Getting Started

Beamline B24 is currently in user mode.

Diamond routinely accepts proposals during a twice yearly call for proposals. There are two deadlines to be aware of:

• First Wednesday in April, 17:00, for access from October 1st to March 31st
   
• First Wednesday in October, 17:00, for access from April 1st to September 31st

For more information, please visit beamtime. 

At this stage, we are offering absorption contrast within the water window at ~500eV (phase contrast at ~2.5keV is under commissioning) at a resolution between 35-40nm for vitrified biological samples.

For these experiments it is essential that users have, in addition to a strong science case, demonstrated expertise in sample preparation or have discussed the preparation with beamline staff prior to submission.

Interested users should submit applications through the UAS and choose the 'Standard Access' route.

All proposals will be assessed and beamtime will be granted based on scientific merit with a strong emphasis on technical feasibility.

Rapid access 'pilot studies' (max. 3 shifts) will be available and may be suggested prior to a full beamtime allocation in cases where there is uncertainty on sample preparation, user experience or feasibility.

For technical questions about proposed experiments please contact maria.harkiolaki@diamond.ac.uk.

1. Please register or login to the Diamond UAS and 'Create New Proposal'.
2. You will need to identify it as standard call or rapid access when prompted and a proposal number will then be allocated and you will be directed to a proposal setup page.
3. At the Science Overview tab please pick up the template and fill in accordingly.
4. During your proposal preparation, please select 'B24 - Cryo Soft X-ray Tomography' at the beamline tab.
5. When prompted to declare the number of shifts please keep in mind that we will allocate user time in 8hr lots (9am-5pm = 1 shift) and you will need at least two days per sample (which includes sample transfers and data collection but not sample preparation) so a three day request for a specific project is reasonable for a start given delays we might encounter at the beamline. If however you have several projects you will need to scale up accordingly.
6. All highlighted sections need to have some info before you can submit your proposal.

It is important to have a strong biological/biomedical science case and present previous results from X-ray or other imaging techniques. Please include images (e.g. fluorescence in tissue culture) if available. We will evaluate the proposal on its scientific merit but also on the availability of samples and the know-how of the home laboratory on sample handling and sample preparation for our beamline.

If we have discussed working together on sample preparation then that needs to be mentioned here with an estimate of the time/effort that you will require.

Technical Considerations

Please refer to the beamline webpages and in specific the call for proposals tab to see what we can offer.

• Through absorption contrast you are expecting to get a clear three dimensional map of cellular compartments/organelles (membranes absorb really well!) as well as potentially highly clustered or structured protein-containing molecular modules. The nuclear area has high background and although we can identify nucleoli the level of detail obtained from there is not great at present.

• The technique will allow you to see structural features of your cells (which can be anything from tissue mammalian to larger bacteria but only cat 1 & 2 for now) but will also provide context for any fluorescence marking that you have observed or engineered already.

• If you want to use the in house cryo-SIM before X-ray data collection, please include this in your proposal but keep in mind that the equipment is not accessed via the UAS as it is still being developed. However, we would be happy to organise access if there is a scientific case and it is at the time in full working order.

Other Considerations

We would expect you not to need funding for consumables but please do let us know if you think you might.

You will require no access to the Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH). Please refer to Beamline Summary for ancillary components at B24.