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News Release from: Oxford Instruments Superconductivity
Edited by the Laboratorytalk Editorial
Team on 12 June 2003
Runner-up for MacRobert Award
Superconducting NMR magnet, now being used in molecular studies and drug development, listed as a finalist for the UK's top engineering prize
Following hot on the heels of its recent Queen's Award for Innovation win, Oxford Instruments Superconductivity has now been named runner up for Britain's biggest engineering prize, the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award This is for its development of the Discovery 900MHz superconducting NMR magnet
This article was originally published on Laboratorytalk on 23 Aug 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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The MacRobert award is presented annually in recognition of the successful development of innovative ideas in engineering.
As one of four finalists, Oxford Instruments has been recognised for developing one of the most technically challenging magnets ever, opening up new possibilities for research in the fields of genomics and proteomics.
Superconducting magnets are the power behind nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers.
By increasing the field strength of the superconducting NMR magnet up to 900MHz, larger and more complex molecules can be studied, their structures and relationships determined, with greater resolution and sensitivity than has ever been possible.
The Discovery 900 MHz superconducting magnet is already enhancing research in areas such as drug development.
"To deliver the required resolution and sensitivity, the superconducting magnet needs to provide a very stable field at 900MHz that cannot drift more than ten parts in a billion per hour," said Martin Townsend, project manager.
"To achieve this, our team has made groundbreaking technical developments in areas such as the superconducting material used, structural engineering and managing the huge amount of energy stored by the magnet." The Discovery 900 MHz superconducting magnet development team also included senior engineers, Graham Hutton and Marc Simon; and principal engineers George Farmer and Ziad Melhem.
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