SCIENTISTS from Aberystwyth University are among the first to have used a pioneering new X-ray facility at one of the world’s most advanced scientific facilities.

The new VERSOX facility at the UK’s national synchrotron radiation facility in Oxfordshire was developed by a team of scientists including Prof Andrew Evans, head of the Department of Physics at Aberystwyth.

Prof Evans chairs the User Working Group of the multi-million pound VERSOX project which delivered its ‘first light’ in June 2017.

Prof Evans and colleagues from the Materials Physics research group at Aberystwyth used the new facility to study diamonds at the beginning of August.

Their work focused on nanodiamonds which measure just five nanometres across. Over a million diamonds would fit on the head of a pin.

The team are studying how these tiny diamonds supplied by diamond producer DeBeers could be used to improve the way drugs are delivered in the body for the treatment of conditions such as cancer.

VERSOX is one of a series of laboratories known as ‘beamlines’ that capture the bright light beams, giving researchers access to a machine 10,000 times more powerful than a traditional microscope.

Described as a versatile soft X-ray facility, VERSOX has been designed for the study of elements including those essential for life: carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.

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