Modern Techniques in Protein NMR

Volume 16 marks the beginning of a special topic series devoted to modern techniques in protein NMR, under the Biological Magnetic Resonance series. This volume is being followed by Volume 17 with the subtitle Structure Computation and Dynamics in Protein NMR. Volumes 16 and 17 present some of the recent, significant advances in biomolecular NMR field with emphasis on developments during the last five years. We are honored to have brought together in these volumes some of the world’s foremost experts who have provided broad leadership in advancing this field. Volume 16 contains advances in two broad categories: the first, Large Proteins, Complexes, and Membrane Proteins, and second, Pulse Methods. Volume 17, which will follow covers major advances in Computational Methods, and Structure and Dynamics. In the opening chapter of Volume 16, Marius Clore and Angela Gronenborn give a brief review of NMR strategies including the use of long range restraints in the structure determination of large proteins and protein complexes. In the next two chapters, Lewis Kay and Ron Venters and their collaborators describe state-of-t- art advances in the study of perdeuterated large proteins. They are followed by Stanley Opella and co-workers who present recent developments in the study of membrane proteins. (A related topic dealing with magnetic field induced residual dipolar couplings in proteins will appear in the section on Structure and Dynamics in Volume 17).

Dr. N. Rama Krishna is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and the Director of the NMR Core Facility at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has previously served as Guest Editor for Volumes 16 (Modern Techniques in Protein NMR, 1998) and Volume 17 (Structure Computation and Dynamics in Protein NMR, 1999). Dr. Lawrence J. Berliner is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Denver after retiring from Ohio State University, where he spent a 32-year career in the area of biological magnetic resonance (EPR and NMR). He is the Series Editor for Biological Magnetic Resonance, which he launched in 1979.