Diamond Concise Annual Review 2020/21

32 33 D I A M O N D L I G H T S O U R C E A N N U A L R E V I E W 2 0 2 0 / 2 1 Industrial Liaison T his has been a year like no other, and while we mourn those lost and remember those struggling, we also want to take time to recognise some of the most positive moments. We have moved the operations of the Industrial Liaison Office (ILO) to home offices.Through many hours of Zoom andTeams calls we have been welcomed into our clients’lives, meeting their families and their pets! Shared understanding of the pressures and a strong desire to collaborate in extraordinary circumstances have brought the most human elements of scientific research to the fore. From mid-March 2020, Diamond’s operations were restricted to COVID-19 research, but the ILO XChem team had already spent much time working on Diamond’s collaborative COVID-19 research projects. This work has contributed to understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the design of potential therapeutics. Industrial life science services were able to resume in May. Years of optimising remote working on Diamond’s life science beamlines has ensured a smooth transition during this period. Data management systems are in place to support sample shipments and tracking and secure external access, making preparations from the client side simple and straightforward. State of the art robotics and automation enable fast, accurate and reliable instrument control from labs, offices and kitchen tables all over the world. Cryo-electron microscopy, macromolecular crystallography, fragment screening and small angle scattering services have been in high demand and the industrial programme is thriving. Our mail-in data collection services continue to be very popular and samples can be prepared and shipped directly to us for experiments. Samples can then be prepared by our staff or proceed directly to data collection. Years of experience in designing and delivering mail-in experiments have allowed us to accommodate any additional challenges presented by the pandemic. Although there has been a limited operational timetable, reduced demand from academia during restricted university lab access has created opportunities for greater flexibility and access for industry. Physical sciences experiments resumed for industrial clients in the late summer of 2020. As restrictions were relaxed, more complex experiments with increased staff requirements became possible. Diffraction, imaging, small angle scattering and spectroscopy services are now running regularly to support our clients. The ILO team have used their unique blend of experience, expertise and excellent communication to assist in designing complex experiments during this time. Our Diamond colleagues have been instrumental in ensuring that industrial beamtime has had the minimal possible disruption during this time. We have updated our marketing and communications information so please visit our website at www.diamond.ac.uk/industry or follow us on LinkedIn (Diamond Industrial Liaison Group) or Twitter (@DiamondILO) for more information. If you have a project in mind or an analytical need to discuss, please get in touch on [email protected] and we will do our best to make it a reality. Members of the ILO team pictured at Diamond, pre-pandemic.