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August
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July
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June
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A recent and exciting development at Dalhousie University is the award of a new multi-investigator materials research program entitled DREAMS (Dalhousie Research in Energy, Advanced Materials and Sustainability). This program is funded by an NSERC-sponsored Collaborative Research and Training Experience grant.
The purpose of DREAMS is to train a cohort of researchers (Masters and PhD students, undergraduate summer research students and postdoctoral fellows) at Dalhousie University who will address important aspects of energy production/storage and sustainability. DREAMS student researchers play a pivotal role in renewable energy production and storage as well as the sustainable production of environmentally acceptable or re-usable materials. The DREAMS cohort tackles some of the world's most important energy and sustainability problems through advanced materials research.
Both Canadian and international students in Chemistry, Physics or Mechanical Engineering are eligible for the DREAMS program. Students will be supervised by Dalhousie DREAMS team members Heather Andreas (Chemistry), Jeff Dahn (Physics/Chemistry), Rich Dunlap (Physics), Dominic Groulx (Mechanical Engineering), Ian Hill (Physics), Harm Rotermund (Physics), Mary Anne White (Chemistry/Physics) and Joe Zwanziger (Chemistry/Physics).
DREAMS trainees will carry out collaborative interdisciplinary research in Dalhousie's world-leading laboratories with innovative new courses and direct experience working with industrial partners. The DREAMS program is designed to facilitate the transition of new researchers from trainees to productive participants in the worldwide economic community.
What differentiates DREAMS from other programs is its mix of traditional and non-traditional training. Students will complete new and novel graduate courses, such as
•
Advances
in Solar, Thermoelectric and Energy Harvesting Materials
• Advances
in Battery, Fuel Cell and Supercapacitor Materials
• Sustainable
Materials Issues
One of the most exciting aspects of the DREAMS program is the opportunity to work in industry. For example, each of our PhD students will spend two internships (work terms) of two to four months, in an external industrial or government lab. Working alongside industry researchers will provide valuable research experience and connections for future employment. External work term partners include labs both in Halifax, and around the world (for example Axion Power International and 3M in the USA, and Toshiba in Japan). Students' travel and accommodation expenses are covered by the DREAMS program.
DREAMS facilitates interdisciplinary and collaborative research. For example, PhD students will carry out research in two Dalhousie labs, and they will be jointly supervised by two or more members of the DREAMS team. This approach will greatly enhance their research skill set and their interdisciplinary experience.
Other novel approaches of the DREAMS program include training in non-traditional subjects such as IP issues, marketing aspects of materials, and how to be interviewed by the media, plus workshops on the transition to employment, such as résumé writing and interview skills.
The DREAMS program offers Dalhousie students an innovative mix of traditional and experiential learning that will help them to become some of the world's top young materials researchers. Much more information, including application material, can be found at http://irm.dal.ca/DREAMS
Josef
W. Zwanziger, Dalhousie University
http://jwz.chem.dal.ca/
 |
As we prepare for another back to school season, this Summer issue of the "Canadian NMR Research" news bulletin is also all about students. In his Guest Editorial Joe Zwanziger writes about DREAMS, a unique training opportunity at Dalhousie University. Kris Ooms reports from the Western Canadian Undergraduate Chemistry Conference. And, quite fittingly, a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Chemistry is announced to honour Rod Wasylishen and his remarkable research and teaching career. We hope you'll enjoy browsing through this bulletin and will share it with your colleagues and students. Thanks for reading! |
The Environmental NMR Centre and the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough are seeking a Senior NMR Research Associate to oversee the daily operation, training, and management of the Environmental NMR Centre. The position has a very large research and development component and the candidate is expected to work closely in and with the facilities Directors to maintain the centre at the cutting-edge of Environmental NMR globally and be central to pioneering new developments in NMR in general.
The Environmental NMR Centre currently houses two unique, Bruker BioSpin NMR systems. The first is a fully hyphenated 2D-HPLC-SPE-NMR-MS, and is novel both in Canada and Environmental Research in general. The second system has capabilities to perform in situ multiphase NMR analyses of heterogeneous samples that contain solid, gel and solution phase samples, the hardware is globally unique and being co-developed directly with Bruker BioSpin. The Centre focuses on the development and application of NMR techniques to study a range of environmental problems. The current topics of research include: environmental metabolomics, LC-SPE-NMR-MS applications to complex environmental mixtures, in vivo NMR spectroscopy imaging, hyperpolarization, DNP, development of multiphase NMR methods (solids, HR-MAS, solutions NMR as a single technique). In addition, the Centre focuses on the development and application of novel NMR approaches to complex systems (including soils, ocean sediments, atmospheric deposits (particles, rain, snow, glacial ice), cells, tissues, small organisms and other environmental matrices) to better understand structure and environmental reactivity.
