Description of the Research Infrastructure
The Magnetic Resonance Centre (CERM) is a "centre for research, transfer and higher education" at the University of Florence, and is the laboratory of the "Consorzio Interuniversitario per le Risonanze Magnetiche Metallo-proteine Paramagnetiche" (CIRMMP), which includes the Universities of Florence, Bologna and Siena. CERM/CIRMMP has an internationally recognized experience in the application of Magnetic Resonance techniques to Life Sciences and in particular in Structural Biology. More than that, CERM/CIRMMP is an infrastructure providing national and European access to NMR users since 1994, and is the Italian node of the INSTRUCT-ERIC European Consortium providing access to European users in Structural Biology. The infrastructure comprises 12 NMR spectrometers ranging from 400 MHz to 1.2 GHz (the world first commercial 1.2 GHz, installed in 2020), four of which are solid-state NMR (ssNMR) instruments (850 MHz, 800 MHz and 700 MHz, already available to user access, 1.2 GHz will be also equipped with ssNMR probes) plus a FFC relaxometer. CERM/CIRMMP scientists have developed an expertise in the characterization by ssNMR of pharmaceutical and chemical compounds, materials and biomolecules, including competence in the more recent hyperpolarization technology like DNP. Nowadays CERM/CIRMMP is one of the most relevant European laboratories for high-field ssNMR. Financed by the Italian government, CERM/CIRMMP has been involved in many EC-funded projects providing international access: in particular in more recent years (FP6 and FP7 programs) it has provided expertise and an average of over 260 days per year of transnational access, through projects EU-NMR, East-NMR, Bio-NMR, (of which it was coordinator), iNEXT, and is currently running the H2020 access project iNEXT-Discovery.
Expertise
The laboratory has more than 15 years of experience in developing solid-state NMR methods for the characterization of chemicals, materials and biosolids. In particular, CERM/CIRMMP has a strong experience in structural determination of materials and biomolecules with solid-state NMR methods. The research groups of the laboratory also have experience in the characterization of chemicals (from pharmaceutical to liquid crystals), in the development of DNP polarizing agents and DNP enhanced solid-state NMR methods for the investigation of functionalized materials and pharmaceutical samples. The investigation of paramagnetic solids and paramagnetic biomolecules is also an expertise of the laboratory. Since 2017 CERM/CIRMMP is equipped with an X-band and a Q- band EPR instrument, which will be important in integrating the research in the DNP field and in the development of efficient polarizing agents.
The research groups of CERM/CIRMMP also have a strong experience in NMR data analysis, and in particular in the integration of NMR experimental restraints with computational software for molecular structural determination and dynamical investigation. Users can profit from this strong expertise and can perform NMR data processing and analysis, spectral assignment, structure calculations and validations, molecular docking and DFT calculations in the CERM/ CIRMMP facility.
Spectrometers open to access
1.2 GHz, 850 MHz, 800 MHz, 700 MHz, 600 MHz
Meet the team !
Claudio LUCHINAT
President of CIRMMP
Moreno LELLI
Platform manager
Rebecca DEL CONTE
Technician
