World-class centre for chemical analysis now open
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gordon Marshall and Professor David Garner, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry at the opening ceremony of the Chemical Analysis Facility
'The CAF will encourage and facilitate high quality research which, in turn, will attract and retain high quality researchers.'
Many areas of scientific research require the analysis of chemical components, frequently using more than one instrument. The CAF provides a diverse range of techniques to cater for these requirements.
The facility focuses on small molecule research which lies at the core of the majority of studies undertaken within the School. In addition, the CAF will support key research themes within the University - Biomedical and Pharmaceutical, Food Chain and Health, and Nanoscience and Materials.
It will underpin world-class research in, among others, archaeology, agriculture, soil science and engineering. Medically related topics form a significant portion of the work embracing fields such as pharmaceutics, drug synthesis and nutrition.
The facility comprises five groups of instruments: nuclear magnetic resonance, thermal analysis, molecular spectroscopy, X-ray and mass spectrometry.
Dr Andy Russell, who developed the science case for the CAF, said: "The facility will provide a step-change in the provision of instrumentation at the University and place Reading scientists at the cutting edge of research in the coming decade.
"The CAF will encourage and facilitate high quality research which, in turn, will attract and retain high quality researchers.
"Disciplines in which Reading has traditionally been strong, as well as the newer disciplines such as Health Sciences, will receive substantial benefit from the new facility."
for more information on the CAF visit: http://www.reading.ac.uk/caf/