Microfluidic diamond NMR sensor

Project SummaryNuclear magnetic resonanceNMRis amongst the most powerful analytical
techniques ever inventedas recognized byNobel Prizes for methods development aloneNonethelessNMR is notoriously plagued by poor sensitivity and spatial resolutionState of the art NMR spectrometers typically feature detection thresholds ofnanograms
forL sample volumesThis places NMR sensitivity many orders of magnitude behind other
analytical chemistry techniques such as mass spectrometryRaman spectroscopyand
fluorescence labelingImprovements in NMR often focus on using larger magnetsbut progress
has largely plateauedover the lastyearsthe fundamental signal strength has only
increased by a factor ofWe seek to fundamentally change the NMR hardware by using diamond films doped with
Nitrogen VacancyNVcenters to detect nuclear magnetizationnon inductivelyvia pulsed
optically detected magnetic resonance methodsRecentlywe performed diamond NMR
spectroscopy ofpL volume solutions and demonstratedx improvement in concentration
sensitivity over previous NV and picoliter NMR studiesHere we propose to improve the sensitivityto andltpgand spectral resolutionto andltppmto
realize an NMR spectrometer capable of quantitatively differentiating metabolites in sub nL
mixtures at physiologically relevant concentrationsSuch a prototype could have a profound
impact on metabolomics and pharmacodynamics researchcombining mass spectrometry level
sensitivity with NMR level accuracy in unrefined samples containing numerous metabolites at
sub mM concentrationsSpecificallywe improve upon existing analytical methods by offeringGreater performanceOur diamond NMR spectrometer will feature several orders of
magnitude greater mass sensitivitypicograms instead of nanogramscompared to current
NMR spectrometersThe mass sensitivity approaches that of mass spectrometry but retains
benefits of NMR such as non destructiveabsolute quantitation and structural identificationCompatibility with hyphenated separation assaysOur spectrometer is compact and
easily integrated into microfluidic chips for online chromatography based assaysHPLCfor
sample limited analysesmetabolomicspharmacodynamicsnatural productsLower costOur spectrometer s sub nL detection volume leads to reduced engineering costsfore gmagnet stabilityproviding greater affordability than current NMR spectrometers ODMR Technologiesin collaboration with UNMseeks to fundamentally change the hardware
used in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy by using laser interrogation of
magneto fluorescent diamond filmsIf successfulthe diamond spectrometer will be used to
quantify metabolic concentrations in unrefined clinical samples for applications in analytical
biochemistry and drug development