Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a key technology essential to investigations in a variety of fields that underpin research into biomolecular chemistry, medicinal chemistry, natural product discovery, peptide chemistry and materials science.

For example, NMR is one of only two techniques available for complete determination of the structure of proteins, providing the fundamental molecular information used in drug design programs.

NMR targets magnetic nuclei by aligning them with an applied constant magnetic field and perturbing this alignment using an alternating magnetic field. The intramolecular magnetic field around an atom in a molecule changes the resonance frequency, thus giving access to details of the electronic structure of the molecule and its individual functional groups.

 IMB is part of the Queensland NMR Network (QNN), which supports a developing biotechnology industry in this state by enabling access to world-class facilities and industry-leading software.

The facility also holds collaborations with researchers from other Australian universities as well as several international collaborators from industry and academia, most recently with scientists from Europe, China, and the US.