A new 800 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer has entered service at the G. Ronzoni Institute for Chemical and Biochemical Research in Milan, giving Italy's private research sector its most powerful instrument of its kind and the country's first operating in the north. The Bruker Avance Neo system was acquired through BioSpecNet, a scientific consortium formed by the pharmaceutical company Italfarmaco and the institute after more than two decades of joint work in structural and biochemical research.
According to the consortium, the instrument is the first of this power in the Italian private sector. Only three other 800 MHz NMR systems exist in Italy, all housed in public university settings, while Europe counts just over 60. The new spectrometer expands the Ronzoni Institute's existing equipment, which already includes two 500 MHz systems and one 600 MHz machine, and lifts its research capacity to a level that until now has been confined to a handful of centers in the country.
The 800 MHz system is designed to study the structure of proteins, polysaccharides and other complex biomolecules in greater detail, speeding the search for and development of new therapies. NMR is one of science's most powerful techniques for observing molecules without destroying them: a sample placed in a uniform magnetic field and irradiated with radio waves yields detailed information about molecular structure and how molecules interact. That allows researchers to reconstruct a protein's shape and understand how a drug recognizes and binds to its biological target.
The instrument is equipped with CryoProbe technology, a probe cooled to about 20 degrees Kelvin, roughly minus 253 Celsius. The extreme cold sharply reduces background noise, and the consortium compares the effect to upgrading from a cheap microphone to a professional one. Sensitivity can increase up to fivefold compared with a conventional probe, making it possible to analyze samples at very low concentrations — a crucial advantage when working with proteins available only in tiny quantities, as is often the case in research on rare diseases.
Consistent with the BioSpecNet model, the spectrometer will not be reserved for internal use. It will be made available to universities, research centers and outside companies on the basis of scientific collaboration or specialized service, an approach intended to multiply the impact of the investment by placing a high-level scientific resource at the service of the wider region beyond the two founding organizations.
The applications span several of the most active fronts in biomedical research. In drug discovery, NMR shows how an experimental drug docks onto its biological target, information that is decisive for judging whether a molecule is likely to work long before clinical trials. In structural biology, it reconstructs the three-dimensional architecture of complex proteins often central to poorly understood disease processes. In metabolomics, it can analyze hundreds of small molecules in a biological fluid at once, offering a snapshot of an organism's metabolic state with uses ranging from diagnostics to research on new diseases. In carbohydrate chemistry — a historic area of excellence at the Ronzoni Institute since its studies on heparin — the higher resolution opens the way to finer characterization of complex polysaccharides, which underpin much research on antithrombotic and anticancer drugs.
Marco Guerrini, director of the G. Ronzoni Institute, called the activation a strategic step for the institute and for Italian research. He said the platform allows biomolecules and drug-protein interactions to be studied with a degree of detail previously unavailable at the facility, strengthening expertise in structural biology and carbohydrate chemistry while creating new opportunities to collaborate with universities, research centers and companies developing innovative therapies.
Christian Steinkuhler, chief scientific officer of Italfarmaco, described the spectrometer as a concrete example of how collaboration between industry and research can generate value beyond the individual organizations involved. He said the partnership, built over more than 20 years, has made frontier technology available to research with important applications in rare diseases, oncology and drug discovery, and voiced particular conviction about a model in which industry investment strengthens a scientific infrastructure while widening access to universities, research centers and other companies.
11
