900 MHz magnet enables new technique for looking at ion transport PI: Greg Boebinger, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Florida State University, University of Florida, Los Alamos National Laboratory NSF Award Number: DMR-0084173

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900 MHz magnet enables new technique for looking
at ion transportPI Greg Boebinger, National
High Magnetic Field LaboratoryFlorida State
University, University of Florida, Los Alamos
National Laboratory NSF Award Number
DMR-0084173
Goal Discovery across the frontier of science
and engineering connected to learning, innovation
and service to society Indicator Enable people
who work at the forefront of discovery to make
important and significant contributions to
science and engineering knowledge.
Our entire nervous system depends on the proper
function of ion channels, pores in cell membranes
that are able to transport ions, such as
potassium and sodium, in and out of the cell.
Learning more about how ions pass through the
channels holds great scientific
promise. Researchers at the National High
Magnetic Field Laboratory have developed a new
approach to reveal precisely how these ion
channels attract and transport ions without
binding them too tightly to the macromolecule
that forms the ion channel. This technique, high
magnetic field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
using oxygen-17 (an isotope of oxygen with one
extra neutron in its nucleus) is possible because
of the new 900 MHz NMR magnet, which allows field
strengths above 21.1 teslas. At field strengths
below 21.1 tesla, the signals from the oxygen-17
atoms were too broad to be sufficiently sensitive
to detect the presence of ions passing through
the ion channel. This research, published in
the August, 2005 edition of Journal of the
American Chemical Society, is notable because
scientists now have a technique for probing a
single step in the ion transport process, which
could help unlock some of the mysteries behind
how the nervous system functions. To view the
abstract, go to http//pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abst
ract.cgi/jacsat/2005/127/i34/abs/ja0535413.html.
Ion transport through membranes (above) governs
nerve conduction and many other biological
processes. Because oxygen-17 is a quadrupolar
nucleus, it is a very sensitive indicator of the
electric fields of nearby ions. By substituting
oxygen-17 on one oxygen site of the macromolecule
that forms an ion channel, a single step in the
ion transport process can be probed.
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900 MHz magnet enables new technique for looking
at ion transportPI Greg Boebinger, National
High Magnetic Field LaboratoryFlorida State
University, University of Florida, Los Alamos
National Laboratory NSF Award Number
DMR-0084173
This is the 900 MHz, ultra-wide bore NMR magnet,
commissioned in July of 2005 at the National High
Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida
(high-res version available upon request).
Tools goal, indicator Expand opportunities for
U.S. researchers, educators and students at all
levels to access state-of-the-art SE facilities
(the Magnet Lab and the 900 MHz), tools (the new
technique), databases and other infrastructure.