Research focus
The research is focused on two separate projects within dDNP: Encapsulation of hyperpolarized water to shield it from rapid signal relaxation in the body and mechanistic investigation of enzymatic conversion of carbohydrates.
Perspective
Due to health concerns regarding the long-term accumulation of Gd in the body, there is a great interest in developing metal free contrast agents for MRI. Hyperpolarized water has real potential as an alternative, as it will increase the signal strength immensely and will function with conventional MRI systems. However, due to rapid relaxation in the blood, it will be necessary to encapsulate it in nano-carriers, and the development of these capsules presents new and exciting challenges to overcome.
Observing short-lived and lowly populated intermediates in carbohydrate converting enzymes can be a big help in understanding the mechanism of how they work. For this purpose dDNP NMR offers unique advantages over other analytical techniques due to the high temporal resolution combined with great sensitivity. As such, dDNP NMR can used to achieve novel information about various carbohydrate converting enzymes, which in turn can be used advantageously for the development of green enzymatic production of various oligosaccharides.
Scientific output
Find Christian's publications at DTU's online research database ORBIT.
Funding
The project is funded by Danish National Research Foundation as part of the HYPERMAG Center of Excellence (DNRF124).
Project Period
May 2019 - August 2021.