| 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. |
Author Archives: Nick Lockyer
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.
Dr Huriyyah Alturaifi
Congratulations to Huriyyah on the award of her PhD! Her thesis is entitled ‘New Capabilities for Molecular Surface and in-depth Analysis with Cluster Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry’. The project was co-supervised by Prof Mike Turner at the Organic Materials Innovation Centre.
Dr Giles Edwards
Congratulations to Giles on the award of his PhD entitled ‘Advances in Bioanalytical Laser Ionisation Mass Spectrometry’.
Dr Afnan Alnajeebi
Congratulations to Afnan on the award of her PhD entitled ‘Comparison of cluster primary ion beams for quantitative biomolecular SIMS analysis’.
Visitor from University of Karachi
This month we welcome Dr. Syed Ghulam Musharraf, Associate Professor from H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry and International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) at the University of Karachi, Pakistan (http://www.iccs.edu). Musharraf will discuss collaborative opportunities between his institution and the University of Manchester and share his own research interests with our group and others in the MIB. His visit is funded through a Charles Wallace Visiting Fellowship.
Welcome to John
We welcome John Medland to the group as a PDRA on the new multiplexed ToF-SIMS project. John joins us from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
MPhil for Andres
Congratulations to Andres on the award of his MPhil degree. We look forward to welcoming him back to Manchester very soon to study for a PhD. Hasta la vista, Andres!
New project funded
August sees the start of a new EPSRC-funded project entitled ‘Development of Multiplexed ToF-SIMS Instrumentation‘ which represents a completely new paradigm for ToF-SIMS and builds of the group’s reputation for innovation in instrument development. The 3-year, £0.5M project involves collaborators in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Ionoptika Ltd.
Jo’s Graduation
A typically sunny day in Manchester!
Dr Joanna Denbigh
Congratulations to Jo on successfully completing her PhD ‘Lipidomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Biological Response Mechanisms in Cancer Cells: A Multidisciplinary Approach’.
Jo starts a post-doc in the area of mass spectrometry imaging in collaboration with Adam McMahon’s group at the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre.
Irma’s Graduation
Dr Irma Berrueta Razo
Congratulations to Irma who has passed her PhD entitled ‘Molecular imaging of mouse brain tissue using Cluster Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry’.
We wish her well as she leaves for Dave Castner’s group at the University of Washington.
Visit to Hyogo University
Nick visited the groups of Drs Moritani and Toyoda at the University of Hyogo, Himeji, Japan, who work extensively with gas cluster ion beams (GCIBs) for materials processing and analysis. He gave a presentation on our ion yield enhancements with the water GCIB source.
Visit to Osaka University
Nick visited the groups of Prof Terada and colleagues at Osaka University, who are developing high resolution ToF mass analyzers and applying them in SIMS, SNMS, MALDI and FAB. He gave a presentation on our instrumentation and methodology development and discussed laser SNMS theory – he also had the opportunity to view some moon samples returned by the Apollo 15 and 17 missions.