This is a CD machine. It essentially fires circularly polarised light at a sample and measures the extent to which it de-rotates it, which depends on the orientation of the alpha-carbon backbone present in proteins. It's vair vair complex, yet I don't feel I could do Dr. Dafforn's description of it justice. So here's a picture of the nitrogen tank that cools the mercury/halogen lamp:
It's very big.Unfortunately, my sample showed little results here, so this is little more than "look at what I failed to get data from!".
Needless to say, it was disappointing, but circular dichroism is a technique I was intruiged by, and still am. It was fantastic to get a chance to learn how such a seemingly niche bit of machinery can be adapted for a similar yet important purpose.
