I14 Latest news

Interested in working at I14? 

A PhD studentship is now available, joint with the University of Southampton looking at sea urchin development.

This joint PhD will cover synchrotron X-ray science, molecular biology and materials science.

For more information please visit: 
Careers/Students/PhD-Studentships/2024-projects

Deadline: 15^th April

Look out for another PhD opportunity coming soon as well!

Julia Parker presenting at 'Crystallisation in the Real World' January 2024

The I14 team were recently invited to present at the ‘Crystallisation in the Real World’ symposium at the University of Leeds (realworldcrystals.leeds.ac.uk).

Julia Parker shared the work of the I14 beamline on crystallization, including the development of our in situ capabilities for real time, hydrated imaging of crystal growth. It was great to meet with collaborators old and new and discuss new projects for the beamline, as well as new developments and potential directions in correlative X-ray and electron microscopy imaging. Thank you to the team at Leeds for hosting a great meeting!  

It has been a busy month for conferences as Jess Walker has also presented her research on coccolithophores at the British Phycological Society Annual Meeting at the University of Reading.

Dr Jake Brooks (University of Warrick), trained in materials engineering at the University of Birmingham, before completing an EPSRC-funded PhD at the University of Warwick investigating metal dysregulation in neurodegenerative disorders. Dr Brooks’ research is based in the Trace Metals in Medicine Laboratory at Warwick, whilst he is also a frequent user of Diamond Light Source synchrotron facility in Oxfordshire, and more concisely of the I14 beamline.

He presented data gathered at I14 at an Alzheimer's Research UK Lab Notes event (catch-up-lab-notes-understanding-air-pollution-dementia). This was a public-facing webinar aimed at improving public understanding of connections between air pollution and dementia.

Dr Brooks was awarded a Race Against Dementia Fellowship in 2023 (raceagainstdementia-rad-fellows-dr-jake-brooks). His research uses advanced chemical imaging techniques to study the olfactory bulb, a region of the brain affected in the earliest stages of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The olfactory bulb is also particularly vulnerable to the deposition of air pollutant particles inhaled through the nose. Dr Brooks’ research investigates how air pollution may contribute to different types of dementia.

Data collected at the I14 hard X-ray nanoprobe supported successful applications for personal funding for Dr Jake Brooks (Warwick-Wellcome Translational Fellowship, £40K; Race Against Dementia Fellowship, £454K, Alzheimer's Research UK Midlands Network ECR award, £5K) and for Dr James Everett (Keele Faculty Research Fund, 12K; ARUK Early Career Researcher Bridge Fund, £30K; ARUK Midlands Network ECR award, £5K).

Furthermore, Prof. Joanna Collingwood (Warwick University) and Prof. Neil Telling (Keele University), both principal investigators in multiple awarded beamtimes at I14, were interviewed by Sophie Law in the BBC podcast: “Remembrance & Diamond Light Source (linked here:bbc.co.uk/programmes), where they briefly discussed some of the outstanding research and findings being unveiled at the hard X-ray nanoprobe.

Nanoscale In Situ Microscopy Workshop 2023

I14 recently hosted the Nanoscale In Situ Microscopy workshop in collaboration with the Johnson Matthey Harwell EM team.

The crossover between in situ sample environments between TEM and the X-ray nanoprobe allows for correlative imaging and sharing skills, experience and troubleshooting between the techniques.

At the workshop, a number of wonderful speakers shared with us new updates in in situ technology and recent advances that were powered by in situ TEM and X-ray imaging.

Delegates were able to take a tour of Diamond, and take part in practical sessions using the current in situ devices at I14 and EPSIC, with an example experiment and chance to look more closely at the devices. It was great to gather new and experienced users together to discuss challenges in in situ science!  

To learn more about the I14 in situ environments available please visit our website page: Beamline research projects or get in touch.