News

Since February 2024, a sample changer is installed at the 750 MHz NMR. The sample changer (SampleCase) can hold up to 24 samples and can be cooled. Also, a new TXI probe is installed on the 750 MHz with a tunable H & F channel.  

The BNSP, together with Scientific Information Services (SIS), organized an AlphaFold workshop which took place at the 17th of January. The workshop was a great success with more than 80 participants, inspiring talks and lively discussions.

Together with the group of Prof. Künzler and Prof. Güntert we propose a model for cell-​permeation of modified macrocyclic peptides. The model is based on NMR structures which were obtained using a novel eNOE approach in various solvent mixtures. The solvent mixtures mimic various cellular compartments.

At this year's Scientifica, we showed the molecular biology labs and the NMR facility to the public. We enjoyed the experience and had many nice discussions with interested visitors.

Together with Claudio Dalvit we explored the limitations of NMR for determining the affinity of strong ligands. Read our learnings in a detailed review just published in Progress in NMR Spectroscopy.

A new set of 1D experiments for heteronuclear ¹³C, ²H, ¹⁹F, ¹⁵N, and ³¹P detection have been added to our growing DOTETH library.

Benzolactone enamides, a number of which incorporate a methylated oxime moiety, are produced by a range of organisms, and constitute a family of cytotoxic natural products. Here, we determine how this capped oxime group is installed during assembly of the model polyketide lobatamide by a modular trans-AT polyketide synthase and provide molecular insight into the responsible mono-oxygenase domain by X-ray crystallography.

Screening by NMR in combination with a novel hybrid structure determination approach  has been used assess the drugability to of the nucleocapsid N-protein of SARS-CoV-2.

In the context of this semester's NMR Seminar on the topic of "integrated structural biology" we paid PSI a visit. We had two excellent guided tours to the X-FEL and the SLS.

Adequate vascularization is required for the successful translation of many in vitro engineered tissues.  This study presents a novel collagen derivative that harbors multiple recognition peptides for orthogonal enzymatic crosslinking based on sortase A and Factor XIII. Overall, this work demonstrates for the first time the co-engineering of mature micro- and meso-sized blood and lymphatic capillaries using a highly versatile collagen derivative.

In a collaboration with Stefan Schütz and Wolfgang Jahnke from Novartis, the transcription factor MYC/MAX, which plays an important role in cancer, was studied. Have a look at the mechanisticc insights into DNA scanning and specific binding just published in JMB.

This semester the NMR seminar will deal with different methods for studying biomolecular interactions. We will cover of course NMR and we have invited several external speakers to introduce other methods like ITC, SPR and DSF, which allow addressing other aspects of biomolecular interactions.

ETH and the company Bruker where awarded the Chemical Landmark award by the Swiss academy of sciences. The long-standing public-private partnership of ETH and Bruker was honored, which had a decisive impact on the development of NMR.

This week the new probe at the 700 MHz instrument (sept) was installed. It has 1.4-fold higher senstivity on ¹H than the probe it replaces and it sports XYZ gradients. This is the first probe of this kind at the platform and we're very much looking forward to explore the possibilites this new probe offers.

We contributed an NMR analysis to a major research effort of the Sunagawa and Piel laboratories. In this work, the genomes of countless ocean microorganisms were mined and thereby the number of know genomic sequences was increased 2–3 fold. Tens of thousands of gene clusters were identified with predicted novel synthetic capabilities. Some of them were reproduced experimentally and the resulting products were confirmed by NMR.

1D DOTETH experiments released. We introduce a new set of ETH 1D pulsesequences and parametersets on our spectrometers. These experiments can be automatically set up, similar to the DOTALL experiment library. After automatic calibration of the high power pulses with HCN90, each of these experiments can be set up by running the macro xxx90 to set high power pulses followed by 'geteth' to perform all remaining calibrations. These will help with automation and efficient set up of measurements.

This Wednesday we had the chance to visit the company Bruker – the manufacturer of most of our NMR instruments. We had the chance to see essentially every step in manufacturing of magnets, as well as probe and console testing facilities. A big thank you to the people at Bruker who made this event possible!

Our collaboration with Manuela Hospenthal’s group was just published. The study reveals FimT as a novel DNA receptor crucial for the uptake of DNA during Bacterial Natural Transformation. Together, we were able to determine the structure of protein FimT from Legionella and characterize its interactions with DNA.

The current version offers a few new features: Loopadjust, ¹⁹F support, and time calculation has been updated. Additionally, we have a beta-version of a script to feed SetupSeries from Excel.

The autumn edition of the NMR seminar has started. This semester we will discuss the theory and the methods we can use to study proteins larger than 30 kDa up to 1 MDa. The program is finished and can be seen on our intranet page. We're looking forward to the upcoming Wednesdays!

Our re-​furbished Gilson liquid handler is running and ready for service.