Trent Franks, PhD

Research specialties: Using Solid State Magic Angle Spinning NMR to investigate the structure and dynamics of biologically relevant systems such as fibrils, membrane proteins, and pharmaceuticals. 

Dr. Franks received his undergraduate degrees in Physics and in Chemistry in 2002 from Arkansas State University.  He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007 for his work using dipolar recoupling experiments to refine a small microcrystalline protein structure to high resolution. From there he moved to the Leibniz Forscunginsitut für Molekulare Pharmakolgie in Berlin, Germany where he used NMR and DNP to study membrane proteins and ribosome nascent chains.  He moved to Warwick University in Coventry, United Kingdom, to study relaxation experiments and pharmaceuticals with fast spinning rotors. Finally, he joined the CCIC in November 2024.