IMSERC Mission
IMSERC’s mission is to further research at Northwestern by providing access to and educating students on the proper use of instrumentation needed for molecular structure characterization. The Northwestern University Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC) has been established to educate Northwestern students to be scientific leaders of 21st century, and support world-class research. The synthesis of small molecules fuels research of numerous core disciplines and interdisciplinary activities, including chemistry, molecular/cellular biology, drug discovery, chemical biology, translational medical research, materials, catalysis, nanotechnology and energy storage/conversion. All research at Northwestern utilizing novel compounds relies on IMSERC to characterize these molecules before application testing can begin. As a “one stop shop” for molecular structure characterization, all instrumentation and staff scientist offices are located in a single location.
How to Get Started
IMSERC is located on the ground floor of the Technological Institute in rooms KG73-88. Outside requests and new users unfamiliar with IMSERC's analytical techniques should direct inquiries to the IMSERC Director, Andrew Ott.
Before scheduling training, read the IMSERC user guidelines document. Contact your business administrator to obtain your correct Cafe chart string (do not use another group member's account). Go to the FOM billing system (http://imsercsrv.chem.northwestern.edu/fom/welcome ) and create an account. Request access to an instrument and arrange a training time. You must have a sample with you at the time of training! For more information on FOM, see the FOM User Manual.
Check the list of instrument guides to see if there is any reference material on your instrument. If there is, look it over and print up a copy to bring to your training session.
After your training session is complete, you will typically perform several analyses with a group member and then be certified by an IMSERC staff member for 24x7 usage.
