Can a molecular biology major do NMR?

[davidmigl]

I am a junior molecular biology major. I plan to go into graduate school and currently my #1 topic of interest is using solid state NMR to determine molecular structure. I am doing research on the unrelated topic of bacteriophage genomics but do not want to change labs because I am well established and have a poster presentation and publication pending, both of which would be forfeited if I left.

I have read numerous papers on NMR and am quite concerned that I do not have the requisite physics background to do well in this field. Most NMR profs seem to be physicists-turned-biochemists, whereas I am coming from the opposite direction.

Here is what I am doing beyond the requirements for my major:
- Took calculus based freshman physics 1 & 2
- Took cal 3 and diffeq.
- will take pChem I (intro to quantum chemisty stuff) and lab next semester. Plan to take pChem 2 (thermo) and lab 2 if time permits senior year.
- applied to 11 summer research programs next summer and requested to work on NMR projects.

Is there anything else you could recommend to better prepare me to do macromolecular NMR in grad school?

 

[Kevin_Axion]

Well, I know thermodynamics and possibly a quantum course would be useful.

 

[Choppy]

You should probably contact specific graduate schools to see what their entrance requirements are. Usually, a biology background with a few physics courses tossed in won't meet the requirements.

That being said, research-wise it depends on what you're doing with MR. There are lots of psychology types who do work in fMRI who haven't taken a single physics course because they collaborate with physicists/engineers.

 

[davidmigl]

Thanks for the advice. Most the the programs I'm considering are quite interdisciplinary and are OK with bio majors as long as they've had pChem. This is because they are under the biochem/life science department, not the physics department.

I am wondering if it would it be worthwhile to take additional physics classes such as "optics and thermal physics" and "Theoretical Methods for Physicists" or if they would be largely irrelevant to what I want to do. I'm not interested in developing new NMR methods per se, but rather using what is already known to solve biological problems.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

I was a biochem major and I took a graduate level structural biology course that spent half of a quarter covering biomolecular NMR (I am not doing research using NMR however). I was able to understand the material fairly well, although I did have a fairly strong background in mathematics (I did a minor in mathermatics) and physical chemistry (I took courses in thermodynamics, quantum and statistical mechanics).

I would think that a biology major with a good chemistry and math background should, with proper motivation, be able to pick up all of the important aspects of NMR spectroscopy. If I were to suggest a courses, I would suggest physical chemistry courses such as the ones I listed above (I would suggest these to anyone studying biochemistry, esp. structural biology). I also took a course titled "Quantum Electronics and Modern Optics" through the physics department which was also useful. Although it focused on lasers and spectroscopy (what I'm using for my research), the theory for quantum optics is very similar to that used in NMR spectroscopy. Finally, some additional mathematics courses (at the very least linear algebra) would be helpful for understanding some of the methods for data analysis.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

I am wondering if it would it be worthwhile to take additional physics classes such as "optics and thermal physics" and "Theoretical Methods for Physicists" or if they would be largely irrelevant to what I want to do. I'm not interested in developing new NMR methods per se, but rather using what is already known to solve biological problems.

If you're just interested in using NMR as a tool, then probably not, no - learning a little rather than a lot more about the physics would probably just confuse you.

Like Choppy says, work can be done in collaboration. I'm a physicist, doing quite mathematical work in a biological context, for instance. I know a little about the biology behind the data I work with, but not because I have any formal training - I leave all of that to the biologists. I just pick up bits and pieces as I go. And for instance, if I wanted to, I would be welcome to come and take part in some experiments, but I don't have the time for the legal-required training courses

 

[elise83]

Using NMR to solve the structure of a biological molecule doesn't required heavy theory, but more on the ability to learn new thing fast and a bit of imagination. SS-NMR is at its infancy (still limited by sensitivity), so I could foresee a difficult path. But if you're ready to jump in, go ahead.

As for the theory part, just fundamental quantum mechanics will do. As to your question, Yes. I was a molecular biology major.