I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[20925, 24142]
Abstract: Hearing loss affects approximately 70 % of individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a genetic connective tissue disorder characterized by bone fragility and deformities. No effective treatments exist for OI hearing loss, and its etiology is unknown limiting the development of new targeted therapies. This work investigates the impact of OI type I collagen mutations on the ossicle bone properties in the homozygous oim mouse model of severe OI, which is known to exhibit hearing loss. The morphology and porosity of the ossicles of 14-week-old oim and wild-type mice were analyzed using high-resolution synchrotron radiation microtomography. Additionally, the collagen fibers structure, bone tissue composition and mechanical properties were evaluated through second harmonic generation microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and nanoindentation. The results demonstrated that oim ossicles are small, highly porous with an elevated lacunar number density, a flat stapes footplate and a small malleal processus brevis. One-in-two oim ossicles had incudomalleal joint abnormalities, exhibiting either a localized fracture in the incus head or a joint space widening. No differences were observed in collagen fibers structure, bone tissue composition and mechanical properties. These findings suggest that bone fractures observed in the oim incus may contribute to their reported hearing loss. However, the underlying mechanism for these fracture development remains to be investigated, as they do not appear to result from changes in bone tissue properties (collagen fibers organization, tissue composition or mechanical properties). Instead, they may be associated with joint space widening, and possibly altered ossicle chain kinematics.
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Apr 2025
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I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Huw C. W.
Parks
,
Matthew
Jones
,
Aaron
Wade
,
Alice
Llewellyn
,
Chun
Tan
,
Hamish
Reid
,
Ralf
Ziesche
,
Thomas M. M.
Heenan
,
Shashidhara
Marathe
,
Christoph
Rau
,
Paul R.
Shearing
,
Rhodri
Jervis
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[28650]
Open Access
Abstract: To understand fracture behaviour in battery materials, X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) has become the primary technique for non-destructive particle and crack analysis. Cracking causes performance decline in polycrystalline NMC811 by exposing new surfaces for parasitic electrolyte reactions and disconnecting active material from the electrode matrix. First cycle crack formation has been documented, but definitive electrochemically induced particle fracture is challenging to assess due to complex sample preparation and high-resolution X-ray imaging requirements. Presented here is an operando X-ray CT technique that enables accurate observation of fracture behaviour during de-/lithiation. A non-linear relationship between fracture behaviour and cell voltage was uncovered, and evidence of particle reformation during re-lithiation. Using a grey level analysis algorithm for fracture detection, we expedite damage evaluation in several thousands of particles throughout the electrochemical process, understanding crack initiation, propagation, and closure on a large, statistical scale and give the ability to track any one of the thousands of particles through its individual electrochemical history. Additionally, we explore the effects of continued volumetric hysteresis on particle damage. For the first time, we demonstrate the complex plurality of fracture behaviour in commercial lithium-ion battery materials, aiding in designing mitigation strategies against particle fracture.
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Mar 2025
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I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[34473]
Open Access
Abstract: Molluscan brains are composed of morphologically consistent and functionally interrogable neurons, offering rich opportunities for understanding how neural circuits drive behavior. Nonetheless, detailed component-level CNS maps are often lacking, total neuron numbers are unknown, and organizational principles remain poorly defined, limiting a full and systematic characterization of circuit operation. Here, we establish an accessible, generalizable approach, harnessing synchrotron X-ray tomography, to rapidly determine the three-dimensional structure of the multimillimeter-scale CNS of Lymnaea. Focusing on the feeding ganglia, we generate a full neuron-level reconstruction, revealing key design principles and revising cell count estimates upward threefold. Our atlas uncovers the superficial but also nonsuperficial ganglionic architecture, reveals the cell organization in normally hidden regions—ganglionic “dark sides”—and details features of single-neuron morphology, together guiding targeted follow-up functional investigation based on intracellular recordings. Using this approach, we identify three pivotal neuron classes: a command-like food-signaling cell type, a feeding central pattern generator interneuron, and a unique behavior-specific motoneuron, together significantly advancing understanding of the function of this classical control circuit. Combining our morphological and electrophysiological data, we also establish a functional CNS atlas in Lymnaea as a shared and scalable resource for the research community. Our approach enables the rapid construction of cell atlases in large-scale nervous systems, with key relevance to functional circuit interrogation in a diverse range of model organisms.
