Kurzbach, Dennis
ERC Consolidator Grant for the EVOCAT research project
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About the project
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is one of the most important tools chemists and biologists use to see molecules ‘in action’. However, its weakness is its sensitivity: many crucial processes in cells and materials remain invisible because the signals are simply too weak to be detected. The ERC-funded project HypSurf (Hyperpolarized Surface-enhanced Liquid-State Spectroscopy) aims to change this by increasing NMR sensitivity by up to a factor of 10,000 – while also improving spectral resolution.
With this toolkit, HypSurf will enable experiments that are currently impossible – for example, on large protein-DNA complexes that are relevant for gene regulation, on biomolecular condensates that are involved in cell organisation, or on early precursor clusters that determine how biomimetic materials are formed. The long-term vision is to transform hyperpolarised NMR from a niche technology used in a few specialised laboratories into a widely accessible platform method for chemistry, biology and materials science.