25March 2022 ESRFnews

portrait

Gema, tell me about yourself GMC: My career has been very influenced by synchrotron radiation and you could say that synchrotrons are my world. I did my PhD in Valencia, Spain, and in Munich, Germany, working on applied physics wide-bandgap semiconductor-based devices, like LEDs. Then I moved to the ESRF as a post-doctoral fellow, afterwards as a scientist specialising in X-ray microspectroscopy and imaging techniques applied to semiconductor heterostructures. In 2009, I became permanent staff as beamline responsible at ID22. From 2009 to 2014, as part of Phase I of the ESRF Upgrade Programme, I was involved in the design and construction of the nanoanalysis beamline ID16B as beamline responsible. ID16B started user-mode operation in 2014. Then in 2016 I moved to Madrid at the Materials Science Institute (CSIC), focusing my research on the interplay between materials microscopic properties and functionalities.

What are the challenges of being directors of the ESRF, when it has just been upgraded with the EBS into a fourth-generation facility? GMC: It s the best worldwide. Our challenge is to exploit the unique opportunities that the EBS offers and to enable breakthrough discoveries in many different fields, like the recent development of a new technique to look into human organs with unprecedented resolution. We have to make sure that the beamlines perform as well as the machine, and to maintain our world-leading position. Practically, I would also say that it is important for us to try to speed up the experimental cycle, and reduce the time for users between submitting proposals and getting results. AP: I agree completely. And for me another exciting opportunity for this unique synchrotron is to create

new applications, to create new user communities, and to reinforce the existing ones.

In what way do communities need to be reinforced and create new users to replace the ones that we ve lost? AP: There might be communities that have weakened over time I m thinking for example about the community involved in muscle research, which used to be extremely strong. The new beam provides possibilities that are really novel and exciting for these communities. So one of the priorities is to nurture them. We need to remain at the top of international research, that is the main challenge. We re well placed, although COVID has created additional challenges for everybody.

This year is the international year of basic science for sustainable development. For the ESRF, what does that mean in practice? GMC: Most of the research at synchrotrons is rooted in basic research, and the ESRF is a big player. Before we can do applied research to answer key global concerns, we need to study the basic science and I think that the ESRF fills the gap between basic and applied research. However, we can improve this by expanding not only our unique set of state-of-the-art beamlines, but also the specialised support facilities that we have on site, such as cryo-EM, and working closely with other top centres of excellence worldwide. AP: I would also quote the French biochemist Louis Pasteur: There is no such a thing as applied and basic science. There are only applications of science. The ESRF is excellent at that, and will continue to be.

Let s talk about some of the specific achievements in your careers. Gema, yours will be in nanoscience? GMC: I am very proud of the optical microscopy research on quantum LED heterostructures we started here in 2007, time-resolved and with nanometre space resolution. The subsequent development of the nanoanalysis beamline ID16B was really crucial and also a precursor to the newer beamlines that work at the nanometre level. I think I ve contributed to the ESRF s nanoscience programme as a whole, and specifically in targeting later nanodevices under in situ and real working conditions.

Annalisa, you have solved a lot of protein structures AP: Yes, in the order of 40; I m very proud of those. And I m particularly proud of work that we have done in a specific field between basic science and basic biology and medicine, in which we solved the structure and function of a protein involved in the human neurodegenerative disease, Friedreich ataxia.

Is it significant that both ESRF research directors are women for the first time? GMC: There are few female scientists relative to male scientists. This is a situation that is familiar in many scientific institutes: we have many women at PhD and post-doctoral level but then we lose them. Why is that? We need to identify the reasons and work so that we can promote gender balance at the ESRF. I believe scientific ideas flow better in teams where there is a gender mix. And I feel it is our job, as women in management positions, to tackle this issue. AP: Well, I agree with Gema of course. The problem is not the ESRF; it is a general problem. For instance, I was the second woman group leader at the EMBL in Heidelberg; I was the first woman taking a position three years ago at a top Italian university; and so on. It is a generalised problem, and it is our duty to rectify it.

In what way? AP: It s a moral duty. We don t want to have pink lists or things like that, but we have to pay attention to the numbers, and come up with ways to help balance them.

A lot of users won t have met you yet. What are you like to work with? AP: This is a good question. What I like to do is speak to people and come up with new ideas. I like to brainstorm, understand what they do, and feed back to one another. GMC: I love the diversity of staff and user communities at the ESRF I enjoy going to the beamlines and finding out about their work, their aims, the obstacles they face and try to help them to come up with solutions. I have been a scientist for many years, and one of my goals is to make scientists lives easier. I am a great believer in communication, so my plan is to listen to them, support them and tackle any issues from the start. 

Jon Cartwright

Our challenge is to exploit the unique opportunities the EBS offers and enable breakthrough discoveries in many different fields