Users are encouraged to discuss experiments, and their feasibility, with beamline staff especially if proposed experiments are out of the norm or 'new'. We are very happy to setup novel or unusual experiments if discussed in advance.

European Users

European users are strongly encouraged to apply via iNEXT. Note you must still be registered in Diamond's UAS system

https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Users/Support-for-European-Access-to-Life-Sciences/How-to-apply0.html

Rapid access

Is available.

Standard access routes

When applying for serial time, you will be asked to answer the following questions in UAS.

Serial experiments

1. Science case for serial experiments (< 500 words)

Technical evaluation

1. Readiness of crystals
2. Mode of sample delivery requested
3. Primary goals of I24 serial experiment (< 400 words) 

The questions in UAS are purposely brief. In particular the questions in the technical evaluation are designed to help us understand how we can best help you and, if necessary, when experiments should be scheduled.

Serial experiments are still a new means of data collection for many and the aim of the questions is to initiate a dialogue so we can work together to perform the best possible experiment not to grade your proposal. Please get in touch ahead of applying/any experiments and we can let you give more detail on what we can and can't do, and how best your experiment might be done at I24. We have experience in getting from single crystals to serial structures at I24 and XFELs and are happy to help. If you have any questions at all please get in touch with one of the I24 team. 

Guidance notes 

Science Case

Please include information about why serial approaches are of interest for your project. What benefit and insight will the experiment provide? 

Technical Evaluation

Readiness of crystals

• How are the crystals currently grown (sitting drop, hanging drop, batch), typically what size are they? What is the lead time for crystal preparation? See FAQ for further information/other considerations.

Mode of sample delivery requested

• Our expertise in in fixed target crystallography. See the SSX at I24 page for details of what we can offer in terms of both this and other approaches.

Primary goals

• Giving a realistic goal for the experiment/beamtime at I24 is extremely helpful and aids greatly in planning beamtime.

Sample requirements

• Sample requirements vary according to the approach used. In general, the amount of sample required decreases from extruder to fixed target to thin film. Roughly speaking, we typically load 100 microlitres onto a chip. The extruder also has demands on sample size. It is difficult to provide comprehensive guidelines - please get in touch to discuss further.
• For chip and thin film data collection crystals really need to be in batch. We have a number of protocols for moving from sitting/hanging drop to batch crystallisation and can help with this process.

How do we get crystals onto a chip?

• We have a small humidity chamber and a well defined loading protocol that we will go through with you. As with getting crystals into a loop, there is a bit of a learning curve but the process is pretty straightforward.

Do we need to buy chips?

• Currently no. We have supply of chips for use by users at I24. This supply is however finite and while our chips are relatively robust they do break from time to time.

Can we buy chips?

• Yes (not from us). Get in touch and we can provide details. 

Is data collection through GDA?

• No.

Is data automatically processed?

• No. This is still an emerging area and data processing is on the manual side. We have an number of semi-automated pipelines in place but data processing is very hands on and we will help as much as possible. Data processing is with DIALS (stills_process), PRIME, and CrystFEL. Data can be processed on the Diamond cluster and we will provide assistance with this.

What prior knowledge is useful for data processing?

• Unit cell parameters (preferably room temperature) and space group. As always these can be worked out, but life is a lot easier if they are known at the start of the beamtime.

Can I photo-excite my samples?

•  Not routinely at the moment. We hope to have a tuneable laser in place later in the year. We may be able to do one off experiments at some wavelengths - please get in touch if this might be of interest.

Can we trigger a reaction in the sample in some other way?

• Get in touch