After an initial probationary period, this will be a continuing full-time appointment.
The NMR scientist will report to the Chair of the Department and work closely with the Director and Associate Director of the Environmental NMR Centre. The research associate will be responsible for instrument maintenance, training of graduate students/postdoctoral fellows/visiting scientists assist in writing grant applications to upgrade the centre and co-publication of research with the facility's principal investigators and collaborators. The candidate will also be expected to lead research projects publishing both as a primary and secondary author. The successful candidate will take an active role in all aspects of the research of the NMR Centre and will strive to ensure that he/she becomes recognized as a leader in the field of Environmental NMR spectroscopy.
The candidate will also be involved in undergraduate thesis supervision in the Department's chemistry program and will be encouraged to apply to instruct one course in the undergraduate chemistry program on a yearly basis. The candidate will also oversee the operation/maintenance of a teaching/research Departmental NMR system (Bruker BioSpin 500MHz Avance) and ensure that faculty and students can acquire high quality data required for the teaching and research programs. These duties will include the set up of new experiments, training of students/faculty, maintenance and calibration. Candidates should note that the departmental NMR system is fully automated (BACS) with a single automatic tuning and matching probe (ATM) and that the department has only a small number of users, once running smoothly should require minimal intervention on a daily basis.
Applicants must have a Ph.D. in Chemistry or related discipline with a very strong background in NMR spectroscopy and a drive/passion for the development of NMR spectroscopy. In exceptional circumstances, an established leader in the field with a MSc degree but more than 10 years of experience may be considered. In addition, experience with metabolomics, chromatography, mass spectrometry and working with complex biological and/or environmental systems are a strong assets. Experience with pulse programming, custom processing of NMR data (MATLAB, ACD, etc.) and programming/webpage design is also beneficial. Experience with Bruker instruments is very important and the ideal candidate will have experience in (or enthusiastic to learn) all areas of NMR including solutions, HR-MAS, solids and imaging.
Salary
will be commensurate with the candidate's qualifications and experience.
Applicants should send a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a statement of
research, a statement of teaching and three letters of reference to:
Rose
Jones (Assistant to the Chair)
NMR Scientist Search Committee
Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences
University of Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trial
Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4
Email submissions should be sent to: rjones "at" utsc.utoronto.ca
Unfortunately, applications that are not accompanied by at least three references cannot be considered.
We will start reviewing applications beginning September 13, 2010, although the search will remain open until the position is filled.
The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
the
Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, UTSC
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~physsci/
Andre
Simpson's Environmental research group
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~asimpson/
Myrna
Simpson's Research Group in Environmental Chemistry
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~msimpson/
Registration and housing reservation for Pacifichem 2010 is now open. The deadline for early bird registration is November 1, 2010.
Canadian NMR will be well represented by four symposia focusing on biological systems, polymers and inorganic materials. The technical program of Pacifichem 2010 and the full list of speakers are now available online at www.pacifichem.org.
To
see the NMR symposia schedules go to http://pacifichem.abstractcentral.com/planner.jsp
no need to login, just hit "search" and enter "nmr"
in "Session Title Search"
NMR
Symposia at Pacifichem 2010
NMR
Spectroscopy of Polymers - Innovative NMR Strategies for Complex Macromolecular
Systems (Symposium
#12) Peter Macdonald, University of Toronto
Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics -
Recent Advances in NMR (Symposium
#43) Mitsuhiko Ikura, Ontario
Cancer Institute
Advances in Solid-State NMR of Biological Molecules
(Symposium
#58) Michèle Auger, Université Laval
Solid-State NMR Methods and Applications in Inorganic Materials (Symposium
#228) Scott Kroeker, University of Manitoba
 |
Data
Preprocessing for Chemometric and Metabonomic Analysis
by David E. Axelson Softcover: 420 pages Publisher: MRi_Consulting, Kingston, Ontario; July 30, 2010 Language: English ISBN: 978-1926825618 http://www.chemometrics-analysis.com/ |
D. Axelson: "The best preprocessing methods will be the ones that ultimately produce a robust model with the most accurate predictive ability. Unfortunately, there are no particularly straightforward rules to guide investigators to the best selection of preprocessing options; the subsequent trial and error optimization process may be quite time consuming and confusing. However, spending little or no time investigating preprocessing options is likely to result in less than optimal results.
The primary objective of this book is to present a relatively focused outline of the major options available for data analysis, with an emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques discussed (see Table of contents, PDF). "
Magnetic
Resonance in Chemistry is putting together a special issue on "the
Quantum-Chemical Calculations and their applications". Many papers
from this issue, including several invited papers from Canadian groups,
are already available online (Early
View).
