9

NEWS

June 2024 ESRFnews

A public conference in Brussels,

Belgium, about the future of European

research and innovation has featured

various speakers from the ESRF.

Among them was Michael Krisch, the

ESRF’s interim director of research

for life sciences, chemistry and

soft matter science, who told the

Science|Business Annual Conference

about some of the major findings that

have been published since the light

source’s upgrade. “What we have seen

since we started in 2020 is a tsunami of

mind-blowing results,” he said.

Held in February, the

Science|Business Annual Conference

featured a wide range of high-profile

speakers from science, industry and

government. With the European Union

celebrating the 40th anniversary

of its first Framework Programme

(FP) for research, the annual event

was dedicated this year to its future

directions in science and technology.

The central themes addressed included

the evolution of the current FP, “Horizon

Europe”, into FP10, which is set to

begin in 2028; what the world will need

from science and technology over the

next 40 years; and how the world can

continue to work together in research

and innovation, instead of following

divergent paths.

The ESRF speakers presented

evidence of their facility’s importance

in the discussions. Krisch gave

examples of how the ESRF has made it

possible to carry out research into new

pharmaceuticals, enzymatic plastic

recycling, SARS-CoV-2 virus proteins,

new materials and entire human

organs – with much of it assisted

by machine learning. There were

also contributions from Marie-Ingrid

Richard, an ESRF visiting scientist and

ERC grant holder; Bernd Hinrichsen,

the co-founder of a start-up that

harvests ultra-high throughput ESRF

X-ray data; and Francesco Sette, the

ESRF directorgeneral

ESRF speaks up for science

and business

The world’s most famous violin, “Il

Cannone” of the Italian virtuoso

Niccolò Paganini, has come to the

world’s most advanced synchrotron

tomography beamline to be imaged in

3D in unprecedented resolution.

Built in 1743 by the great

Cremonese luthier Bartolomeo

Giuseppe Guarneri, “Il Cannone”

is legendary for its powerful acoustic

tone and was literally instrumental

in Paganinis development of new

playing techniques Today it is rarely

played and conservationists are keen

to better understand its structure

and composition to preserve it for

future generations

For this reason the Municipality

of Genoa and its conservators teamed

up with ESRF scientists to perform

multiresolution propagation phase

contrast Xray microtomography at the

BM18 beamline The data provided

a 3D reconstruction of the violin at

the cellular level, with the possibility

to zoom in locally anywhere down to

the micrometre scale. They revealed

tantalising hints about how other

luthiers may have made alterations to

the instrument throughout its life.

“The investigations undertaken at

the ESRF represent one of the most

important events in the second life

of the Cannone said the violins

conservators Bruce Carlson Alberto

Giordano and Pio Montari in a

joint statement For us working

with such a team of scientists and

with such fantastic equipment is an

unforgettable experience

Nevertheless the full potential of

BM18 is yet to be realised In a few

months well be able to work on much

larger instruments up to the size of a

doublebass says Paul Tafforeau the

beamlines scientist in charge

X-rays at BM18

create a 3D model

of a legendary

violin, so that it can

be explored inside

and out, in fantastic

detail.

E S R F/P. J A Y E T

‘Il Cannone’ visits the ESRF

S C I E N C E B U S I N E S S

The

investigations

at the ESRF

represent one

of the most

important

events in the

second life of

the Cannone