The Chirascan system at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology is used to advance biological, biochemical, and medical research.  Our scientists use CD to gain an understanding of how mutations, buffer or stress conditions affect protein structure and to confirm the stereostructure of small molecules.  The system is routinely used by more than 25 scientists and is typically in use 90% of the time.  The system is intuitive making user training straightforward.  Users return to the Chirascan because it is highly reproducible, has excellent signal:noise and delivers results quickly.

Dr Derren Heyes
University Of Manchester

The Chirascan-plus CD spectrometer is an important instrument of our biophysical core facility. The facility is a part of the Centre of Molecular Structure (CMS),  of the Czech Infrastructure for Integrative Structural Biology (CIISB) and belongs to the Czech centre of the Instruct-ERIC European infrastructure for structural biology. The goal of CMS is to provide shared resources of instruments and technologies for a variety of users from both the academic and industrial communities and to offer the expertise on a wide range of topics in biophysics and structural biology. We use Chirascan-plus for the determination of the secondary structure of proteins, understanding of the impact of point mutations on protein structure and stability, as well as for studies of conformational diversity of oligonucleotides in temperature ramping experiments. Chirascan-plus is very reliable and can produce excellent results for both experienced and novice users.

Dr Tatsiana Charnavets
Institute Of Biotechnology, Biocev

The Chirascan CD spectrometer in the Imperial College London Molecular Science Research Hub is one of the most popular pieces of equipment on campus. We are a group of physicists, chemists and materials scientists who study the optical and electronic properties of conjugated chiral materials. The simple, rapid and reliable characterisation – in both the solution and solid state – afforded by the Chirascan is central to our optimisation of these materials for their application in devices. To date, our research has focussed on circularly polarised (CP) Organic Light Emitting Diodes and CP Organic Photodetectors, but thanks to the Chirascan, we can create and analyse materials with strong chiroptical effects for a range of novel applications. The ease of operation, high signal-to-noise and highly responsive customer support team make the Chirascan accessible to every member of our research team. Alongside the standard spectrometer, the low cost user-inspired accessories (for example, to measure circularly polarised photoluminescence or optical rotatory dispersion), which can be added on to the set-up at any time, set the Chirascan apart from other equipment on the market.

Dr Jessica Wade
Imperial College London