Magic angle spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR of filamentous bacteriophage viruses; Development and theory of MAS NMR for the study of diamagnetic metal-ion-containing compounds – applications to enzymes and materials; Structure and dynamics of macromolecular assemblies by NMR
Research
Our group uses Magic-angle spinning (MAS) solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and develops methodologies, to unravel in atomic-resolution the structures of proteins, enzymes and other biological assemblies.
We study viruses, cellulose binding proteins, enzymes associated with mental illness and filamentous structures.
We develop techniques for the measurement of accurate inter-atomic distances. In particular we focus on metal ions possessing large quadrupolar moments, on metal ions possessing other large anisotropic interactions and on other 'difficult' atoms (e.g. nuclei with low gyromagnetic ratios, low natural abundance, small spectral dispersion etc.)
We develop techniques for lithium NMR spectroscopy. Lithium, in the form of lithium carbonate, is a medication for bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. Aside from NMR, hardly any spectroscopic techniques exist that can be used to characterize its binding site due to lithium's low atomic mass and low binding affinities.
We develop methods to solve structures of known crystalline proteins In order to improve, promote and strengthen the technique of protein MAS NMR spectroscopy in view of the current known methods of crystallography and solution NMR.
