Neural networks in pulsed dipolar spectroscopy: A practical guide #EPR #PELDOR #DEER

Published: Monday, 18 July 2022 - 10:00 -0400

Author: Thorsten Maly

Keeley, Jake, Tajwar Choudhury, Laura Galazzo, Enrica Bordignon, Akiva Feintuch, Daniella Goldfarb, Hannah Russell, et al. “Neural Networks in Pulsed Dipolar Spectroscopy: A Practical Guide.” Journal of Magnetic Resonance 338 (May 2022): 107186.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2022.107186.

This is a methodological guide to the use of deep neural networks in the processing of pulsed dipolar spectroscopy (PDS) data encountered in structural biology, organic photovoltaics, photosynthesis research, and other domains featuring long-lived radical pairs and paramagnetic metal ions. PDS uses distance dependence of magnetic dipolar interactions; measuring a single well-defined distance is straightforward, but extracting distance distributions is a hard and mathematically ill-posed problem requiring careful regularisation and background fitting. Neural networks do this exceptionally well, but their ‘‘robust black box” reputation hides the complexity of their design and training – particularly when the training dataset is effectively infinite. The objective of this paper is to give insight into training against simulated databases, to discuss network architecture choices, to describe options for handling DEER (double electron-electron resonance) and RIDME (relaxation-induced dipolar modulation enhancement) experiments, and to provide a practical data processing flowchart.