NZ spends further $16m on synchrotron

The Government will put another $16m into the Australian Synchrotron, Science and Innovation Minister Paul Goldsmith announced today. Photo / Jamie Morton

The Government will put another $16m into the Australian Synchrotron, Science and Innovation Minister Paul Goldsmith announced today.

The funding would help construct several new beamlines at the Melbourne-based facility, and secure long-term access for Kiwi scientists who use it as part of their research, Goldsmith said.

The Australian Synchrotron works as a gigantic microscope that can be used to study everything from advanced materials and biomedics to food technology and art forensics.

Electrons are first generated inside an "electron gun" then fired with the power of 90,000 volts into a machine called a Linear Accelerator, where they're whizzed up to nearly the speed of light.

Next, they're transferred into the "Booster Ring" - where the electrons' energy is boosted and dipole electromagnets force the electrons to adopt an almost circular path, zapping round at the pace of a million laps each half-second.

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They're then fed into another outer ring - the "Storage Ring" - where the electrons circulate at a constant energy for around 30 to 40 hours, continuously generating intense synchrotron light.

This light, which is created by bending the path of electrons through magnetic fields, is channelled down long pipelines, called beamlines, which scientists can draw on for research.

Each beamline includes different types of filters, mirrors and other optical components that prepare the light for use in a range of different scientific experiments.

Finally, the light winds up at the beamlines' "End Stations", a lab where the light interacts with a sample.

Detectors positioned around the sample measure how the light is emitted, transmitted, scattered, or diffracted by the sample, and researchers use the information to determine the sample's composition or atomic structure.

Scientists have been using it to examine the innermost workings of the immune system, testing potential new treatments for cystic fibrosis, HIV-Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

Goldsmith said around $6.6m would go toward construction of new beamlines for the facility, with the contribution to be matched by the research sector through the New Zealand Synchrotron Group.

A further $10m will be invested over the next nine years to secure preferential access to the Synchrotron for Kiwi scientists.

"The new Bio-SAXS beamline will be used to study things like proteins and viruses and will be a priority beamline for New Zealand researchers," Goldsmith said.

"It will give them access to new specialised techniques needed for high quality research and innovation."

The research outcomes from the Bio-SAXS beamline will cover national research priorities ranging from the development of advanced biomaterials and biotechnologies, through to breakthroughs in medical research.

"Recently the Synchrotron helped New Zealand scientists develop a drug that could be used to treat multiple diseases such as cancer, stroke and hypertension.

"It has also been used for research into volcanic activity in New Zealand to help researchers better recognise any warning signs of an eruption," Goldsmith said.

"This is a prime example of successful collaboration between Australia and New Zealand under the Science, Research and Innovation Cooperation Agreement signed earlier this year."

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has also included the synchrotron in its recently-updated Strategic Science Investment Fund.

The design of the new beamlines is planned to start next year, with two beamlines becoming operational by the end of the year.

In the second year two more complex beamlines will be developed.