After receiving a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Health to purchase an 800-megahertz superconducting magnet for chemistry and biochemistry research, Brandeis is building a home for the device in a new building adjacent to the Golding Health Center.The magnet will be used by Boston-area scientists to conduct health-related research in areas such as disease mechanisms, drug-target interactions, AIDS and cancer, according to Prof. Thomas Pochapsky (CHEM).

Work on the $950,000 facility, which is fully funded by the University, is underway and on schedule according to Dan Feldman, associate vice-president for planning, design and construction. The project's Web site said the magnet's facility will be completed in June 2005.

"The magnet allows you to see what kind of atoms are in a molecule and how they move," Pochapsky said. He said that the bigger the magnet, the closer you can look at an atom.

Members of the chemistry department referred to the magnet as "Pochapsky's baby."

"My wife Sue, a senior scientist, and I decided it was a good idea to raise money for the magnet," Pochapsky said. "We wrote grants and got contributions from several universities including Harvard Medical School, Tufts, Boston University, Boston College and Clark."

Pochapsky said that the grant was a "sign of faith by NIH that we know how to take care of it. We are good at this sort of thing."

The building to house the magnet will occupy the space framed by Golding, Stoneman, and Mailman.

According to Pochapsky, Brandeis has a long history of magnetic resonance research, beginning with retired Prof. Alfred Redfield (BIO).

Pochapsky said the magnet's rendering of a picture of molecules uses the same technology as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a common method of imaging the insides of humans and animals. MRI scans look like more detailed X-rays.

"Think of atoms as little tops," Pochapsky said. "If atoms are in a magnetic field, they spin."

Pochapsky said radio waves can spin molecules other ways. He said the way molecules respond to the radio waves depends on other atoms in area, what kind of molecule it is, how big it is, and how it moves. This information then helps researchers learn more about the molecule.

Pochapsky said the magnet poses no health risk because it is shielded. Older magnets that were not shielded had fields that extended long distances and affected devices such pacemakers.

Brandeis' magnet is one of the two largest currently in the Boston area, Pochapsky said. The other is located in a private industrial park.

While Pochapsky said Harvard and MIT are working on bringing a larger, 900 megahertz magnet into their research labs in a joint project, he did not know the details of this arrangement.