Research looks sharp with new spectrometer

Yoshitaka Ishii, director of the Center for Structural Biology and Mitra Dutta, vice chancellor for research, officially dedicate the new spectrometer with (L-R) chemistry professor Luke Hanley, William Hendrickson, director of the Research Resources Center, and Henrik Aratyn, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin/UIC Photo Services (click on image for larger file size)

UIC adds to its array of high-tech research equipment with a new 750 Mhz solid-state NMR spectrometer installed this summer in the Center for Structural Biology.

Researchers in chemistry, biology, drug development and materials science will use the instrument to gather more information on molecular structure.

The device, which is effective with smaller, less-costly and easier-to-obtain samples, will help scientists get sharper molecular structure images than conventional NMR.

Designed to UIC’s own specifications, the spectrometer took more than two years to arrive.

Researchers from UIC and the Chicago area have already lined up projects for the spectrometer, which must be calibrated in place and should be “open for business” by the early fall, says center director Yoshitaka Ishii, professor of chemistry.