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Mar 2025
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I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[13848, 16052, 17632, 20385]
Open Access
Abstract: Understanding how ecological communities assemble in relation to natural and human-induced environmental changes is critical, particularly for communities of pollinators that deliver essential ecosystem services. Despite widespread attention to interactions between functional traits and community responses to environmental changes, the importance of sensory traits has received little attention. To address this, we asked whether visual traits of bumblebee communities varied at large geographical scales along a habitat gradient of increased tree cover. Because trees generate challenging light conditions for flying insects, in particular a reduced light intensity, we hypothesised that differences in tree cover would correlate with shifts in the visual and taxonomical composition of bumblebee communities. We quantified 11 visual traits across 36 specimens from 20 species of bumblebees using micro-CT and optical modelling of compound eyes and ocelli, and investigated how these traits scale with body size. Using an inventory of bumblebee communities across Sweden and our visual trait dataset, we then explored how visual traits (both absolute and relative to body size) differed in relation to tree cover. We found positive shifts of the community weighted means of visual traits along the increasingly forested habitat gradient (facet diameter, inter-ommatidial angle, eye parameter of the compound eye and alignment of the three ocelli) that were consistent regardless of body size, while other traits decreased when more forest was present in the landscape (facet number). These functional patterns were associated with differences in the abundance of six common species that likely explains the community-wide shift of visual traits along the habitat gradient. Our study demonstrates the interaction between vision, habitat and community assembly in bumblebees, while highlighting a promising research topic at the interface between sensory biology and landscape ecology.
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Dec 2024
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I13-1-Coherence
I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Christoph
Rau
,
Darren J.
Batey
,
Shashidhara
Marathe
,
Leonard
Turpin
,
Kudakwashe
Jakata
,
Silvia
Cipiccia
,
Isabel
Anthony
,
Roberto
Volpe
,
Claus-Peter
Richter
,
Alessandra
Carriero
,
Maud
Dumoux
,
Jurgen E.
Schneider
,
Erica
Dall'Armellina
,
Marc W.
Holderied
,
Jan
Van Den Bulcke
Open Access
Abstract: We report about the experimental work related to hierarchical structures at the Diamond I13L beamlines. The I13-2 Imaging and I13-1 Coherence beamlines provide imaging with micro- and nano-resolution. The Diamond II upgrade for the synchrotron source and the OCTOPI upgrade for I13L provide new opportunities for expanding the existing scientific areas in multiscale and operando imaging. We describe the scientific research benefitting from the instrumental upgrade. Comparable recording times across all length scales will enable hierarchical operando imaging. With the implementation of automated high-throughput data acquisition and analysis, large numbers of samples will be analyzed.
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Nov 2024
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I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[25254]
Open Access
Abstract: The engineering of biochars with desired morphologies and pore structures is a far-reaching objective towards sustainable pore-dependent environmental technologies, such as water and soil remediation or catalysis. We hereby report a series of experiments that allow the direct following of the shape and porosity of single biochar particles during pyrolysis. Particles ~ 1–2 mm in diameter of unwashed and water-washed raw walnut shells were continuously 3D imaged during pyrolysis to 575 ℃ at a 10 K min−1 in Ar to obtain time- and temperature-resolved x-ray micro computed tomographies to a 0.82 μm resolution. Results showed visual evidence of a 30% and 70% v/v particle shrinkage for unwashed and washed samples, respectively. Particle swelling between 200 and 300 ℃ in the unwashed sample provided evidence of the softening of native biopolymers associated with lignin in untreated biomass. A purpose-defined parameter Λ shows the temperature-dependence of pore re-distribution towards the center of the particle to be linear for both samples. Λ was found to be in the washed sample, approximately 3.5 times faster than in the unwashed one. Such linear dependence is significantly slower than an exponential Arrhenius-like trend thereby providing a qualitative measure of the heat and mass transport phenomena limiting the chemical reactions in the porous medium. This evidence is key to resolving the pathways to the thermochemical decomposition of biomass leading to preparation of precision-engineered biochars.
