IALS has received more than $4.4 million from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) to acquire an 800 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer. This high-field atomic resolution instrument will aid researchers working to develop the next generation of drugs to treat high unmet-need diseases, including various types of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Understanding the movement of biomolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, is central to these discoveries and NMR is the only technique that can capture such movement at atomic resolution.
There has been a long-standing need for a high-resolution NMR instrument at UMass Amherst. Under the leadership of Jeanne Hardy (on the left of photo), professor of chemistry and associate director of the IALS Models to Medicine Center, and Jasna Fejzo (on the right of photo), director of the IALS biomolecular NMR Core Facility, a grant application was submitted to and awarded by the MLSC.
“This is instrument will be game changing for our campus. We will be able to watch proteins move in solution, monitor the production of metabolites in different disease states and assess binding of drugs to their targets in solution conditions similar to inside human cells,” Hardy notes. “In my laboratory, NMR is providing critical insights into how a compound we have discovered as a potential Alzheimer’s therapeutic, KT-57, impacts the molecular motion of the drug target caspase-6.”
When the IALS 800 MHz NMR comes online in 2025, it will be the only high-field NMR in the western half of the state, and one of just five such instruments in Massachusetts. The new instrument will position Western Massachusetts as a structural biology hub, encompassing the NMR resources of UMass Amherst and the UMass Chan Medical School and increasing UMass’ competitiveness for federal grant funding. Such powerful NMR capabilities are in high demand by major pharmaceutical companies and resource-limited startups alike.
“We anticipate that growth in our user base across both academics and industry will help us nucleate a vigorous NMR community centered at UMass Amherst and start seeding companies that would headquarter near the facility to access the equipment and hire trained staff,” notes Fejzo.
Locating an 800 MHz NMR at UMass Amherst will make the instrument and NMR experts widely available to the biomedical industry at competitive rates, speeding the ability to collect key data and allowing more Massachusetts-made large molecule therapeutic candidates to reach clinical development faster.
“This new purchase, with its high-throughput capabilities, will enable us to expand usage of both internal and external users, including the sizeable network of Massachusetts biotech startups,” says Peter H. Reinhart, founding director of IALS. “This is not only a research and development tool. It also serves as a job-creation tool.”
The NMR will also be an important instrument to train the next generation of structural biologists. UMass Amherst is already one of the top two producers of workers in the commonwealth’s biotech economy.
Funding for the device is part of a $19.8 million package supporting 15 projects aiming to drive life sciences innovation in Massachusetts announced by Gov. Maura Healey and MLCS during the World Medical Innovation Forum Sept. 23.
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