New Collaboration: Multimodal Ion Beam Imaging facility

We are excited to announce a new collaboration with The Surrey Ion Beam Centre on a new £3m project ‘Multimodal 3D elemental and molecular imaging at the sub-micron scalefunded by the EPSRC.  The project, led by Prof Melanie Bailey at the University of Surrey, will be achieved.by combining MeV ion beam analysis (X rays, gamma rays, backscattered particles) and water cluster Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) for the first time in a single instrument.

New MALDI-ToF instrumentation

EPSRC have funded a new MALDI imaging instrument through their strategic equipment call.  The grant, worth £810 k will allow investment in the latest MALDI-ToF technology, enabling us to establish a facility serving internal and external users.  The instrument complements the University’s world-leading mass spctrometry imaging capabilities including ToF-SIMS, Nano-SIMS, DESI-MS and LAESI-MS.  The Facility will be managed through the Michael Barber Centre for Collaborative Mass Spectrometry.

New Funding for Battery Characterisation

UKRI/The Faraday Institution have funded a project led by Dr Robert Weatherup (Diamond Manchester Research Fellow)
“What lies beneath? – new multimodal platforms for operando characterisation of buried interfaces in working batteries.”
The principal goal of this proposal is to develop new in-situ and operando platforms including ToF-SIMS, NAPXPS and HAXPES that will enable characterisation of buried interfaces in working batteries.

New funding for plant cell SIMS

A BBSRC Flexible Talent Mobility Award to Dr Jolanda van Munster (School of Chemistry & MIB) and Dr Sadia Sheraz (School of Materials) will allow us to extend our SIMS research into plant matter. The project entitled “Correlative mass-spectrometry imaging for nanoscale structural insight into plant biomass for food and biotechnology” is in collaboration with Dr Katie Moore (School of Materials), Prof Richard Ward (University of São Paulo-Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) and Rothamsted Research Ltd.

 

New project funded

New Developments in Quantitative 3D Chemical Imaging

A major new EPSRC grant of £844k will allow us to explore further the 3D imaging SIMS capabilities of reactive cluster projectile using a new high-energy ion beam.  Project partners include Prof Ian Gilmore at the National Physical Laboratory and Prof Arnaud Delcorte at the Universite catholique de Louvain.

The funding, togther with investment from the Henry Royce Institute allows us to replace our prototype Ionoptika J105 SIMS with the latest model, including a 70 keV water cluster beam.  This comes 10 y after the installation of the first J105 instrument in Manchester.

New Collaboration in Biofuel Biotechnology

Funding from the Sao Paulo Research Foundation “FAPESP” and the University of Manchester for a new collaboration with Dr Jolanda van Munster, BBSRC research fellow in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) and Prof. Richard John Ward, group leader of the Protein Biochemistry and Biophysics Laboratory, University of São Paulo-Ribeirão Preto.
The aim is to bring together expertise in protein engineering and polysaccharide mass spectrometry to enhance understanding of cell wall architecture at the micrometer scale to guide enzymatic deconstruction of lignocellulose for enhanced biofuel production.

Funding – A new dynamic in mass spectral imaging for biological systems

Funding:
A new dynamic in mass spectral imaging for biological systems
PI: John C. Vickerman, CoI: Nick Lockyer, ResearchCoI: John S. Fletcher
£740k, June 2009 – May 2012. [EPSRC award: EP/G045623/1, more information …]

EPSRC have approved funding for a three year project to investigate 3D SIMS depth information and ionisation effects. This will fund two PDRAs and two PhD students and allows us to further strengthen our collaboration with Professors Nick Winograd (Penn State) and Stephen Reichenbach (University of Nebraska-Lincoln).

Ionoptika J105 3D Chemical Imager

We are please to announce the arrival of our new instrument – the Ionoptika J105 3D Chemical Imager. This ToF spectrometer incorporates revolutionary technology which we hope will allow us to take large steps in the advancement of the understanding of the SIMS process and applications.

Enhancing new developments in ToF-SIMS through researcher exchanges

New funding:
Enhancing new developments in ToF-SIMS through researcher exchanges
We have been successful in securing EPSRC funds to bring expert researchers to Manchester and to send some of our group to the USA and The Netherlands. Later this year we will be hosting Professor Stephen Reichenbach from Nebraska University for three months and we will also be welcoming back Professors Nick Winograd and Barbara Garrison from Penn State University. Alex will be travelling to Nebraska next year and John (F) will be exchanging with a colleague from Professor Ron Heeren‘s group in Amsterdam. There is also funding for Professor Roger Webb of Surrey University to visit Penn State. [EPSRC award: EP/F012985/1, more information …]