Research Scientist and NMR Lab Manager

Dr. David Onofrei is the NMR Facility Manager and senior NMR Spectroscopist at SDSU. The SDSU NMR Facility is a core instrumentation facility operating under Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. There are three instruments on site with a wide variety of magnetic resonance capabilities to suit the broad NMR needs of Departmental researchers, Department coursework / teaching needs, and external customers. Dr. Onofrei is responsible for all day-to-day operations of the NMR facility including maintaining and servicing equipment, training users, and teaching NMR-related courses for the department.  Additionally, as the senior NMR spectroscopist Dr. Onofrei contributes heavily to ongoing research projects in the department that require NMR expertise, including projects within the Holland group. David Onofrei graduated from Washington State University with a B.S. in Biochemistry. He worked as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Chulhee Kang studying protein crystallography where he contributed to a number of projects involving bioethanol production, single-domain antibodies, and bioremediation of polychlorinated phenols. He now works in the Holland group at SDSU studying physical and analytical chemistry. Currently he studies the structure and dynamics of spider silk proteins using solid and solution state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Other methods that are being employed in this work include cryo-transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and solid state peptide synthesis. This work will help advance the understanding of bio-polymer formation and has applications to medical bio-sutures, sustainable fabrics, high performance materials, and many others