New Bruker NMR Life Science Research Solutions Enable Functional Structural and Cellular Biology Research

PORTOROZ, Slovenia – July 5, 2021 – At the Euromar Conference 2021 (Euromar2021), Bruker is advancing functional structural biology research with enabling NMR solutions.  Novel GHz-class NMR technology at Forschungszentrum Juelich (FZJ) and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany enables advanced research into the structural basis for affinity and specificity of protein-ligand interactions, including a better understanding of structural features of cell membrane proteins, and the molecular mechanisms involved in protein folding and aggregation.

The increased spectral resolution of the 1.2 GHz NMR and the sensitivity of UHF NMR has already enabled research teams to look more deeply at proteins and better understand, for example, the initial steps of amyloid-type protein aggregation as well as the function and structure of the Tau protein, both associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Bruker’s line of GHz-class NMR instruments as well as unique probes and software also allow scientists to advance their research with solid-state NMR for functional structural biology, which is valuable for the structural determination of proteins that are neither crystallizable nor soluble, e.g., membrane proteins embedded in lipid bilayers, or protein aggregates. For more information please have a look at the following video.

In addition, the recently introduced 600 MHz triple resonance CPMAS CryoProbe allows for a 3-fold boost in sensitivity close to physiological conditions without the need for sample modification or low temperatures.  The CPMAS CryoProbe complements GHz-class proton detection HCN CPMAS probes with very fast spinning at 111 kHz. This set of tools enables the investigation of protein dynamics and yields protein structural models, the proton detection alleviating the need for deuteration and providing access to proteins previously not suitable for NMR. Our newest innovation, the MAS Shuttle for solid state NMR automation, enables automated iProbe CPMAS research with reduced hands-on time and increased throughput.

Structural biologists will profit from an improved integrated workflow guided by the BioTop software package allowing optimized and automated NMR data acquisition for protein dynamics, based on the sample characteristics. Automated data analysis is also conveniently launched out of BioTop using the established Protein Dynamic Center software, delivering visualizations of the sequence-specific protein dynamics. Meta data input (primary sequence, resonance assignments, tertiary structure) from external sources enables the Dynamic Center to generate and visualize the dynamics heat map directly on the protein structure.

Advancements in artificial intelligence and deep learning demonstrated by Prof. Roland Riek (ETH Zürich) and coworkers accelerate structure determination, reducing time from NMR measurement to structure from weeks/months to potentially less than a day. Bruker’s automated workflow within BioTop and TopSpin software lowers the adoption barrier for NMR as a powerful functional method for biologists. It facilitates and automates protein dynamics studies, as well as subsequent structure determination in collaboration with the ETH server-based solution.

Finally, the Bruker Arxspan laboratory data management software provides centralized organization and sharing of complex data, further reducing data manipulations and downloads.
 

Media Contact:

Thorsten Thiel, Ph.D.
VP of Group Marketing
Bruker BioSpin
T: +49 (721) 5161–6500
E: thorsten.thiel@bruker.com