Proposal Preparation Guidelines for BSX
Proposal Updates for 2026 cycle 3
No specific updates for 2026 cycle 3, please contact the BSX team (as-biosaxs@ansto.gov.au) to discuss your proposals should you have any questions or would like us to perform an assessment for technical feasibility on the beamline.
Some sample environments require genuine consultation with the beamline team prior to proposal submission for the proposals to be marked as technically feasible, see below for details of these.
Should Your Experiment be Coming to BSX?
Please consult the BSX Sample Environments wiki page to see the range of sample environments currently available for user operations. BSX is dedicated to supporting the majority of solution scattering experiments at the Australian Synchrotron and supports experiments including but not limited to the following:
Batch sampling from 96-well plates using the Coflow autoloader.
Size-exclusion Chromatography coupled to SAXS (SEC-SAXS) using the Coflow autoloader
Temperature-controlled SAXS measurements on free hanging capillaries in a Linkam hotstage (holds 1 capillary) or Peltier Capillary rack (holds 9 capillaries)
Ambient temperature SAXS measurements on free hanging in capillaries in capillary mounts (holds 20-60 capillaries)
Measurements in Flowthrough geometry with a reacting mixture circulating through a capillary mounted in the beam, for kinetics/time-resolve SAXS. Flowthrough capillary mounts are available with and without temperature control at the sample position.
User-supplied bespoke fluidic mixing/reaction units e.g., microfluidics, custom mixers/reaction vessels, electrochemical workstations etc. If proposing to use bespoke/user-supplied hardware, the proposal must be discussed with the beamline team prior to proposal submission or it will be deemed technically infeasible.
If your preferred solution scattering sampling modality is not listed above, please reach out to the beamline team and we will advise on the feasibility of your experiment on either BSX or SAXS/WAXS.
The following experiment types are no longer supported on SAXS/WAXS and proposals for these sampling modalities must come to BSX:
Autoloader batch sampling from 96-well plates
SEC-SAXS with Coflow
Experiments in flowthrough geometry (reacting mixture circulating through a capillary mounted in the beam
Bespoke mixing/fluidic reaction units
Consulting the Beamline Team
The beamline team would appreciate being consulted regarding all proposals well in advance of the submission deadline, irrespective of how regularly you use the beamline. If you have any questions regarding the technical feasibility of your experiments, please reach out to any team member or to the as-biosaxs@ansto.gov.au group email and someone will answer your query as quickly as possible. As the proposal deadline approaches, the team receive an exponentially-increasing number of emails regarding proposals and timely responses cannot be guaranteed under these circumstances. Feedback may not be possible on the day of the proposal deadline if staff are absent/otherwise engaged with user operations.
Some BSX sample environments require consultation with the beamline team prior to proposal submission for them to be deemed technically feasible. This includes any user-supplied sample environments, bespoke fluidic mixers, reaction vessels coupled to the flowthrough capillary etc. If you have not consulted the beamline team prior to proposal submission and have requested one of these sample environments, your proposal will be rendered infeasible and you will have to resubmit it in a later round after consulting the beamline team.
In the BioSAXS Experiment Setup Form, you will be asked with which member of the beamline team you have discussed your proposal. Indicate this here and if you have not consulted a member of the beamline team select the option “no one”. Not engaging with the beamline team in good faith in advance of the proposal submission deadline may impact subsequent feasibility assessment.
Hints Regarding Proposal Assessment Criteria
Scientific Merit - in addition to explaining the overall aims of your research clearly state the role of the proposed experiment in the research program. e.g., give details of the specific hypothesis being tested by the experiment and the knowledge gap being filled by synchrotron SAXS. Please give background information to the experiment, including results from experiments using other techniques, not only synchrotron SAXS.
National Benefit - may relate to your nation's national research priorities if you are at an Australian institution (e.g., New Zealand, Singapore users).
Track Record - Detail any publications arising from previous synchrotron work, including relevant non-synchrotron work especially if you are new to synchrotron science.
In particular, be aware that a track record of conducting experiments at the Australian Synchrotron without subsequent publication or explanation will not be well regarded. This is particularly true if time has been awarded twice or more.
For assessing the need for synchrotron radiation, give evidence-based justification.
This may include but is not limited to - SEC traces, light scattering, microscopy, etc.
Clearly specify why the experiment cannot be conducted on a laboratory SAXS instrument, including supporting data if available.
