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ESRF Young Scientist Award: Claire Walsh Claire Walsh, a bio-imaging scientist at University College London (UCL) and member of the Human Organ Atlas project, was awarded the ESRF Young Scientist Award 2022 during the ESRF User Meeting for her outstanding contribution to the study of human organs using hierarchical phase-contrast tomography at BM05 and BM18, and for her contribution to understanding the microvascular architecture of lungs in severe COVID-19 cases.

ESRF postdocs awarded ERC grants Scientists Tilman Grünewald and Ilya Kupenko, both former postdoctoral researchers at the ESRF, have been awarded Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC) for their research on the structural make-up of the connection between bone and tendon and the composition of the Earth s core, respectively. These ERC projects are based on the new capabilities of EBS and, especially, on the use of several ESRF beamlines (ID13, ID15A, and ID14, ID28, ID27 and ID15B).

Australopithecus sediba back at the ESRF In February, South African palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger brought famous fossil Australopithecus sediba and a new fossil of a child s skeleton embedded in a rock, Homo naledi, to the ESRF to study at new beamline for X-ray microtomography BM18. Using the EBS s high-resolution X-ray techniques for the first time to image Homo naledi, Berger aims to uncover the mysteries still surrounding this ancient human relative.

High-power laser facility welcomes first users In February, the new High-Power Laser Facility (HPLF), a 50J Amplitude laser integrated on the ID24 beamline, welcomed its first scientific users. The HPLF enables researchers to study matter at extreme conditions of temperature and pressure by combining laser-induced dynamic compression and X-ray absorption spectroscopy.