ESRF News June 2023

Editor Jon Cartwright Tel +44 (0)117 2303080 E-mail jon.a.cartwright@ icloud.com

Editorial committee Nick Brookes Delphine Chenevier Andy Fitch Michael Krisch Gema Martínez-Criado Joanne McCarthy Edward Mitchell Stéphanie Monaco Annalisa Pastore Qing Qin Francesco Sette

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EDITORIAL

5June 2023 ESRFnews

Editor Jon Cartwright E-mail jon.a.cartwright@ icloud.com

Qing Qin Francesco Sette

tal Argoud llen M rk Trimnell

ESRF news

The successful debut of the new community access modes at the start of 2023 has been a significant milestone for the ESRF. Based on scientific excellence and supported by three pilot projects, the new BAGs and HUBs complement the existing standard ESRF access modes, while boosting the ESRF s responsiveness to societal challenges and the impact of the ESRF EBS s cutting-edge capabilities. Top scientists are being brought together according to their use of similar analytical techniques, as in a BAG, or according to a shared strategic scientific goal, as in a HUB. In this issue, we explore the BAG mode of access (p10); a forthcoming issue will explore the HUB.

Elsewhere in this issue, we learn about the potential of a new flagship beamline for time-resolved serial crystallography, ID29, which has recently opened for users (p12). In keeping with the ESRF s role to provide unprecedented tools to push the frontiers of science, ID29 which is run in collaboration with the EMBL benefits from the extremely intense and pulsed EBS beam to scan thousands of tiny crystals in record time at room temperature.

Another area of science benefiting from the EBS is catalysis. With the support of a Consolidator grant from the European Research Council, Marie-Ingrid Richard makes full use of the new ESRF EBS characteristics on ID01, in particular its brilliance and high coherence, to explore how the chemical structure of single catalytic nanoparticles changes under operational conditions (p17). Catalysis is the backbone of many industrial activities, and improving it is one of the vital challenges facing our society today. Richard s work is an outstanding example of how crucial synchrotron- based research has become for this important and fascinating field.

Michael Krisch ESRF director of research for life sciences, chemistry and soft matter science (ad interim)

Access to better science

Top scientists are being brought together according to their use of similar analytical techniques, or according to a shared strategic scientific goal

Gema Martínez-Criado ESRF director of research for condensed matter, physical and material sciences