Nikolaus Loening

Nikolaus Loening is a Professor of Chemistry at Lewis & Clark College, where he teaches courses in general, physical, analytical, and biochemistry. His research focuses on developing new methods for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and applying them to chemical and biological problems, including protein structure determination and drug target screening. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge (2001) and postdoctoral experience at MIT and Cambridge.

Professional Experience: Before joining Lewis & Clark, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher under Bob Griffin at MIT and James Keeler at the University of Cambridge. He has conducted research sabbaticals at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (UK), Leibniz Institute (Germany), and Oregon State University. He established the college's Overseas Program to Berlin and led programs in Australia and Berlin multiple times.

Research Interests: His lab develops NMR pulse sequences and techniques for faster data acquisition, structural analysis, and metabolic profiling. Key areas include protein dynamics, drug discovery, and improving NMR sensitivity through methodological innovations.

Publications: His recent work includes advancements in TEV protease variants, conotoxin structural analysis, and dynein regulation studies. He has contributed to NMR instrumentation development, including a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer acquisition for undergraduate research.

Advising & Grants: He has advised numerous undergraduate researchers listed in his group members. His grant work includes NSF RUI funding for structural biology research and infrastructure projects like the NMR spectrometer acquisition.