CONDITIONS OF RESEARCH. Outside the Swedish NMR Centre, at the Hasselblad laboratory on Medicinareberget, a large magnet has recently been set up. It was one of the world’s first 900 MHz magnets and has previously been used at the Swedish NMR Centre between 2004 and 2018.
It has mainly been used for studies of protein structure, interaction, dynamics and function, but also for special applications in metabolomics, materials and pharmaceutical research
It contributed to world-leading research and was also the hub of the national and international research infrastructure. It was damaged in connection with a quench in 2018 and was replaced in 2021 by a similar magnet with an even more sensitive detector.
Almost all NMR magnets look like tin cans, but this magnet is an exception. It has a look reminiscent of a lunar lander and is a unique example of successful industrial design, which has now become a symbol of the activities at the NMR centre.
Göran Karlsson is Professor and director of the Swedish NMR Centre: “The magnet exemplifies the need for technically advanced instrumentation in life science research and at the same time makes visible the activities at the Swedish NMR center. We wanted to keep it and both Akademiska Hus and GU’s real estate department liked the idea of displaying it on the outside. And, to anyone who might be wondering, it is not ‘magnetic’.”
The Swedish NMR Centre at the University of Gothenburg is a national and international research infrastructure that offers access to NMR instruments of absolute world class.
BY: HELEN EASTERLING
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