivity and sharpness of analysis offered by both instrument in a direct comparative experiment managed by Dr. Russell (CHM 4139L). 2) Innovative teaching approaches such as development of Research and Inquiry (RI) designated courses. The RI approach is already in place and incorporated into the upper-division Organic Spectroscopy course by Professor West CHM 6380/CHM 4399 which fits perfectly the goals of incorporating NMR technology in higher education. The course covers the basic theory and principles of spectroscopy as pertaining to practical methods for structural elucidation of organic compounds (‘unknowns’). The unknowns will be real-world examples drawn from natural products, which are classic case studies for structural elucidation. Each student will be provided with a different unknown compound (CHM 4399 students will work in groups) and will be expected to obtain a variety of spectroscopic data and determine the structure, including the relative configuration of the compound. We anticipate that the inclusion this cutting-edge technique will serve our students with expertise and skills that are crucial to approach the professional world and fuel the local industry. 3) Involvement of student active participant in Chemistry for research DIS (CHM 4905) and Honors program in practical training in applying NMR to their systems of interest. This will give an “OPEN” access to the 400 MHz MR to students to facilitate their research projects and streamline their productivity. 4) Providing service and training to undergraduate students carrying out undergraduate research in other disciplines: medicine and biology with the goal to broaden the future community of researchers at the chemistry-biology interface.

Facilities

None required. The Chemistry Department has an instrumentation room PS-123 already fully equipped with enough space to receive an MR-400 instrument.

Hardware Requirements

Quote for an Agilent MR 400 Spectrometer. Company: NMR ASSOCIATES http://www.nmr-associates.com/index.html Agilent MR 400 NMR Electronics 400MHz Agilent Actively Shielded NMR Magnet System RHEL workstation with Agilent 4.2J VNMR Software No need of UPS TOTAL: $ 147,800 Transportation and Installation will be negotiated: quoted at $8,000

Software Requirements

Included

Personnel Costs

Not required. Dr. Floyd Russell, instrumentation specialist in the Chemistry department will oversee the instrument purchase, installation and maintenance along with Professor Lyndon M. West.

Other Costs

Helium (yearly) and Liquid nitrogen will be purchased by the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Timeline

In the event of this proposal being funded the installation of the NMR instrument and software will be completed by our Instrument specialist and the vendor representative immediately after its delivery. Dr. Lyndon West will coordinate the installation process (spring 2017).

Sustainability

The instrument specialist (Dr. Russell) and Dr. West will perform on-site training that will include: 1) Theory & Instrumentation - Lecture; 2) Applications - Lecture 3) Maintenance - Hands-on (under supervision by Dr. Russell) 4) Running your samples - Hands-on 5) Analyzing your data - Hands-on The courses mentioned above will be offered and conducted on regular basis which will maintain a cutting-edge training for our students. Dr. West will coordinate the introduction of NMR technology in the proposed upper-level division courses. The NMR lab component will be implemented immediately within the Bioanalytical Instrumentation Lab (CHM 4139L) and Biochemistry Lab (BCH 3103L). The costs of the weekly and annual maintenance as well as fee for installation will be covered from the lab fees for teaching purposes and common funds for research from the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. In addition, Dr. West, Dr. Roche and Dr. Russell (Instrumentation Specialist) will be in charge of coordinating usage of the NMR technology by undergraduate student researchers (DIS students) at FAU.

Resource Matching

N/A

Implementing Organization

The Chemistry Department will implement project with the assistance of an IT staff from the College of Science to install the instrument on the FAU network.