For in situ/kinetics experiments - explain why the experiment needs to be done in situ or monitored for kinetics, and demonstrate in your proposal that adequate previous work (e.g. ex situ analysis) has been done to justify in situ experiments.
Scope - provide justification for the combinations of experimental parameters you are proposing to test. Ensure the time request for use of the beamline is fully justified.
Assessment - Remember the application process is competitive. You are competing against the quality and scope of other proposals.
Hints for the Experimental Section of your Proposal
Be mindful of the sample environments available on BSX and refer to the BSX Sample Environment wiki page if you are unsure. A thorough description of how samples will be handled and mounted on the beamline is required.
Select only one sample environment per proposal. If you wish to utilise multiple sample environments available on BSX, please submit multiple separate proposals and indicate if the experiments have linked science cases e.g., “The Meaning of Life, the Universe & Everything - Part I (Coflow autoloader measurements on equilibrated samples)” and “The Meaning of Life, the Universe & Everything - Part II (Flowthrough measurements on reacting samples)”
If you are wishing to utilise user-supplied sample environment components on the beamline, you are encouraged to come to the beamline a day ahead of your beamtime to commence the set up of this equipment. Pre-assembling this equipment prior to the formal experiment start time can save time and stress during your beamtime allocation. With the exception of integration into the beamline, it is expected that users bringing equipment to site will set it up and not expect the beamline team to do work with external equipment that you can reasonably perform.
If you plan to bring your own equipment, sample environments or sample mounts you must discuss this with the beamline team well in advance of submission of your proposal or your experiment will be deemed technically infeasible. All user-supplied sampling equipment must be electrically tested and tagged prior to being brought on site.
Provide thorough details of any sample environments/requirements that are not presently available or that are intended to be brought on site.
All proposals are required to clearly state what q-range(s) are required for the experiment. Please make use of the new interactive q-range calculator app, which allows you to virtually set up your own detector configuration on BSX or SAXS/WAXS and estimate the accessible q-range.
Please describe your experimental plan in detail, including temperature range and temperature ramp, experimental setup (with clear diagrams or pictures if non-standard), number of samples, concentrations, number of measurement steps, length of measurements, etc.
Provide a defendable justification for the time required on the instrument and be aware of typical sampling/configuration times below. These can be short allowing large numbers of samples to be studied and requires you to make plans to minimise sample change over time and ensure efficient use of beam time.
Initial beamline setup time - typically 2-4 hours for in-house sample environments
Beamline induction (required on first use and then annually thereafter) - ~40 mins
On-site lab induction (required on first use and then every 3 years thereafter) - ~30 mins
Detector configuration change after calibration - typically up to 3 minutes depending on the range of motion the detector and beamstop undertake.
Free capillary measurements - ~1 s per sample
Batch autoloader measurements in Coflow - ~4.5 min per sample
SEC-SAXS measurements in Coflow - depends on column volume and eluent flow rate. Can be estimated from the quotient of the two, adding a couple of minutes for loading the sample and docking the heads in coflow.
Temperature ramps - depends on the ramp rate and the number of temperatures to be equilibrated at. Estimate as best as you can.
Flowthrough monitoring of reacting solutions - depends on how long your reactions take plus time (~20 mins) for sample change over & capillary cleaning. Estimate from pre-gathered supporting information e.g., titration profiles for pH-altering processes, UV-Visible spectrophotometry if a colour change is involved, NMR measurement of product formation over time etc.
We schedule experiments in blocks of similar setups, typically with a Coflow block lasting 8-9 weeks of the cycle and a non-Coflow block that may be split at either end of the Coflow block. This is because it takes a couple of days to install Coflow into the beamline and perform the required calibrations/pre-flight tests and another couple of days to remove it again and restore in-air/non-Coflow operations. Therefore, it is important for you to correctly specify in your proposal Experiment Setup Request whether you are requesting the Coflow autoloader or not. If you are using the Coflow autoloader we will not support any other choice of setup for an experiment and your experiment will be scheduled in the Coflow block. If you are not using the Coflow autoloader your experiment will be scheduled in the non-Coflow block.
To indicate that your experiment is thoroughly planned, clearly state how the data collected will be analysed after the experiment, useful information includes:
Information on analysis programs to be used
Potential models and what parameters are being sought in the analysis is recommended