Back to search

FORINFRA-Nasj.sats. forskn.infrastrukt

The Norwegian NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Platform 2

Alternative title: Den norske NMR platform 2

Awarded: NOK 77.0 mill.

The Norwegian NMR Platform–2 (NNP-2) research infrastructure focus on applications of very-high field (600-850 MHz) NMR Spectroscopy. This is a highly versatile technology with high importance for research and innovation in three of the Research Council of Norway (RCN) strategic areas (“områdestrategier”): Biotechnology, Medicine and health, and Nanotechnology and material sciences. NMR is of crucial importance in biotechnology through its unique role in determining protein structural ensembles and how these function with other molecular and cellular structures at physiological conditions. A large number of novel compounds, including natural products originating from bioprospecting and genetic engineering with pharmaceutical- and antibiotic effects relies on using the NNP-2 instrumentation for successful characterization. Metabolomics has become an indispensable tool in medical research with potential for new breakthroughs in clinical medicine. The high-throughput MR metabolomics services that will be provided by NNP-2 will enable advances in biomarker discovery that can improve screening, diagnosis, and treatment monitoring of human diseases. Solid state NMR will in the area of nanotechnology and material sciences give new understanding of material properties that enables innovation of solid materials in many areas; examples are energy storage, environmental issues, process industry, CO2 capture, solar cell developments and bio-degradable plastics. The NNP-2 consortium consists of 5 equal partner institutions: NTNU, University of Bergen, University of Oslo, University of Tromsø and SINTEF, hosting 6 nodes (two at NTNU). The nodes will offer user access to state-of-the-art technology and international level competence in all the areas described above. All six nodes have many years of experience in running this type of infrastructure, and they have shown the ability to deliver high-quality technology applications and good user services.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a highly versatile enabling technology within natural science and of major importance for research and innovation in three of the RCN strategic areas: Biotechnology, Medicine and health, and Nanotechnology and material sciences. The NMR technology is in rapid development and NNP-2 will offer upgrade to state-of-the-art instrumentation, methods and competence and provide new NMR-based technologies enabling new research tools that are requested by several strong research groups. The NNP-2 infrastructure is in high demand from Norwegian and foreign researchers at universities, research institutes, university hospitals and companies. This is documented by the 80 Letters of Support attached to the application. Interest from industry is shown by 10 LoS and the potential for international collaboration by 24 LoS from foreign universities. The NNP-2 consortium consists of 5 equal partner institutions: NTNU, University of Bergen, University of Oslo, University of Tromsø and SINTEF, hosting 6 nodes (two at NTNU). The?nodes are?to a large extent?complementary concerning ?special?competence, experience, and type of projects. The six nodes covers the best NMR labs and expertise in Norway and will offer user access to state-of-the-art technology, high international level competence, and other user services (training, data management etc.). All six nodes have many years of experience in running this type of infrastructure, including access for external users, and they have shown the ability to deliver high-quality technology applications and good user services. Dissemination of generated knowledge is an important task and the NNP-2 policy is that scientific results should be published as scientific papers in international?Open Access?journals with?peer-review. NNP-2 will also help the users manage their data according to the FAIR principles, and has a Work Package dedicated to data management in collaboration with ELIXIR and BioMedData.

Funding scheme:

FORINFRA-Nasj.sats. forskn.infrastrukt

Funding Sources