Guido Pintacuda

Guido Pintacuda is a CNRS Research Director and Head of the Lyon High-Field NMR Center (CRMN) at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon since 2019. His work centers on advancing solid-state NMR methodologies with ultra-fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) to achieve atomic-level resolution in complex biomolecular and materials systems that are intractable to conventional techniques.

Educational background: Undergraduate studies (1992-1997) and PhD in Sciences (1998-2002) at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy; postdoctoral research at Karolinska Institutet (2001-2004) and Australian National University (2004).

Research interests focus on pushing NMR frontiers through high-field instrumentation and fast MAS (up to 160 kHz), with dual objectives: (i) biomolecular structure determination for membrane proteins, amyloid fibrils, and viral assemblies; (ii) solid-state NMR of paramagnetic materials like battery cathodes and catalysts. His innovations include proton detection in fully protonated proteins and DNP-enhanced sensitivity.

Recent publications (2021-2024) show heavy emphasis on proton-detected NMR under fast MAS for structural biology, alongside growing work in paramagnetic materials. Key trends include method development for μs–ms dynamics, miniature rotor protocols for membrane proteins, and collaborations with Bruker for 150+ kHz probe technology.

Scientific awards:

• ERC Consolidator Grant (P-MEM-MAS, 2015-2021)
• Sackler Prize (2017)
• ISMAR Fellow (2020)

Mentoring and grants: Principal investigator for major projects including ERC (2.5 M€), ANR CTRbyNMR (384 k€), and EU PANACEA (5 M€, co-coordinator). Actively mentors PhD student Clément Ollier and postdocs (Z. Sun, S. Medina-Gomez) at ENS Lyon and international schools.

Labs and teams: Directs CRMN (UMR 5082 CNRS/ENS Lyon/UCBL), a world-class NMR facility with unique high-field equipment. Leads a research group developing 150+ kHz MAS probes in partnership with Bruker Biospin and maintains strong ties to the University of Delaware (T. Polenova) and European networks.