Sana and Kainat are two happy interns, who just completed their training on the magnificent Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) machine. For what it is, the NMR machine can be thought of as a giant, electronic orchestra conductor, which controls how molecules ‘play’ at what frequencies. By doing so, it helps researchers decipher the characteristics of materials. The performance is orchestrated by magnetic forces, and the symphony deciphered through charts and graphs.

One such symphony was recently deciphered by two PhD students from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sana and Kainat. They learned the basics of how the machine operates, prepared samples, tested them in the machine and sharpened their technical skills needed to complete the internship. Let’s see what the interns had to say.

Recalling her internship, Ms. Sana Iqbal happily told us "It was a wonderful experience to work on the NMR machine, which was enriched with learning and skill enhancement, including technical data analysis & interpretation. I am thankful to each member of our department, and specially to the faculty and staff who worked closely with us to guide us about preparing and running the samples through different techniques." Moreover, Sana said, "We used both 1D & 2D (Homo-nuclear and Hetro-nuclear) NMR techniques for Proton & Carbon nuclei. We also appreciated the importance of Nitrogen filling for maintenance of instrument in order to overcome sample defects such as moisture, during data acquisition."

In her concluding remarks, Sana stated, "This training program has enabled participants to understand and characterize compounds using NMR technique."

She also left a message for future explorers, "I call on my department fellows to take time out to be a part of this amazing experience in future for skill enhancement." 

Ms. Kainat Ahmed also shared her views with us, "The NMR machine looked pretty intimidating at first glance, but with the help of my trainers, I gradually came to appreciate the technology, especially considering how effortlessly it would react to input commands. During the training, I learned safety precautions for proper handling of the machine, operated sophisticated software (TopSpin), ran various 2D NMR techniques apart from simple proton and carbon NMR and interpreted spectral data."

"Lessons learned through this internship will be immensely valuable for my doctoral research work that is based on drug discovery and synthetic chemistry. I am utterly grateful to Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem (Instructor of Organic Spectroscopy-CHEM 533) for teaching the spectroscopy so well that ignited my interest to learn more about the instrument, and to Dr. Muhammad Adil Raees (NMR Facility Manager) and Dr. Shahzad ul Hussan for giving their sincere attention and time to help us out."

Continuing her appreciation, Ms. Kainat thanked Dr. Ghayoor Abbas Chotana for this wonderful opportunity, and Mr. Bilal, who is the NMR Lab Assistant, for his tremendous help.

In her concluding message, Ms. Kainat said, "I wish for students throughout SBASSE to make use of this opportunity in order to establish quality research." 

We congratulate Ms. Sana and Ms. Kainat on achieving the completion of their NMR Internship Program.