Robert Guy Griffin

Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry; Director, Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory. Pioneered the development and application of magnetic resonance techniques that allow determination of atomic level structures and characterization of dynamics. Applied methods to large biological molecules that are not accessible via solution NMR or crystallography, particularly membrane and amyloid proteins. Led dipolar recoupling experiments to reintroduce 13C-13C and 13C-15N dipolar couplings into magic angle spinning (MAS) spectra. Experiments permit spectral assignments, and structural constraints such as measurements of internuclear distances and torsion angles in selectively and uniformly 13C,15N labeled systems. Applications to an archeal photosynthetic system, bacteriorhodopsin, clarified the mechanism of spectral tuning in the rhodopsin family. Methods enabled de novo determinations of the complete high-resolution structures of peptides in amyloid fibrils, and establish that many amyloid fibrils are microscopically well ordered. Developed high frequency dynamic nuclear polarization experiments that can enhance signal intensities in NMR spectra by factors of over 100, extending NMR to a wider range of chemical and biological systems. Demonstrated applications to membrane proteins with mixtures of conformations that are difficult to approach with crystallography.