Dr. Daphna Shimon is a physical chemist specializing in magnetic resonance in the solid-state, and in particular nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), a method of enhancing NMR signal using unpaired electrons and microwave (MW) irradiation.
She received her B.Sc. in chemistry from Tel Aviv University.
For her graduate studies, she joined the group of Prof. Shimon Vega at The Weizmann Institute and worked on the topic of understanding the mechanisms of DNP. As part of this work, she gained a strong background in both the experimental and theoretical aspects of DNP and solid-state NMR. After her Ph.D., she continued to work with Prof. Vega on similar topics for another year, using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to understand the role of the electrons in DNP.
For her postdoctoral research, she wanted to learn more about characterizing materials and especially surfaces using solid-state NMR and magic angle spinning (MAS). With this goal in mind, she joined the group of Prof. Sophia Hayes, at Washington University in St. Louis in the US, where I gained experience in MAS-NMR techniques that can be used to study a variety of different materials.
Daphna’s second postdoctoral training was in the group of Prof. Chandrasekhar Ramanathan in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College in the US. There, she combined her interest in NMR of materials and surfaces with her expertise in DNP.
Before joining The Hebrew University, she spent 8 months working with Dr. Ilia Kaminker in Tel Aviv University, as a Yitzhak Shamir Fellow, working on DNP methodology, and in particular understanding how frequency modulation can improve DNP enhancement.
The Shimon Group laboratory at Hebrew University focuses on the study of small molecules on heterogeneous surfaces of porous materials using magnetic resonance techniques. The projects cover different aspects of molecules in porous materials and benefit significantly from the combination of NMR, DNP (using endogenous paramagnetic centers), EPR, and the development of new DNP tools and techniques.