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Oct 2024
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I13-1-Coherence
I16-Materials and Magnetism
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David
Serban
,
Daniel G.
Porter
,
Ahmed H.
Mokhtar
,
Mansoor
Nellikkal
,
Sivaperuma
Uthayakumar
,
Min
Zhang
,
Stephen P.
Collins
,
Alessandro
Bombardi
,
Peng
Li
,
Christoph
Rau
,
Marcus
Newton
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[31929, 34075, 34025, 29880, 27621]
Open Access
Abstract: Although the LiCoO2 (LCO) cathode material has been widely used in commercial lithium ion batteries (LIB) and shows high stability, LIB’s improvements have several challenges that still need to be overcome. In this paper, we have studied the in-operando structural properties of LCO within battery cells using Bragg Coherent X-ray Diffraction Imaging to identify ways to optimise the LCO batteries’ cycling. We have successfully reconstructed the X-ray scattering phase variation (a fingerprint of atomic displacement) within a ≈ (1.6 × 1.4 × 1.3) μm3 LCO nanocrystal across a charge/discharge cycle. Reconstructions indicate strained domains forming, expanding, and fragmenting near the surface of the nanocrystal during charging, with a determined maximum relative lattice displacements of 0.467 Å. While discharging, all domains replicate in reverse the effects observed from the charging states, but with a lower maximum relative lattice displacements of 0.226 Å. These findings show the inefficiency-increasing domain dynamics within LCO lattices during cycling.
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Oct 2024
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I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Sara
Ajami
,
Zoe
Van Den Dam
,
Julia
Hut
,
Dawn
Savery
,
Milton
Chin
,
Maarten
Koudstaal
,
Miranda
Steacy
,
Alessandra
Carriero
,
Andrew
Pitsillides
,
Yu-Mei
Chang
,
Christoph
Rau
,
Shashidhara
Marathe
,
David
Dunaway
,
Noor Ul Owase
Jeelani
,
Silvia
Schievano
,
Erwin
Pauws
,
Alessandro
Borghi
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[25386, 29093]
Open Access
Abstract: Crouzon syndrome is a congenital craniofacial disorder caused by mutations in the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 (FGFR2). It is characterized by the premature fusion of cranial sutures, leading to a brachycephalic head shape, and midfacial hypoplasia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the FGFR2 mutation on the microarchitecture of cranial bones at different stages of postnatal skull development, using the FGFR2C342Y mouse model. Apart from craniosynostosis, this model shows cranial bone abnormalities. High-resolution synchrotron microtomography images of the frontal and parietal bone were acquired for both FGFR2C342Y/+ (Crouzon, heterozygous mutant) and FGFR2+/+ (control, wild-type) mice at five ages (postnatal days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21, n = 6 each). Morphometric measurements were determined for cortical bone porosity: osteocyte lacunae and canals. General linear model to assess the effect of age, anatomical location and genotype was carried out for each morphometric measurement. Histological analysis was performed to validate the findings. In both groups (Crouzon and wild-type), statistical difference in bone volume fraction, average canal volume, lacunar number density, lacunar volume density and canal volume density was found at most age points, with the frontal bone generally showing higher porosity and fewer lacunae. Frontal bone showed differences between the Crouzon and wild-type groups in terms of lacunar morphometry (average lacunar volume, lacunar number density and lacunar volume density) with larger, less dense lacunae around the postnatal age of P7–P14. Histological analysis of bone showed marked differences in frontal bone only. These findings provide a better understanding of the pathogenesis of Crouzon syndrome and will contribute to computational models that predict postoperative changes with the aim to improve surgical outcome.
