All users of the X-ray Crystallography Facility must be registered before using the facility.

  • To be registered as an X-ray user (in house or at a synchrotron) you must meet the five requirements outlined below.
  • To use the crystallisation robot, completing the Personnel Registration form and attending the radiation safety course are not necessary. The other requirements apply.

1) Read local rules and risk assessments

Thes documents provide important information about the risks of working in the X-ray facility and about the safety features that are implemented. All documents are in pdf format.

2) Activate you account for Sharepoint

Please send an email to the facility manager with

  • your CID
  • the name of the responsible investigator
  • the grant code that will be charged

You will gain acces to Sharepoint where you can book time on the X-ray generator or request plates for the crystallization robot.

3) Attend College X-ray safety course

X-ray safety awareness training is mandatory for prospective users of the X-ray equipment.  The previous course on this has been replaced by an online course, of which prospective users need to do Modules 1 and 4.  Please click here for details.

In addition, all users have to attend the College's Cryogenic safety training course.

Users are also encouraged to attend the Compressed Gases and Connecting Gas regulators course.

4) Complete Personnel Registration form

Download the Personnel registration form. Complete, sign, have your PI sign and hand it to the facility manager before the local training.

5) Attend local safety training

After submitting the Personnel Registration form to the facility manager, attend a local induction to be trained in the:

  1. use of the X-ray generator and detectors.
  2. operation of the crystallisation robot.
  3. safe usage of liquid nitrogen.

If necessary, you will then receive detailed instructions on how to operate the X-ray generator, control the detector and collect data, or on how to operate the crystallization robot, though normally experienced users in individual groups prefer to hand down this information to keep operating procedures consistent in a lab.

After completion of the training, your College card will be activated for Flowers 5.20 and you will be added to the X-ray facility mailing list.  You can also register with Diamond Light Source if you want to collect data at the synchrotron.