Montana State’s nuclear magnetic resonance core facility supports researchers on campus and beyond

Montana State University graduate students work in the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Core Facility on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Bozeman, Montana. MSU photo by Colter Peterson

BOZEMAN – When a scientist from another large and well-known research institution visited Montana State University not long ago, he left with more help and information than he expected, thanks to the expert assistance he received in one of the MSU’s core research facilities.

Helping to analyze the visitor’s complex molecular system was part of a typical day’s work for Brian Tripet, manager of MSU’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Core Facility, which is equipped not only with tools to determine the precise chemical structure of molecules but also with expert personnel to guide the interpretation and analysis of the NMR data.

The NMR core research facility is one of several such entities at MSU that is dedicated to advancing research, training students on state-of-the-art analytical instruments and contributing to MSU’s outreach mission. The core facilities pool specialists and resources dedicated to assisting faculty, students and outside users with their projects. The NMR facility also provides services to off-campus industries and researchers who are affiliated with businesses engaged in biological, chemical and physical sciences.

Valérie Copié, a professor since 1997 in MSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and director of the facility, said the aforementioned visitor noted that, although he has access to similar equipment in California, Tripet’s assistance with both running the sample and helping analyze the results were uniquely helpful.

“This is why I like MSU,” said Copié, whose research deals with cellular metabolism and biological NMR spectroscopy. “People are friendly, and they work together. You don’t always see that at other universities that have this kind of high-end equipment.”

Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the same technology used for magnetic resonance imaging in health care facilities, researchers study molecules by placing them in a strong magnetic field. The process then records how the molecules behave in the magnetic field and provides information about the arrangements of atoms, their three-dimensional structures and dynamical characteristics. NMR is also well suited to monitor chemical and biochemical reactions. Copié explained that examining molecules at the atomic level like this is an absolute necessity for detailed scientific study in the life sciences.

MSU professor of chemistry and biochemistry Mary Cloninger, an organic chemist who makes molecules designed to work as probes to answer questions in biology, is a frequent facility user.

“You cannot do chemistry without NMR or mass spectrometry,” Cloninger said. “The NMR facility is absolutely essential for characterizing our compounds. None of our papers in the past 25 years could have been published without the NMR facility.”

MSU assistant chemistry and biochemistry professor Christopher Lemon leads a research group working to develop molecules with certain properties that could be used in bioimaging and biosensing, potentially providing a means of diagnosing certain cancers in their early, treatable stages.

Lemon, who spent years earning his advanced degrees at other institutions, said that at MSU, he found in Tripet someone who was able to help with advanced experiments involving silver detection that his work requires.

“On paper, the instrumentation at the other institutions had the (silver NMR) capability, but Brian was able to make it happen. We got really exciting results from that,” Lemon said. “Valérie and Brian have been incredibly helpful and supportive with my research projects and providing expertise to be able to do these experiments.”

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has built undergraduate research directly into its required curriculum, and its students are trained to use the NMR facility’s equipment. Non-chemistry majors, too, have access to the facility. Frequent users include researchers from the microbiology, animal and range sciences,plant sciences and chemical and biological engineering departments. Tripet develops and provides hands-on lab sessions for students in all those disciplines with the goal of making sure they develop the skills to design and run their own NMR experiments.

“I get them up to speed on training and safety protocols, and if they say they need some help on experiments that are more specialized, then we sit down together and figure out how to do it,” he said.

“Hands-on learning is part of the attraction to come to MSU,” Copié added. “This is a skill. When the students graduate, they can say, ‘I did that.’’’

Beyond MSU, Copié said, the facility supports numerous Montana businesses by allowing them to drop off samples for analysis. The facility also processes samples for other entities around the U.S. and the world. Tripet said he has conducted analyses recently for scientists in Poland, as well as for Alaskan biologists studying metabolism in fish to see how the creatures are adapting to changing ocean temperatures.

Cloninger said the commitment to such outreach is one of the many reasons she is proud of the core facility’s work.

“MSU makes sure we provide access to Tribal Colleges that want to run samples, as well as outside universities,” she said. “Because we are a regional center of expertise, we’re making sure others have access.”

She also values the facility’s service to students and its wise use of resources.

“Montana State has instrumentation that people from famous Ivy League universities look at and say, ‘Wow, I wish we had that,’” Cloninger said. “It makes our research so much richer – our students get to do experiments that those at other universities don’t.”