Quorum Technologies

The importance of good specimen preparation has long been acknowledged, however modern imaging systems with their increasing resolving power and data acquisition capabilities means the quality and reproducibility of preparation has assumed even greater relevance.

 "The commitment, hard work and professionalism of our worldwide distribution network is absolutely essential to the continued success of our business,” explained Mike Wombwell, Sales and Marketing Director at Quorum Technologies.

The Q150GB is suitable for SEM, TEM and many thin-film applications and comes as standard with both sputtering and carbon rod evaporation capabilities. 

In addition to being Managing Director at Quorum Technologies, David is Director and Chief Operating Officer at Judges Scientific plc - the parent company of Quorum and UHV Design.

Judges investment of nearly £3 million in this site and new factory shows its continuing commitment to develop and expand its existing businesses and ensure they have the premises and facilities needed to keep them at the forefront of their respective fields. Combining both companies into this new facility provided a unique opportunity to improve the working environment for the employees and provide the necessary space for future expansion.

We will ensure our normal high level of on-time deliveries and prompt sales and service response is maintained both before and after the move.

Our student prize scheme, in partnership with the University of Brighton, is now in its sixth year and continues to attract interest from undergraduates working in a range of scientific disciplines.

This year, three prizes of £200 were awarded for final year undergraduate projects that the judges felt had made particularly good use of electron microscopy. The winners were Mohiden Abdul Ahad, Wuraola Akinrinsola and Ella Villanuerva.

The prize is held within the University’s Image and Analysis Unit in the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Science and awarded on an annual basis. More information can be found on our Student Prizes page.

 

Mohiden Abdul Ahad

Course: MEng Mechanical Engineering

Project Supervisor: Dr Steven Begg

Project Title: Investigation of Particulate Matter (PM) in Modern Gasoline Engines

Synopsis: The project utilised SEM to examine the morphology of exhaust soot samples, together with EDS to evaluate their chemical composition. The data was used investigate the effects that different engine running conditions had on the particulate emissions from a modern port-fuel injection gasoline engine.

Wuraola Akinrinsola

Course: MPharm Pharmacy

Project Supervisor: Dr Ananth Pannala

Project Title: Encapsulation and Characterisation of Amorolfine Hydrocholoride in Poly – (D, L- Lactic Acid) Nanoparticles

Synopsis: The project utilised SEM to examine the size and morphology of nanoparticle pharmaceutical formulations for drug delivery applications. The data was used to investigate the effectiveness of the formulation methodology on production of consistent and spherical nanoparticle populations.

Ella Villanueva

Course:BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science

Project supervisor: Dr Lara-Marie Barnes

Project title: The development of bacterial biofilms in babies’ bath toys.

Synopsis: SEM was used as an investigative tool to study both pre-existing biofilms formed on toys which had been use over a period of months, and to follow early biofilm development on new toys artificially seeded with bacterial species.

“We are also pleased that our customers can currently benefit from fast delivery times, with the Q150 series typically available for dispatch within only one week of acceptance of purchase orders.” 

The Q150 can be tailored to suit the needs of most EM coating applications. It is available with rotary or turbo pumping and in three formats: sputter coating, carbon evaporation or both combined in a single space-saving bench-top design. 

Built with intuitive touch-screen control, the Q150 series allows quick access to both stored and customer-entered coating ‘recipes’. The performance and flexibility of the system is further enhanced by a wide range of ‘drop-in’ specimen stages and coating head inserts. Other optional accessories include film thickness measurement and glow discharge. For large area deposition we also offer the Q300 series, which is available in three formats, including for coating both oxidising and non-oxidising metals onto large specimens (up to an 8” wafer). The Q300T D dual head system allows independent sequential sputtering of two metals without the need to break vacuum - making it ideal for many thin film applications. 

Like all Quorum Technologies products, the Q150 and Q300 series comes with a generous three-year warranty. 

Click here for details of the Q series.

Demelza House offers support to children and young people who are not expected to reach adulthood and their families.

Children's hospices provide the necessary short breaks and a range of specialist services benefiting the children and young people themselves and their wider family, which are simply not available elsewhere. “We are delighted to once again be supporting Demelza House over Christmas as it makes such a huge difference to children affected by life-threatening conditions and their families,” said Mike Wombwell, Sales and Marketing Director at Quorum Technologies. For more information about Demelza House and to find out how you can support this worthwhile cause, please visit Demelza House website

The Quorum Technologies website has now been optimised for viewing on mobile devices, making it easier for users to access information about our products on the move. 

The mobile site is available with pages in English, French, Russian, German, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish, making it easier to find what you need, wherever you’re based. 

“We’re delighted to announce the launch of the Quorum Technologies mobile site and hope that this will make finding our products and getting in touch with us easier for our customers around the world,” said Mike Wombwell, Sales and Marketing Director at Quorum Technologies.  

“We’ll be posting updates and additional translated content to the mobile in due course, so watch this space,” he added.

 

Quorum Technologies is pleased to introduce the PP3010T: a state-of-the-art, highly automated cryo preparation system for scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FE-SEM and FIB/SEM. Building on the success of the market leading PP3000T, the new PP3010T combines the highest performance with unparalleled ease of use.

Cryo-SEM is the optimum preparation method for a wide range of “wet” or beam-sensitive specimens, including for lifesciences, foods, polymers, pharmaceuticals, oils, foams and many other materials.

At the operational heart of the PP3010T is the new gas cooled aQuilo cryo preparation chamber, which includes tools for specimen fracturing and manipulation as well as fully automatic sublimation and sputter coating. Gas cooling ensures unsurpassed thermal efficiency and - along with the SEM stage and cold trap which are also gas-cooled – gives an impressive system temperature capability of down to -190oC or lower.

Cooling works on a simple ‘fill once and forget’ principle, with the remotely positioned cooling dewar/heat exchanger typically giving runtimes of up to 24 hours between fills of liquid nitrogen.

To ensure optimum performance and simplicity of operation, the aQuilo preparation chamber is attached directly to the microscope - but with turbomolecular pumping and the SEM cooling systems conveniently mounted remotely from the microscope.

The PP3010T is controlled using a large intuitive touch screen panel PC mounted on the spacious Prepdek™ workstation, giving the operator instant access and control of all the key operating parameters, data logging and system diagnostics.

CCD images from the cryo system are displayed and can be recorded on the control screen and multiple viewing windows give unsurpassed visibility of the specimen and chamber interior. The Prepdek™ also houses the freezing system and a unique pumped storage tube for the cryo transfer device.

Installation to the microscope has also become easier with the introduction of a compact, single port interface (dependent upon microscope geometry).

Like all other Quorum Technologies products, the PP3010T comes with a generous three-year warranty and specialised support.

To download more information about the PP3010T click here

Scientists in the department of molecular structural biology at the renowned Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsred, Germany, used the PP3000T system as part of a study on cryo-electron tomography.

The PP3000T played a key role in the development of a new breakthrough technique that enables visualization of the interior of thick eukaryotic cells in their native hydrated state.

Dr Alex Rigort of Max Planck Institute said: "The PP3000T system is a well designed, easy to use system that enables an efficient transfer of cryogenic specimens for FIB processing. It is great in terms of stability and cooling efficiency. 

"The software interface and touchscreen that comes along with it is straightforward to use and gives you an excellent overview of the different system parameters in use".