"Frontiers in Magnetic Resonance," a symposium held in celebration of the dedication of the W.M. Keck High Field Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, will be held Saturday, May 30, at Sterling Chemistry Laboratory, 25 Prospect St.
Experts in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) from throughout the United States and from Germany will speak at the day-long symposium, which begins at 9 a.m. The dedication and reception will take place 3-4 p.m. Attending the dedication will be Yale President Richard C. Levin and Provost Alison Richard. The public is invited.
Among the featured speakers at the symposium will be chemistry professor Kurt Zilm, the lab's director, who will speak on "Challenges in High Resolution NMR of Solids at High Magnetic Fields."
"Since 1945, NMR spectroscopy has grown to become one of the most important methods for chemical and structural analysis in chemistry, biology, materials physics and medicine," Zilm says. "Conceived as a multidisciplinary center for high field magnetic resonance, the W.M. Keck High Field Magnetic Resonance Laboratory at Yale is unique in being configured to accommodate NMR research spanning all of these diverse disciplines."
Construction of the laboratory began in 1994 to house a Tesla magnet, fabricated by Oxford Instruments. The laboratory has been intensely pursuing the advancements in NMR hardware needed to take full advantage of this new class of NMR magnet, Zilm says. For example, the first-ever high resolution spectra of solid samples at such fields strengths were obtained in the laboratory in December 1997, nearly a year ahead of schedule. With the improved technology, it has been possible to extend the range of macromolecular structures that can be studied using NMR.
"To achieve this milestone in magnetic resonance, it was necessary to put together a partnership of scientific organizations with interests in pushing forward frontiers in scientific instrumentation," says Zilm, who adds that the laboratory was established with the generous support of the W. M. Keck Foundation, Exxon Research and Engineering Co. and the National Science Foundation.
Further information about the symposium is available via phone at 432-3912 or by email at leo.buss@yale.edu.
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