£1.8 million investment boosts cutting-edge molecular science at Imperial

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance laboratory

Local MP Mark Field visits Imperial today to launch a £1.8m upgrade to the Department of Chemistry's analytical facilities.

The department has upgraded its NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Spectrometer, X-ray Diffractometer and Mass Spectrometer machines, which use highly sophisticated and powerful technology to conduct core chemistry experiments. This equipment enables chemists to better understand the structure of molecules, by giving enhanced information about which elements they contain, how the elements are connected to one another and how these connections are organised in 3-dimensional space.

The modernisation of the machinery heralds a huge improvement in experimental efficiency, bringing higher sensitivity and improved accuracy of results, and has enabled researchers to achieve a much higher throughput of experiments with much shorter measurement times. It was funded by a £1.3 million Core Capability EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) grant, which was matched by £500,000 from the Department of Chemistry.

Welcoming the investment, Professor Tom Welton, Head of the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London said: “This upgrade was greatly needed and is a massive advantage for us. It is like opening up more tills in a very busy supermarket, as the upgrade has enabled us to serve more people by increasing our experimental turnover by up to five times. By turning around more accurate results faster than ever before, we can now do much better research and take on much more business.” 

Mark Field MP for the Cities of London and Westminster said: “This kind of major investment is crucial for the future of science, and helps to maintain the UK’s place as a global pioneer in advanced chemical research. It is marvellous for me to see first-hand here in the chemistry department of Imperial College London how improvements to the academic sector can forge better links with industry and manufacturing.”

The investment in instrumentation ensures that younger career researchers now have access to world class equipment. Mark Fields will hear from four PhD students who are using the upgraded machinery to progress their research.

Mark Field MP listens to PhD presentations

Kerry O’Donnelly, who is currently working towards her PhD in Chemical Biology of Health and Disease, is using the upgraded NMR Spectrometer as part of her research exploring how to feed a growing world by capturing and releasing carbon dioxide (CO2). The upgraded machinery has enabled her to better understand how CO2 might be used by plants to increase the rate of photosynthesis, and ultimately increase the amount of food we can produce.

This investment was part of a UK-wide £20 million EPSRC grant, which also funded other Chemistry Departments to modernise their core analytical machinery.