Superconducting magnet ready in Florida

July 30, 2005

A superconducting magnet at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida is expected to pave the way for better drugs to treat diseases.

The $16.5 million magnet, at 16 feet tall and weighing more than 15 tons, took more than a decade to design and is unlike any other in the world, said Greg Boebinger, director of Florida State University's magnetic laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla.

"The magnet will help us to (draw) out scientific solutions to many questions," Tim Cross, the director of the lab's Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging Program, said at a news conference Thursday.

The magnet can be used to design new pharmaceutical drugs or enhance old ones via a process called nuclear magnetic resonance, that allows for attacking only the "bad" cells and not the healthy ones to treat such diseases as AIDS, tuberculosis or cancer, reported the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat Friday.

Rate this story - 4 /5 (1 vote)

rank
1
2
3
4
5

view popular

Other News

Nuclear weapons: Predicting the unthinkable

Physics / General Physics

20 hours ago | 2.3 / 5 (4) | 3

If a nuclear weapon were detonated in a metropolitan area, how large would the affected area be? Where should first responders first go? According to physicist Fernando Grinstein, we have some initial understanding to address ...

Aquatic creatures mix ocean water

Physics / General Physics

17 hours ago | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

Understanding mixing in the ocean is of fundamental importance to modeling climate change or predicting the effects of an El Niño on our weather. Modern ocean models primarily incorporate the effects of winds and tides. However, ...

Generating electricity from air flow

Physics / General Physics

20 hours ago | 3.9 / 5 (8) | 2

A group of researchers at the City College of New York is developing a new way to generate power for planes and automobiles based on materials known as piezoelectrics, which convert the kinetic energy of motion into electricity. ...

Restored machine to explore mysteries of Big Bang

Physics / General Physics

Nov 21, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (18) | 20

(AP) -- Scientists are preparing the world's largest atom smasher to explore the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs.

Doubts raised on nuclear industry viability

Physics / General Physics

Nov 19, 2009 | 3.1 / 5 (20) | 19

(PhysOrg.com) -- The investment in nuclear power has been growing around the world over the last few years, being viewed as a means for countries to control their energy security, avoid the price fluctuations ...