The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine a $40 million grant — the largest in the university’s history — to set up and run a state-of-the-art molecular research hub.
In a statement, UConn officials said the college has been chosen as the home base for what will eventually be known as the Network for Advanced NMR, which stands for nuclear magnetic resonance, a powerful method for analyzing molecules. The network will allow researchers from across the country to run tests using highly advanced nuclear magnetic resonance instruments located at the University of Georgia and University of Wisconsin; those tools will be linked back to UConn Health in Farmington, which will assist with scheduling, provide information on experiment design and securely archive collected data.
UConn molecular biology professor Jeffrey Hoch will head the network, in collaboration with counterparts in Georgia and Wisconsin.
“Any researcher nationwide with a laptop will be able to make use of these powerful NMR instruments, methods and online data bank,” Hoch said. “Our biggest hope is that [the Network for Advanced NMR] and advanced NMR technology’s expanded use will accelerate the identification of future disease biomarkers and ultimately improve the health and outcomes of patients everywhere, through future advances in diagnostics, drug discovery, treatments and especially much-needed cures.”
Somewhat similar to MRI technology but far more powerful, the nuclear magnetic resonance analysis process uses huge machines known as spectrometers to examine the biomolecular structure of sample materials.
While large and expensive to own and operate, NMR spectrometers are viewed as a critical resource in medical research and development, with some institutions making use of the machines to guide their drug design work.
Numerous state officials, including Gov. Ned Lamont and Andrew Agwunobi, interim president of UConn and CEO of UConn Health, praised Wednesday’s announcement as a major step forward for bioscience research at Connecticut’s flagship university.
“The historic nature of this grant just goes to show that UConn, UConn Health and the state of Connecticut are national research powerhouses with exceptional faculty who are academic leaders when it comes to groundbreaking innovation and discovery,” Lamont said.
