Beamline Phone Number:
+44 (0) 1235 778684
Principal Beamline Scientist:
Dr Gianfelice Cinque
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 778410
E-mail: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)1235 56 7675
In addition to the beamline end stations, users can request access to a range of support facilities at Diamond, which provide ancillary equipment and laboratories.
The majority of labs are shared as common facilities on the ground floor of the Diamond Experimental Hall. Specifically, laboratories for the preparation and manipulation of biological and chemical samples are available within the Soft Condensed Matter village and located very close to the MIRIAM beamline B22.
Within the SCM village, Lab 11 is dedicated to biological sample preparation by users in need of general biomedical, or other organic/inorganic matter sample preparation. It is equipped with biological safety cabinets.
Lab 12 is a chemistry lab, dedicated to the preparation and handling of samples that are associated with a chemical risk. It is equipped with two fume hoods and a broad range of standard consumables.
Ancillary equipment, such as a UV/Vis spectrophotometer, rheometer and tensiometer can be found in Lab 14.
A full list of the equipment and some common chemicals available in the labs can be found in Support Facilities.
Please discuss access to peripheral laboratories and any particular requirements beyond the standard equipment with the beamline staff. In order to obtain access, a completed Lab Risk Assessment Form must have been submitted and validated. These forms can be found in the Lab Access section of the ERA chapter in the UAS. A dedicated safety induction will also be given prior to granting access to the labs.
This area is dedicated for sample preparation and characterisation on B22 beamline, close to the IR endstations, in addition to the village laboratories which offer more extensive facilities for chemical and biological preparations. The area is equipped with a stereo 1x to 16x magnification Leica microscope for large scale sample survey; a Zeiss Axio Imager upright microscope up to 100x magnification; a Bruker Senterra confocal Raman microscope for detailed sample microanalysis.
Training and assistance in the use of these instruments is available from beamline staff. The use of the Raman microscope should be requested in your application for beamtime/offline access.
The high resolution Zeiss microscope can work in reflection and transmission mode, bright/dark field and phase contrast as well as with linear polarisers/analyzers via a range of objectives from 10x to 100x magnification. By means of a high resolution colour camera and remotely controlled x-y-z stage, the latest ZEN software allows mapping of large areas of interest up to several millimetres. It is equipped with a fluorescence option for imaging stained samples via UV illumination and a wide range of excitation/illumination filters (UV/blue, blue/green and green/red respectively).
The Bruker Senterra Raman microscope is a versatile instrument for vibrational microspectrosopy of samples which is highly complementary to IR data from the beamline. It can provide high quality visible images, in bright and dark field both at low/high magnification, also registered to the vibrational maps.
In particular, it is ideal for condesed/soft matter studies with a spectral range from 4000 down to about 40 cm-1 readily accessible. The instrument has a choice of 3 excitation lasers, 532 nm, 633 nm and 785 nm, power selection up to 50 mW, and it is possible to switch between laser wavelengths easily to find the best conditions for your measurements. The laser light can be either linear polarised or depolarised for specific applications. 10x to 100x magnification objectives are available, plus a 63x water immersion objective. Different diffraction gratings can be selected in the spectrograph to choose between low or high spectral resolution (ranging around 9 to 5 cm-1). Low resolution has the advantage of better signal to noise and faster acquisition time for larger spectral range.
Initiated as a B22 user request, a cell culture laboratory is available and fully operational at Diamond for the general Life Sciences users to grow mammalian cell lines for their experiments before/during their beamtime.
This is particularly relevant given the most advanced areas of research at MIRIAM in clinical/biomedical applications, namely live cell molecular imaging, time-dose response of cells to anti-cancer drugs or stem cell identification via IR microanalysis.
A storage of more than 20 commercial mammaline cell lines is available at B22 in a -80 C dewar (current list available on request).
Inverted visible microscope |
operational |
Phase contrast Magnification from 5x to 40x digital camera |
BioHazard Cabinet Class II |
operational |
containment level 2 |
Incubator |
operational |
cell culturing at containment level 2 CO2 inlet |
Centrifuges |
operational |
T-controlled for Falcon tubes Minispin for Eppendorf vials Cytospin for thin layer deposition |
Fridge/freezer |
available |
4 °C and -25 °C |
Freezer -80°C |
on demand |
available at peripheral lab |
Water bath water purifier MilliQ Automated cell counter |
operational |
|
Located at the 1st floor of Diamond Experimental Hall and just above B22 cabins, a data room is available to all Diamond IR users to carry out data analysis on-site during or after their beamtime.
It is equipped with PCs available to users that provide access to spectroscopic analysis software including a recent version of OPUS (to perform data analysis on spectra and IR images via the same acquisition software on the beamline, or to convert data), Cytospec (for IR map analysis and related vibrational image manipulation) and Orange Quasar (a comprehensive open-source data analysis suite).
In addition to this, tools for the analysis of nanospectroscopic data, such as Neascan NeaPlot and Gwyddion are available.
The data room is also a space for a break from the lab (including a coffee machine).
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
Copyright © 2022 Diamond Light Source
Diamond Light Source Ltd
Diamond House
Harwell Science & Innovation Campus
Didcot
Oxfordshire
OX11 0DE
Diamond Light Source® and the Diamond logo are registered trademarks of Diamond Light Source Ltd
Registered in England and Wales at Diamond House, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0DE, United Kingdom. Company number: 4375679. VAT number: 287 461 957. Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number: GB287461957003.