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Aug 2024
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I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging
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Alexandra D.
Buffry
,
John P.
Currea
,
Franziska A.
Franke-Gerth
,
Ravindra
Palavalli-Nettimi
,
Andrew J.
Bodey
,
Christoph
Rau
,
Nazanin
Samadi
,
Stefan J.
Gstöhl
,
Christian M.
Schlepütz
,
Alistair P.
Mcgregor
,
Lauren
Sumner-Rooney
,
Jamie
Theobald
,
Maike
Kittelmann
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[25391]
Open Access
Abstract: Background: Insects have evolved complex visual systems and display an astonishing range of adaptations for diverse ecological niches. Species of Drosophila melanogaster subgroup exhibit extensive intra- and interspecific differences in compound eye size. These differences provide an excellent opportunity to better understand variation in insect eye structure and the impact on vision. Here we further explored the difference in eye size between D. mauritiana and its sibling species D. simulans. Results: We confirmed that D. mauritiana have rapidly evolved larger eyes as a result of more and wider ommatidia than D. simulans since they recently diverged approximately 240,000 years ago. The functional impact of eye size, and specifically ommatidia size, is often only estimated based on the rigid surface morphology of the compound eye. Therefore, we used 3D synchrotron radiation tomography to measure optical parameters in 3D, predict optical capacity, and compare the modelled vision to in vivo optomotor responses. Our optical models predicted higher contrast sensitivity for D. mauritiana, which we verified by presenting sinusoidal gratings to tethered flies in a flight arena. Similarly, we confirmed the higher spatial acuity predicted for Drosophila simulans with smaller ommatidia and found evidence for higher temporal resolution. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that even subtle differences in ommatidia size between closely related Drosophila species can impact the vision of these insects. Therefore, further comparative studies of intra- and interspecific variation in eye morphology and the consequences for vision among other Drosophila species, other dipterans and other insects are needed to better understand compound eye structure–function and how the diversification of eye size, shape, and function has helped insects to adapt to the vast range of ecological niches.
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Mar 2024
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I13-1-Coherence
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[19194, 21309]
Open Access
Abstract: We apply X-ray ptycho-tomography to perform high-resolution, non-destructive, three-dimensional (3D) imaging of Fe-rich inclusions in paleomagnetically relevant materials (zircon single crystals from the Bishop Tuff ignimbrite). Correlative imaging using quantum diamond magnetic microscopy combined with X-ray fluorescence mapping was used to locate regions containing potential ferromagnetic remanence carriers. Ptycho-tomographic reconstructions with voxel sizes 85 nm and 21 nm were achievable across a field-of-view > 80 µm; voxel sizes as small as 5 nm were achievable over a limited field-of-view using local ptycho-tomography. Fe-rich inclusions 300 nm in size were clearly resolved. We estimate that particles as small as 100 nm—approaching single-domain threshold for magnetite—could be resolvable using this “dual-mode” methodology. Fe-rich inclusions (likely magnetite) are closely associated with apatite inclusions that have no visible connection to the exterior surface of the zircon (e.g., via intersecting cracks). There is no evidence of radiation damage, alteration, recrystallisation or deformation in the host zircon or apatite that could provide alternative pathways for Fe infiltration, indicating that magnetite and apatite grew separately as primary phases in the magma, that magnetite adhered to the surfaces of the apatite, and that the magnetite-coated apatite was then encapsulated as primary inclusions within the growing zircon. Rarer examples of Fe-rich inclusions entirely encapsulated by zircon are also observed. These observations support the presence of primary inclusions in relatively young and pristine zircon crystals. Combining magnetic and tomography results we deduce the presence of magnetic carriers that are in the optimal size range for carrying strong and stable paleomagnetic signals but that remain below the detection limits of even the highest-resolution X-ray tomography reconstructions. We recommend the use of focused ion beam nanotomography and/or correlative transmission electron microscopy to directly confirm the presence of primary magnetite in the sub 300 nm range as a necessary step in targeted paleomagnetic workflows.
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Mar 2024
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