NMR: Why Bother?

With the ever-evolving development of new biophysical tools and increasingly powerful techniques for biomolecular structural studies it is reasonable to contemplate the role of solution based NMR spectroscopy in going forward. In this talk I will describe a number of studies on molecular machines from my laboratory, emphasizing the unique role that NMR can play in providing quantitative descriptions of molecular dynamics and how such motion relates to function. The complementarity of NMR to other structural techniques is such that as they continue to advance so to will the utility of NMR. If anything NMR is far more valuable today than it was even a decade ago. This will be emphasized through a number of examples.