When Tom invited me to come down to Birmingham with him to a mysterious facility known only as FENAC (Facility for Environmental Nanoscience Analysis and Characterisation) I wasn’t sure quite what to expect and whether or not I was just being used as a chauffeur as Tom can’t drive. Whilst there was an element of truth to the previous statement, the trip turned out to be great experience; expanding my scientific horizons as I got opportunities to use equipment that I’d never had before.

We set off bright and early on Tuesday morning, flew down the M6 and got straight to work in the lab. We were greeted by Dr Christine Elgy who was a wonderful colleague for the week, helping us with anything as well as lending us her expert opinion when we needed it most (thanks Christine!). Due to the nature of the samples we were running, preparation was difficult and required two people at all times. Initially, the juggling of samples, nitrogen line and cells seemed a little daunting, however I caught on quickly and before long we were ploughing through our extensive sample list.

Myself trying (and failing) to pull of the gloves as well as Tom.

We had three techniques at our disposal for characterising our samples. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Zeta potential were neatly packed into one handy piece of equipment known as the Zetasizer. Running in tandem with the Zetasizer we had the Nanosight. This technique complimented the DLS well for particle sizing purposes due to DLS being more suited to monodispersed samples but the Nanosight offering the capability to analyse polydispersed systems.

Our aim was to get an idea of the size of particles in the samples and also look at the zeta potential in each system as this gives an indication of how stable the particles are with respect to aggregation. Once run on the available equipment, we were presented with distributions of particle sizes and various zeta potential that we took away to interpret back in Manchester.

As well as running Tom’s samples, we’d also taken an inventory of our colleagues samples down to keep us on our toes. The days were intensive as we aimed to make the most of our awarded time on the equipment but were always rewarded with a quiet pint in the hotel later on whilst watching the football.

In spite of the overly long journey back to Manchester, the trip was an interesting and enjoyable one. It was brilliant to have the opportunity to run novel samples on equipment that I’d never used before. Additionally, getting some data back for myself was a nice little bonus. I’d like to thank Christine very much (again) for all here help and making myself and Tom feel extremely welcome. It was an absolute pleasure to work with her and I look forward to doing so again in the future.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the facilities at FENAC head to their website here: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/fenac/index.aspx

Tom & Christine mull over their findings on the Nanosight.