Biosciences

Professor Angus Kirkland, Scientific Theme Lead

The RUEDI facility will provide scientists in both academia and industry with unprecedented capabilities to investigate and understand molecular-scale dynamics in-vivo, in-situ and under operando conditions.

Specifically, RUEDI will facilitate in-vivo and dynamical biosciences through:

• In vitro and cryo imaging at whole cell scales – beyond medium energy tomography
• Imaging of biological structures in a cellular context
• Understanding infection and transport at high temporal and spatial resolution
• Imaging nanoparticle drug delivery and release in cells.

In addition to the standard diffraction mode, the RUEDI facility will uniquely incorporate a set of electromagnetic lenses that will permit images to be acquired for the majority of in-situ, in vivo and operando experiments.

Working with an MeV beam, the thickness limitations that plague conventional TEM observations will be reduced, in particular in the design of liquid flow cells that can operate with viscous liquids to mimic in vivo biological conditions.

During the preliminary consultation stage in 2022, we described the uniqueness of RUEDI and collectively, delegates offered a representative set of challenges that illustrate the types of experiments that will be performed during the initial testing and operations phase of the RUEDI system. As the community of users grows and the instrument comes on-line, the specific capabilities of the RUEDI facility and its associated experimental ecosystem will provide unparalleled insights.

The report from the event can be accessed here and was used to inform the conceptual design review.