Prof. Nick Lockyer

Professor of Physical Chemistry

nick.lockyer @ manchester.ac.uk

PhD on Laser Ionisation Mass Spectrometry of Biomolecules, UMIST, 1996
BSc (1st) in Chemistry, UMIST, 1991.
Special Research Fellowship for the ‘Development of a Chemical Microscope‘ funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Elected member of the International Committee of the SIMS Societry, 2020

My research interests focus on the development and application of surface analysis and chemical imaging particularly ToF-SIMS and laser-based mass spectrometry. There are three themes to this research: fundamentals, instrument development and applications research. The Life Sciences provide an exciting field in which to develop new applications, which in turn drive developments in methodology and technology. We are currently seeking to exploit these advances through a variety of collaborations with fellow academics, industrial partners and healthcare professionals.

Research topics: Analytical Chemistry; Instrumentation; Chemical imaging; Ion-solid interactions; Laser-matter interactions; Materials characterisation

Figure 1. The impact of keV ions or laser photons on a solid surface results in the ejection of ions and neutrals that reflect the detailed surface chemistry of the impact region. Scanning the focused probe beam over the sample leads to chemical images. The emitted ions can be analysed and detected directly by mass spectrometry e.g. ToF-SIMS. A complementary approach is to ‘post-ionise’ the neutrals, for example with an intense laser pulse.

Figure 2. In collaboration with UK-SMEs and others our group has developed bespoke imaging mass spectrometry technologies. Shown here is the BioToF-SIMS developed with Kore Technology Ltd. (Cambridge) and Ionoptika Ltd (Southampton)

Recent Research Projects

Development of ToF-SIMS instrumentation and methodology for 2D and 3D chemical imaging
Collaborators: Ionoptika Ltd (Southampton), Hua Tian (Univ. Columbia), Felicia Green ( Rosalind Franklin Institute)
Laser post-ionisation of sputtered neutrals
Collaborators: Zoltan Takats (Rosalind Franklin Institute), Josephine Bunch (National Physical Laboratory & Imperial College)
Application of mass spectrometry imaging in crop protection
Collaborators: Giles Johnson, Drupad Trivedi (UoM), Syngenta Ltd. and Waters Corp.
The application of ToF-SIMS in cancer biology, diagnosis and therapy
Collaborators: A. McMahon (UoM School of Cancer Studies and Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre); P. Gardner (UoM, School of Chemical Engineerin), N. Clarke & M. Brown (UoM School of Cancer and Enabling Sciences & CRUK Paterson Institute for Cancer Research), D. Wedge (Machester Cancer Research Centre)
The application of ToF-SIMS in battery science Collaborators: Alex Walton and Ben Spencer (UoM)

Recent Funding Sources

EPSRC, BBSRC, CRUK, Wellome Trust

Recent Publications [All Publications]

112	Mass Spectrometry Imaging for Spatial Chemical Profiling of Vegetative Parts of Plants Akhila Ajith, Phillip J. Milnes, Giles N. Johnson and Nicholas P. Lockyer Plants 11 (2022) 1234
111	Sensitivity enhancement using chemically reactive gas cluster ion beams in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) Matija Lagator, Irma Berrueta Razo, Thomas Royle, and Nicholas P. Lockyer Surf. Interface Anal. 54 (2022) 349-355
110	Metabolism in action: stable isotope probing using vibrational spectroscopy and SIMS reveals kinetic and metabolic flux of key substrates Malama Chisanga, Howbeer Muhamadali, Danielle McDougall, Yun Xu, Nicholas Lockyer and Royston Goodacre Analyst 146 (2021) 1734-1746
109	Microdistribution and quantification of the boron neutron capture therapy drug BPA in primary cell cultures of human glioblastoma tumour by NanoSIMS Samar Aldossari, Greg McMahon, Nicholas P. Lockyer and Katie L. Moore Analyst 144 (2019) 6214–6224
108	The influence of polyatomic primary ion chemistry on matrix effects in secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis Afnan M. Alnajeebi, John C. Vickerman and Nicholas P. Lockyer Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 32 (2018) 1962–1970
107	Probing the action of a novel anti-leukaemic drug therapy at the single cell level using modern vibrational spectroscopy techniques Joanna L. Denbigh, David Perez-Guaita, Robbin R. Vernooij, Mark J. Tobin, Keith R. Bambery, Yun Xu, Andrew D. Southam, Farhat L. Khanim, Mark T. Drayson, Nicholas P. Lockyer, Royston Goodacre & Bayden R. Wood Scientific Reports 7 (2017) 2649
106	Quartz Crystal Microbalance Assay of Clinical Calcinosis Samples and Their Synthetic Models Differentiates the Efficacy of Chelation-Based Treatments Fan Fei, Andrzej Gallas, Yun-Chuan Chang, Yikun Rao, Alan Christy Hunter, Richard E. P. Winpenny, Ariane L. Herrick, Nicholas P. Lockyer and Christopher F. Blanford ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9 (2017) 27544–27552
105	Fossilization of melanosomes via sulfurization Maria E. McNamara, Bart E. van Dongen, Nick P. Lockyer, Ian D. Bull and Patrick J. Orr Palaeontology 59 (2016) 337–350
104	Matrix effects in biological SIMS using cluster ion beams of different chemical composition Afnan M. Alnajeebi, John C. Vickerman and Nicholas P. Lockyer Biointerphases 11 (2016) 02A317
103	Peptide Fragmentation and Surface Structural Analysis by Means of ToF-SIMS Using Large Cluster Ion Sources Yuta Yokoyama, Satoka Aoyagi, Makiko Fujii, Jiro Matsuo, John S. Fletcher, Nicholas P. Lockyer, John C. Vickerman, Melissa K. Passarelli, Rasmus Havelund and Martin P. Seah Analytical Chemistry 88 (2016) 3592–3597

Books

N.P. Lockyer, Laser Post-ionisation for Elemental and Molecular Surface Analysis in ToF-SIMS – Surface Analysis by Mass Spectrometry, Second Edition, Eds. J.C. Vickerman and D. Briggs, SurfaceSpectra (Manchester) and IM Publications (Chichester)
N.P. Lockyer “Static Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry for Biological and Biomedical Research” Methods Mol. Biol. 369 (2007) 543-567

Selected Presentations

INVITED “Water-assisted SIMS using Gas Cluster Ion Beams” SIMS and related techniques meetings (SISS-24) Himeji, Japan, June 2025
KEYNOTE “A fundamental study of small proteins using gas clujster ion beam SIMS – multiple charging and projectile effects” SIMS-24 Int. Conference, La Rochelle, France, Sept. 2024
INVITED “Latest developments in SIMS bioanalysis using water gas cluster ion beams”, SIMS and related techniques meetings (SISS-22) Kanazawa, Japan, June 2023
INVITED, “Improved bioanalysis using GCIB SIMS and laser post-ionisation”, 14th International Symposium on Atomic Level Characterizations for New Materials and Devices (ALC’22) Okinawa, Japan. Oct 2022.
KEYNOTE “Multimodal Mass Spectrometry and Optical Imaging of a Neuroinflammation Model‘ 42nd British Mass Spectrometry Society Conference, Manchester, September 2022.

Surface Analysis Research Centre

University of Manchester, UK