Core Equipment to leverage world class National Crystallography Service facilities

核心设备利用世界一流的国家晶体学服务设施

• 批准号: EP/X034704/1
• 负责人: Simon Coles
• 金额: $ 54.79万
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX034704%2F1
• 关键词: Core; Equipment; leverage; world; class

This proposal identifies accessories to be added to the NCS state-of-the-art equipment base to provide entirely new capabilities to then be delivered widely as a service. This technique development and delivery aligns to the Core Equipment 'underpinning multi-user equipment' theme. Coupled with established routes to supporting and enabling ECRs and doctoral students, the NCS squarely addresses the objectives of this call. The NCS is a world-renowned facility with a large user base and the first National Research Facility to be established (1981). It is ideally suited to maximising the benefits and beneficiaries of Core Equipment investment, being an advanced facility with a national reach and an established, coordinated approach to maintaining and expanding its user base. It is a world-leader with a track record of pioneering developments that have been widely adopted or incorporated into instrumentation to benefit the whole community. The NRF model provides access mechanisms, expert support, monitoring, governance and a sustainable operating model to ensure that this investment will be fully realised to its maximum potential. The main items, a climate-controlled sample holder for electron diffraction and an energy dispersive spectrometer, are identified as accessories for an electron diffractometer recently funded via the EPSRC Strategic Equipment scheme. This will be the first dedicated instrument of its type in the world available to the academic community and will open up the new field of single crystal structure analysis of nanocrystals. Core Equipment investment therefore leverages this prominent position to pioneer entirely new capabilities based on this new technique: the ability to perform in-situ elemental analysis, access high temperatures and control the gaseous environment all while collecting atomic-resolution structural information on a nanocrystal. Recently the NCS has developed skills and a facility to deliver the novel 'Crystal Sponge' technique. This is a joint development/impact project partnering with Merck and Rigaku, which enables acquisition of structural data on nanolitres of material or substances that don't readily crystallise. The target audience is the pharmaceutical industry but, as it becomes a new component of the NCS and with strategic partnerships already in place, the aim is to develop and deliver it to academia and grow new crystallography user communities. High Performance Liquid Chromatography will provide the basis for the NCS to deliver this technique to the academic community by enabling the handling of a much wider range of compounds and mixtures with a wide variety of levels of purity. The final item requested is a replacement for a 20-year-old Hot Stage Microscope which aligns to the 'invest to save' theme and supports a range of advanced techniques and teaching activities. The desire for these capabilities has been assessed via recent community consultation exercises, most notably an NCS Community Statement of Need and gathering support for a national electron diffraction facility. They have also been considered as part of the formal governance and review procedures of the NCS. The unique position and reach of the NCS in the community will enable maximisation of the number of beneficiaries of this equipment through its core business, advanced methods and technique development work. The large established user base reaches through to PhD students and ECRs, all of whom have opportunity for skills training provided with this equipment. In conclusion, with the ability to continue to sustain the high level of service provision, the NCS can also add significant value to this investment through well-established routes and clearly identified pathways to impact. These are not only through its established user community, but also by reaching out to many new users and to the global community, particularly via partnerships with key industry and instrument manufacturers.

该提案确定了要添加到 NCS 最先进设备库中的附件，以提供全新的功能，然后作为服务广泛提供。该技术的开发和交付符合核心设备“支撑多用户设备”的主题。结合支持和支持 ECR 和博士生的既定路线，NCS 明确解决了本次呼吁的目标。 NCS 是世界知名的机构，拥有庞大的用户群，也是第一个成立的国家研究机构（1981 年）。它非常适合最大化核心设备投资的利益和受益者，是一个覆盖全国的先进设施，并采用既定的、协调的方法来维护和扩大其用户群。它是世界领先者，拥有开创性发展的记录，这些发展已被广泛采用或纳入仪器仪表中，以使整个社区受益。 NRF 模型提供准入机制、专家支持、监控、治理和可持续运营模式，以确保这项投资充分发挥其最大潜力。主要项目是用于电子衍射的气候控制样品架和能量色散光谱仪，被确定为最近通过 EPSRC 战略设备计划资助的电子衍射仪的配件。这将是世界上第一台可供学术界使用的同类专用仪器，并将开辟纳米晶体单晶结构分析的新领域。因此，核心设备投资利用这一突出地位，开创基于这项新技术的全新功能：能够进行原位元素分析、访问高温和控制气体环境，同时收集纳米晶体上的原子分辨率结构信息。最近，NCS 开发了技能和设施来提供新颖的“水晶海绵”技术。这是与默克和 Rigaku 合作的一个联合开发/影响项目，能够获取纳升材料或不易结晶的物质的结构数据。目标受众是制药行业，但随着它成为 NCS 的新组成部分以及已经建立的战略合作伙伴关系，我们的目标是开发它并将其提供给学术界并发展新的晶体学用户社区。高效液相色谱法将为 NCS 提供基础，使该技术能够处理更广泛的化合物和具有各种纯度水平的混合物，从而将该技术提供给学术界。最后一项要求是更换使用了 20 年的热台显微镜，该显微镜符合“投资节省”主题，并支持一系列先进技术和教学活动。对这些能力的渴望已通过最近的社区咨询活动进行了评估，最引人注目的是 NCS 社区需求声明以及为国家电子衍射设施收集支持。它们也被视为 NCS 正式治理和审查程序的一部分。 NCS 在社区中的独特地位和影响力将通过其核心业务、先进方法和技术开发工作，使该设备的受益者数量最大化。庞大的既定用户群涵盖博士生和 ECR，他们都有机会接受该设备提供的技能培训。总之，由于有能力继续维持高水平的服务提供，NCS 还可以通过完善的路线和明确的影响途径为这项投资增加显着的价值。这些不仅通过其已建立的用户社区实现，还通过接触许多新用户和全球社区，特别是通过与主要行业和仪器制造商的合作伙伴关系实现。