D.H. Brouwer, I.L. Moudrakovski, R.J. Darton, R.E. Morris, "Comparing
quantum chemical calculation methods for structural investigation of zeolite
crystal structures by solid-state NMR spectroscopy", Magnetic Resonance
in Chemistry (2010) online. (Invited Article, Special Issue)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrc.2642
D.L. Bryce, "A computational investigation of J couplings involving 27Al, 17O, and 31P," Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry (2010) online. (Invited Article, Special Issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrc.2630
The 23rd Annual MOOT NMR Symposium will take place at Dalhousie University
in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 16 and 17th, 2010.
The MOOT NMR Symposium provides an informal environment for students, post-docs
and faculty to present lectures and posters, discuss existing collaborations,
and to establish new ones. It has traditionally been a regional gathering
of NMR spectroscopists from Ontario and Quebec but has been expanding to
include NMR Spectroscopists from the Maritimes. As a result, MOOT XXIII
will be hosted for the first time outside of its traditional region; on
the East coast in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia! We welcome you to check
out and bookmark our website for the most up-to-date information:
http://structbio.biochem.dal.ca/jrainey/NMRMOOT/index.html
Notices:
(1) Registration and submission of titles for oral/poster presentations
are open as of June 30, 2010. The deadline for both is September 15,
2010. Visit the registration menu item on our website where registration
information can be provided via Word document or fillable PDF.
(2) Be sure and register for the banquet, to be held Saturday evening at
the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site on Citadel Hill - overlooking
the downtown core of Halifax and the harbour.
http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/ns/halifax/index.aspx
(3) A big thank you to all of our confirmed sponsors, including Bruker BioSpin
Canada, Agilent Technologies (formally Varian), Sigma-Aldrich Canada, New
Era Enterprises, National Ultra-High Field NMR Facility for Solids (Canada),
and Suraj Manrao. If you wish to sponsor this meeting, please contact Joe
Zwanziger at jzwanzig "at" dal.ca.
Reminders:
(1) Accommodations - a block of rooms has been reserved at Atlantica (http://www.atlanticahotelhalifax.com)
at a rate of $129 per night, including parking, and is based on 1-4 person
occupancy. See the website for additional details and reservation deadlines.
(2) Travel - a 10% discount has been arranged with WestJet for your flight
to MOOT XXIII. Again, additional details are on the website.
If you have any questions, comments or feedback about this year's MOOT and/or
website, please let us know by email at mootnmr "at" gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing you in October!
Your MOOT XXIII Organizing Committee:
Mike Lumsden
Joe Zwanziger
Jan Rainey
Ulli Werner-Zwanziger
Don
Hughes' Memorial Photos (June 29/10)
Hello everyone.
Thanks to all of you who could attend the memorial service for Don last
week. I know I enjoyed seeing all of you and sharing stories.
A few days ago we posted a slide show of photos that were taken during
the service. In case you haven't had a chance to look through these, please
take a couple of minutes to have a look (external
link).
Take care,
Bob Berno, C&CB,
McMaster
This is one of the last papers by Don Hughes submitted shortly before his death and dedicated to his memory.
A.D. Bain, D.W. Hughes, C.K. Anand, Z. Nie, V.J. Robertson, "Problems, artifacts and solutions in the INADEQUATE NMR experiment," Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry (2010) online. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrc.2639
June 11, 2010, University of Ottawa
Calcium is an important component in diverse materials and biochemicals. However, NMR spectroscopy of the only spin-active calcium isotope, Ca-43, is notoriously challenging due to its low natural abundance (0.14 %), low resonance frequency, and quadrupolar nature. Recently, researchers from the University of Ottawa, the NRC Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences (SIMS-NRC), and Dalhousie University have independently reported advances in studies of inorganic polymorphs and cement-based materials using Ca-43 solid-state NMR spectroscopy.
"In spite of the great complexity of the calcium silicate chemistry involved in the hydration of Portland cement, we have shown that Ca-43 solid-state NMR provides useful new insights into cement chemistry", says Igor Moudrakovski (SIMS-NRC) of his collaboration with the Institute for Research in Construction (SIMS-IRC). Josef Zwanziger (Dalhousie) and his academic and industrial partners have similarly applied Ca-43 NMR in their project on the development, optimization and commercialization of high performance cement based composite materials.
Zwanziger explains, "we are trying to understand the nature of the composite-cement interface, and the mechanisms of toughening and strengthening in concrete composites. Calcium NMR is one of the many tools which is shedding light on the nature of the interface." At the University of Ottawa, David Bryce and his research group have demonstrated the utility of calcium NMR in understanding polymorphism in solids. This work has implications for understanding biomaterials as well as inorganic materials.
Because Ca-43 NMR in solid state requires a very strong magnetic field for sensitivity reasons, all these experiments were carried out at the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids, a national user facility managed by the University of Ottawa and housed on NRC's Ottawa campus, which houses Canada's only 21.1 T (900 MHz) NMR spectrometer.
