We're delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 ISIS Impact Awards. These awards celebrate the scientific, social and economic impact of the facility's diverse user community.
Society
The winners of the societal award are Professor Stephen J Perkins and Dr Jayesh S. Bhatt from University College London, for their work determining the molecular structures of therapeutic antibodies in solution.
In humans, Immunoglobulin (IgG) is the most common type of antibody found in blood circulation. There are four subclasses of IgG molecules, which are created by plasma B cells and used by the immune system to identify and neutralise pathogens. Professor Perkins and Dr Bhatt collected neutron scattering data on SANS2d and developed a new method of atomistic scattering modelling to determine the structure of all four IgG subclasses: IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4. By using neutrons, they were able to gain insights that were not available using other techniques.
Economic
The winner of the economic award is Dr Tan Sui from the University of Surrey, for her research mapping residual stress distribution in materials for nuclear fusion applications.
Nuclear fusion offers an opportunity for abundant clean energy. Dr Tan Sui’s research focusses on the joints that hold parts of a fusion reactor together. Understanding the distribution of residual stress in reactor joints is crucial for enhancing their structural integrity, and therefore for planning maintenance and enduring safe operations. To study the residual stress within these dense components, Dr Sui has used neutron diffraction and imaging, complementing her team’s plasma focused ion beam and nanoindentation approaches to enhance structural integrity, maintenance strategies, and safety.
For more information, read our full case study on Dr Sui's work.
Science
The winner of the science award is Dr Yujie Ma from The University of Manchester, for his work developing Metal Organic Frameworks for clean air and sustainable energy.
Porous materials such as Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have the potential to be used across a range of applications and industries for their ability to selectively adsorb and store gas molecules. Dr Ma’s work focusses on designing new MOFs by creating structural defects and introducing single-atom metal sites. Introducing these defects changes the properties of a MOF, increasing its specificity in capturing particular gases or catalysing reactions of interest. His work encompasses a range of environmental applications including ammonia and nitrogen dioxide capture, and the catalysis of methane conversion.
For more information, read our full case study on Dr Ma's work.
