Latest News and Events
Here you will find the latest updates, events and developments at HWB-NMR, which include a growing programme of international conferences, training events and scientific collaboration.
Latest Updates
1.2 GHz NMR arrives at the University of Birmingham
1.2 GHz NMR technology arrived on UK shores in 2025 – the world's highest-field NMR spectrometer! Our 1.2 GHz spectrometer is jointly funded by the University of Birmingham and UKRI/EPSRC and will be equipped to push the boundaries in both solution and solid‑state NMR of biomolecules.
After several weeks of installation, cooling, and energising, the 1.2 GHz NMR magnet is now ‘on field’. It reached 1.2 GHz on 25 October 2025 and will be available for general use in January 2026, with a 3 mm TCI cryoprobe for solution NMR experiments.
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- 11th - 18th September 2025: Transport from Bruker (Zürich, CH)
- 18th September 2025: Unloading and positioning
- 19th - 26th September 2025: Mounting and assembly
- 23rd - 30th September 2025: Pumping on vacuum vessel
- 1st - 9th October 2025: Filling of nitrogen dewar and cooling of helium dewar
- 10th - 12th October 2025: Filling of helium dewar
- 13th - 16th October 2025: Super-cooling of liquid helium (4 K to 2 K)
- 13th - 26th October 2025: Energisation of super-conducting solenoid
Access Announcement
We are excited to offer UK-based academics involved in biomedical research and industry access to the new 1.2 GHz and our 1.0 GHz & 900 MHz spectrometers. Get in touch.
European Commission Project: Remote NMR
We are pleased to be partners on the recent European Commission funded project, "Remote NMR (R-NMR)", that aims to establish wide-spread remote access for all users to NMR spectrometers across Europe. Including 26 European NMR facilities, the consortium will work together to create guidelines and best practice for remote access to NMR instrumentation, for storage of and secure access to NMR data, and for remote training of users, including training of non-experts. Part of the program will be to monitor CO2 consumption, with the aim of reducing the overall CO2 footprint of NMR infrastructures. Please visit the website for further information.
Appointment of NMR Leadership
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Teresa Carlomagno as the new Director of HWB-NMR from 1 October 2021. We look forward to Professor Carlomagno joining the UK NMR community and taking the GHz facility forward in this new decade and beyond.
Previous news
2020 1.0 GHz installation
2020 1.0 GHz installation
HWB-NMR has been selected by UKRI to host a national 1.0 GHz spectrometer for solution state biomolecular NMR research. We took delivery of the new magnet in June 2020 and it reached field in October 2021.
Previous Events
International conference 2024
International conference 2024
“NMR at Ultra-high Field - Opportunities & Synergies in Structural Biology” held on 19-20 Sept 2024 at The Exchange, University of Birmingham. Organisers: Professors Teresa Carlomagno (Birmingham) & John Christodoulou (UCL). Our speakers from the US, Europe and Israel delivered an excellent programme of talks, and the keynote lecture was given by Professor Hashim Al-Hashimi.
NMR Masterclass 2024
NMR Masterclass 2024
Our thanks to Professors Ilya Kuprov & D. Flemming Hansen who gave an engaging 1-day "NMR Masterclass" on 21 Feb 2024 on the application of machine- and deep- learning techniques in NMR. Attendees enjoyed presentations, hands-on practicals as well as lively discussion.
Description of the NMR Masterclass:
Welcome to our NMR Masterclass: AI techniques in biomolecular NMR spectroscopy (21 Feb 2024)
The next breakthrough in NMR is upon us! We are delighted to offer a 1-day class that focusses on the use of AI techniques in biomolecular NMR spectroscopy.
Artificial intelligence, machine and deep learning techniques in NMR are increasingly enhancing spectral interpretation & analysis, reducing (perhaps eliminating?) bottlenecks, and improving the accuracy of automated tasks. It is truly remarkable how 'problematic' NMR spectra can be significantly improved using these techniques.
Considered by many to be a serious game-changer in NMR, AI is likely to feature in everyone's research activities in the near future. Don't get left behind - this is a great opportunity to come and learn more from our UK-based experts and to contribute to these important advances!
Course organiser: Dr Sara Whittaker
This masterclass is aimed at intermediate+ level NMR spectroscopists (e.g. Year 2 and 3 PhD, Post-Docs, PIs & Research Technical Professionals (RTPs)) working on projects involving biomolecular characterisation and is intended to provide a platform from which students can interact with expert instructors and ask plenty of questions in a friendly environment. This class includes hands-on practical exercises (laptops required).
There will be ample time for Q&A. Anyone looking for a new perspective in NMR is warmly welcome to attend.
Pre-requisites: Exposure to intermediate or advanced level biomolecular NMR spectroscopy (including data analysis); hands-on spectrometer experience with macromolecules is advantageous. A desire to learn more about the benefits of AI in biomolecular NMR spectroscopy! Students should bring laptops capable of running NMRBox software for the practical exercises (please visit https://nmrbox.nmrhub.org to set up an account, laptops not supplied).
Programme Summary
Session 1: “Machine learning in NMR: how to build a training database”. Essentially, our wisdom on the fact that there is never enough real experimental data to train even the smallest net. Instructor: Professor Ilya Kuprov (Southampton)
Session 2: "Assessing the use of deep learning to reconstruct sparsely sampled spectra". Instructor: Professor D. Flemming Hansen (UCL)
We look forward to seeing you!
Annual User Symposium 2023
Annual User Symposium 2023
HWB-NMR's annual NMR user symposium took place on Fri 8 Dec 2023. Our thanks to Vittoria Nanna (Birmingham), Jozef Lewandowksi (Warwick), Joe Cassar (Birmingham), Flemming Hansen (UCL), Dominik Kubicki (Birmingham) for excellent scientific talks, as well as to Vicky Higman & Gary Thompson for presenting latest developments in the CcpNmr software. It was a pleasure to see everyone at HWB-NMR again!