Biomolecular EPR Spectroscopy Centre / Structural Neurobiology Lab

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
What the facility does

Biophysical characterization of proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids using EPR spectroscopy

Areas of expertise

The University of Toronto biomolecular EPR facility uses both X-band and Q-band EPR instrumentation to characterize radicals. The facility has pulsed Q-band EPR capabilities for high sensitivity DEER measurements (double electron-electron resonance), and transverse and spin-lattice relaxation time measurements.

Nitroxide labeling techniques together with EPR spectroscopic tools are used to investigate important biomolecular targets. Research in this area is vital for the functional understanding of biomolecular dynamics and biomolecule conformational equilibria.

Research services

The biomolecular EPR facility has expertise in data collection and processing, project design, consultation, pulsed and continuous wave EPR experiments, EPR lineshape analysis, kinetics, relaxation measurements, solvent accessibility measurements, characterization of spin labeled lipids, characterization of spin labeled proteins or nucleic acids. Researchers at the facility are open to collaborative projects and partnerships with both international and Canadian scientific communities.   

Sectors of application
  • Education
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
Name of specialized lab Name of equipment in use Description of function
Biomolecular EPR Spectroscopy Bruker E580 ELEXSYS spectrometer Q-band pulse EPR instrument
  Bruker E500 spectrometer X-band cw-EPR instrument