The UAB SeRMN is enlarging its facilities to make room for two new cutting-edge machines for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The devices are a Bruker BIOSPEC 70/30 spectrometer with a horizontal magnet, making it possible to carry out magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging in vivo on animals (from mice to rabbits), and an NMR Bruker AvanceII 600 spectrometer combined with a high-resolution liquid chromatography team and a mass spectrometer. Both pieces of equipment will have various applications, especially in the field of biomedical research. In total, the UAB has invested 3 million in the equipment purchased and the work carried out to make room for it.

The BIOSPEC 70/30 spectrometer and the AvanceII 600 LC-NMR/MS cost approximately 1.5 million and 900,000 respectively, and were funded between the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF, project UNAB05-33-008), the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (PCT-020400-2005-19 and PCT-010000-2006-14), the Catalan Government and the University itself. The facilities needed to be enlarged to accommodate the new equipment, and this was funded entirely by the UAB. The work is expected to be completed by May 2007, with the equipment being installed in June.

The BIOSPEC 70/30 is very similar to magnetic resonance equipment used for clinical purposes, and makes it possible to carry out magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy on small animals. This will be the first equipment of its kind in Catalonia and the third in Spain. The equipment at the UAB will include an ultra-shielded and refrigerated superconducting magnet with a 30cm bore diameter and new-generation electronics with more powerful amplifiers, steeper gradients and double synthesising waves. The BIOSPEC 70/30 will be set up for a wide variety of experiments for the detection of different nuclei, and will make it possible to obtain high-resolution and high-quality images. Because of the equipment's sensitivity, it will be set up insi
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Contact: Lucas Santos
lucas.santos@uab.es
34-935-813-301
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
11-Jan-2007