The latest calcium NMR research has been published in PCCP and J. Am. Chem. Soc., and a perspective on the state of the field is now available in Dalton Transactions (Bryce, 2010).
David L. Bryce "Calcium Binding Environments Probed by 43Ca NMR Spectroscopy," Dalton Transactions (2010) online. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c0dt00416b
Igor
Moudrakovski, Rouhollah Alizadeh, James J. Beaudoin, "Natural
abundance high field 43Ca solid state NMR in cement science," Physical
Chemistry Chemical Physics 12 (2010) 6961-6969. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c000353k
David L. Bryce, Elijah B. Bultz, and Dominic Aebi, "Calcium-43 Chemical Shift Tensors as Probes of Calcium Binding Environments. Insight into the Structure of the Vaterite CaCO3 Polymorph by 43Ca Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy," Journal of the American Chemical Society 130 (2008) 9282–9292. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja8017253
The
Solid-State NMR Symposium of the 52nd Rocky Mountain Conference
on Analytical Chemistry will take place August 1-5, 2010 at the
Snowmass Conference Center in Snowmass, Colorado.
http://www.rockychem.com/
Consider attending one of two traditional NMR vendor's events associated
with this symposium (registration required). Both workshops will be
held on August 1st in the Snowmass Conference Center.
Bruker
Solid State NMR workshop and seminar
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
http://www.bruker-biospin.com/rmc2010_nmr.html
Varian
21st Solid-State NMR User's Meeting
2:00 pm - 7:00 pm
http://varianinc.com/cgi-bin/nav?/products/nmr/events/solids_2010/index
Hi All,
I am pleased to announce that the 4th Annual VIVA NMR symposium will take place Monday, June 21st at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby Mountain Campus) in Burnaby B.C. Yes, that is only 2 weeks away! We apologize for the short notice but certain events have made it necessary to organize it early this year.
The aim of this one day symposium is to bring together NMR users, researchers and managers from western Canada and the north-west of the USA to share information on topics of general NMR interest and to foster the development of an NMR community. Talks or poster presentations by graduate students are especially encouraged. Talks must be registered before June 15th, all other registrations will end on June 20th.
On-line registration is now available at http://www.sfu.ca/~vivanmr
The symposium is designed to be affordable and thanks to generous sponsorship by Bruker Canada and Agilent Technologies (formerly Varian Inc) the registration fees are only $20 for students and $50 for non-students which includes the lunch banquet and afternoon poster social session.
The
program will consist of 15-20 minute talks, a lunch banquet at Club
Ilia, and a poster session/social gathering.
A meeting of NMR facility managers is scheduled to follow immediately
after the conference at the Himalayan Peak Restaurant (at SFU) on Monday
from 6 - 9 pm.
For further details see the conference website.
Due to the short time available we have not been able to reserve special accommodation this year but there are links on the website to accommodation at SFU.
Please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone who might be interested.
I hope to see you all here in 2 weeks!
Sincerely,
Andrew
--
Dr. Andrew Lewis
Director, Magnetic Resonance Facility
Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive, Burnaby BC V5A 1S6
Email: arl "at" sfu.ca, Tel: 604 306 7959
Fax: 778 782 3765, Office: TASC 2, Room 9908
 |
Multidimensional
NMR Methods for the Solution State
edited by Gareth A. Morris and James W. Emsley Hardcover: 580 pages Publisher: Wiley; June 2010 Language: English ISBN: 978-0470770757 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470770759 http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0470770759 |
Wiley: "Multidimensional NMR methods have transformed the way in which solution state NMR is used to elucidate the structures of chemical and biochemical systems. The first book covering new developments in nearly a decade, this much-needed resource explains recent experimental methods for the rapid measurement of multidimensional solution-state NMR spectra. With articles written by key developers of the techniques, the coverage deals with both the theoretical tools and the latest practical applications, giving an unmatched guide to students, researchers, technicians, and anyone else working with NMR techniques today"
Canadian contributions
A.D. Bain "COSY: Quantitative Analysis," Chapter 13, Multidimensional NMR Methods for the Solution State (EMR Books), Eds. G.A. Morris and J.W. Emsley, Wiley (2010) pp. 167-176. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm0095
T.T. Nakashima and R.E.D. McClung "Heteronuclear Shift Correlation Spectroscopy," Chapter 22, Multidimensional NMR Methods for the Solution State (EMR Books), Eds. G.A. Morris and J.W. Emsley, Wiley (2010) pp. 289-304. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm0209
R. Muhandiram and L.E. Kay "3D HMQC-NOESY, NOESY-HMQC, and NOESY-HSQC," Chapter 25, Multidimensional NMR Methods for the Solution State (EMR Books), Eds. G.A. Morris and J.W. Emsley, Wiley (2010) pp. 335-350. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm0563
The complete Table of Contents is available (PDF).
