Slice & Dice: nested spin-lattice relaxation measurements

Spin-lattice relaxation rate (R-1) measurements are commonly used to characterize protein dynamics. However, the time needed to collect the data can be quite long due to long relaxation times of the low-gamma nuclei, especially in the solid state. We present a method to collect backbone heavy atom relaxation data by nesting the collection of datasets in the solid state. This method results in a factor of 2 to 2.5 times faster data acquisition for backbone R-1 relaxation data for the C-13 and N-15 sites of proteins.