A major frontier in medical imaging is the ability
to explore whole human organs at microscopic
resolution – detail that is unattainable with
standard tools such as CT, MRI, or biopsies. Enabled
by the exceptional energy and coherence of ESRF-
EBS X-rays, a revolutionary technique is now
overcoming this barrier, with profound implications
for improving diagnostics, treatment, medical
training, and biomedical research.
Developed at ESRF-EBS flagship beamline BM18,
hierarchical phase-contrast tomography (HiP-CT)
provides non-destructive, 3D imaging of entire
human organs, zooming down to individual cells
with micron-level resolution – a capability that
was previously impossible. Bridging the long-
standing gap between radiology and pathology,
this breakthrough approach has already revealed
microscopic vascular damage in lungs affected
by COVID-19, reshaped understanding of cardiac
conduction disorders, and is being integrated into
cancer diagnostics.
HiP-CT has also inspired the Human Organ Atlas,
an open-science image repository hosting over
200 healthy and diseased organ datasets, now
available to researchers worldwide. Co-led by
University College London and the ESRF, and uniting
over 50 international research groups, the project
has attracted funding from the Chan Zuckerberg
Initiative, the UK Medical Research Council, the
Wellcome Trust, and the German Federal Ministry
of Health.
With plans to expand to thousands of organs,
HiP-CT and the Human Organ Atlas are poised to
transform biomedical imaging, redefining the future
of healthcare.
REVOLUTIONISING
BIOMEDICAL IMAGING
10 I ESRF-EBS: SCIENCE THAT SERVES
EBS SCIENCE
Imaging intact human organs with
local resolution of cellular structures
using hierarchical phase-contrast
tomography CL Walsh et al Nat
Methods 18 15321541 2021
Multidimensional Analysis of the
Adult Human Heart in Health and
Disease Using Hierarchical Phase
Contrast Tomography J Brunet et al
Radiology 3121 e232731 2024
Threedimensional cinematic renderings from hierarchical phasecontrast
tomography HiPCT at ESRF beamline BM18 of control left and diseased
right hearts in anatomic orientation show that in the healthy heart the
coronary arteries remain close to the epicardial surface while in the diseased
heart they are lifted away by epicardial fat Image courtesy of ref 2
CONTROL HEART DISEASED HEART
10 mm 10 mm
The Himalaya Project