Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LiVoX (Magic angle coil spinning NMR on living voxels - LiVoX)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2015-09-01 al 2017-02-28
LiVoX project has identified the huge potential offered by the area of small sample NMR detection and has established as its priority to promote this field outside the university laboratories. In particular, LiVoX is introducing a novel type of detector aimed at revolutionizing the specific area of magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR). This variant of MAS is called magic angle coil spinning, i.e. MACS, and compactly integrates both the NMR detector and the sample holder in the same device, minimizing the gap between the sample holder and the detector and therefore improving the filling factor and the effective SNR by a factor of 10 compared to the present market standard. LiVoX is exploiting the fact that NMR MACS detectors can be batch fabricated at the wafer level and part of the activities in the framework of the project have been dedicated to streamlining and rationalising the mass production process. There is, to date, no disposable sensor solution for the detection of magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance signals from very small volume living samples in the range of a micro litre or less, despite its huge commercial importance for potentially large volume applications such as foodstuff testing, drug screening on cells, or hospital screening for disease markers in biopsies. By turning NMR sensors into consumables, LiVoX will achieve a paradigm shift that will open new markets in the field of foodstuff testing, compound screening on cell-based assays, and biopsy monitoring for hospitals.