The NanoSIMS facility at Utrecht University is open to external users. To avail of the analysis time, you need to write a brief proposal, which will be evaluated by a committee of scientists. Upon successful evaluation, you will be offered possible time slots for the measurement, as well as an estimate of the measurement duration and costs. After a mutual agreement has been reached, a more concrete planning can commence.

The proposal should state:

1. Project name (few words) and acronym (max 8 characters long).
2. Name, affiliation and contact details (telephone, email) of the corresponding scientist(s) and of the project PI(s).
3. Type of analysis: e.g., proof of concept for a research proposal, systematic data gathering (in one slot, or spread over several slots depending on the results), entirely exploratory.
4. Brief introduction to the topic of the project, including scientific relevance and current state of the art (max 300 words).
5. Objectives of the measurements:
   1. what you expect to find out or prove (hypothesis) using NanoSIMS
   2. why you need to do that using NanoSIMS
   3. which elements/isotopes you want to measure
   4. which measurement mode you wish to apply (imaging, line profile, depth profile, single spots)
   5. which precision/accuracy (isotopic and spatial) you require
6. Which complementary data will be used with the NanoSIMS data?
   1. available at present (include a list to support your application)
   2. available in the future
7. Brief sample description:
   1. basic character (e.g., washed cells on a filter, mixture of cells and sediment on a filter, resin-embedded mineral particles, tissue sections, etc.)
   2. brief description of the sample preparation
   3. estimated number of samples and individual fields of interest on the samples

Please use this template to complete your proposal. Save the file as PROJECT_ACRONYM-Your_Name-Date.doc and e-mail it to Dr. Lubos Polerecky.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.