We extend a warm welcome to Klara Khanzadyan and Ladan Ahmadi, our two new LINXS interns. They will be working at LINXS for four months, supporting our events, administration, and communications activities.

What are your backgrounds?

Ladan: I studied Tourism Management and later completed an MBA, but my career has taken me beyond tourism. I’ve worked in cruise operations, marketing, and international programmes, often bringing people together, coordinating details, and helping things run smoothly behind the scenes. These experiences have taught me how planning and communication turn ideas into results. At LINXS, I’m building on that experience while discovering a new professional field.

Klara: I have a background in design and many years of professional experience. Over time, I became interested in technology and digital design, which led me to explore UX/UI design, digital communication, and marketing.

I have also gained experience in event coordination and administration. Most recently, I worked at MAX IV Laboratory, supporting the organisation of the MEDSI2025 conference. It was a great experience, and I really enjoyed working with an international community of engineers, scientists, researchers, and other participants.

How would you like to contribute to LINXS?

Klara: I would love to support the LINXS team in its daily work, help organise events and workshops, and contribute to communication and digital content. I’m also happy to share ideas and help make information clear and accessible to others.

At the same time, I’m excited to learn more about the scientific community and the interesting work happening at LINXS.

Ladan: I’d like to help turn ideas into well-organised activities, make information clear and accessible, and create opportunities for people to connect and share knowledge. I enjoy the work behind the scenes that helps things run smoothly. At the same time, LINXS is giving me the chance to explore new skills and interests. I’m excited to learn how people from different scientific disciplines work together and exchange ideas. I see this experience as an opportunity to grow, discover new interests, and perhaps even find a new direction in my career.

What skills are you bringing to LINXS?

Ladan: I bring a practical approach to coordination, problem-solving, and communication. Working in environments where plans change and many things happen at once has taught me to stay calm, adapt, pay attention to detail, and focus on solutions. I enjoy turning ideas into practical outcomes, working with different people, and making information clear and accessible. I also value listening, learning from others, and staying open to different perspectives.

Klara: I bring a mix of creative, digital, communication, and organisational skills. I enjoy working with people, learning new things, and finding practical solutions. I’m always happy to take on new challenges and develop my skills.

I’m really happy to have this opportunity at LINXS and look forward to learning from the team and contributing wherever I can!

In September, the LINXS Early-Career Researcher Network in Soft Matter hosted an event for female scientists. Organised by postdoctoral researcher Anna Stephens, it aimed to present new research, build community and connect women from different backgrounds.

“I wanted to highlight the good work that women across my network are doing and create an event celebrating female scientists,” says Anna Stephens, postdoctoral researcher in physical chemistry at Lund University.

She highlights how many female researchers experience differential treatment because of their gender. This includes not being paid the same as their male counterparts, being overlooked or sidelined in recruitment processes, and having to prove the legitimacy of their research to male colleagues.

“Often people are not even conscious of the fact that they treat women differently. But the subtle differences are felt too, and it has a big impact on your confidence,” says Anna Stephens.

Charlotta Turner, the incoming Dean to the Faculty of Science at Lund University, opened the event. She agrees with Anna Stephens that women often run into an invisible barrier, a barrier that can stop women from progressing in science, especially further into their career, at the lecturer and professor level.

“All women know what I am talking about. To change this, we need to support women all the way, from the early-career stages to the professor level,” says Charlotta Turner, professor in analytical chemistry at Lund University.

In her talk, she shared some important advice with the females and males in the audience:

“Get to know yourself and be proud of what you find! To have fun at work is also a superpower!

"Report when you see unfair treatment or harassing behaviour! Let your male colleagues know that it is them in particular that should behave as role models and support female scientists. Do not accept that scientific boards, conferences, meetings and decision-making often appear to be exclusively for men!"

"Personally, I boycott all conferences with only male plenary speakers!"

She ended by focusing on the importance of science, and of independent voices - that can defend the right to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions, test ideas and follow the evidence wherever it leads.

"You are all important! Not just because you are women, but because science matters! The creation of knowledge matters! We are all part of the Science family: women, men and non-binary.”

At the event, cultural historian Joanna Behrman, from the University of Copenhagen, gave a talk on the topic: “What does it mean to be a woman in science? Lessons from history”.

She began her career in science as a physicist. But during her studies, she realised that she was more interested in history and in the life stories of women physicists, than in the actual science. At the same time, she also started noticing the unequal treatment many women faced. She herself was paid less than her male counterparts for laboratory work and berated for asking questions that her fellow male students thought were stupid.

“I started to collect stories about how women got into science and that led me to start looking at the history of women in science in the USA, focusing on the period from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century,” says Joanna Behrman, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen.

Now she has collected data on hundreds of women that were active as scientists. Having a large data set is important, she says, since this can reveal information about what shaped women’s access to education during this period, the challenges they faced, and what opportunities they had.

“I firmly believe that education holds the answer to why someone becomes a scientist, to who they become as a scientist. My aim is to identify patterns among the stories that I collect.”

How does she reflect on her results so far?

“What makes me most excited is how many women I found! Because often you get the impression that there are not that many, only your Lise Meitners or Marie Curies. But this is actually wrong.”

She was glad to attend the early-career researcher event at LINXS.

“These types of events did not exist back in the day. Gathering and sharing experiences have been historically important to support female scientists so it is wonderful to see how we are taking lessons from the past and learning from that.”

Early-career researchers Simona Bianco, Jennifer Gilbert and Kate Alston all attended the event. They agree that it is important to create spaces where women can meet to discuss both science and how to navigate an often male-centred environment.

“There are actually a lot of us out there, doing soft matter science, so it is great to bring us all together,” says Simona Bianco, postdoctoral researcher at MAX IV.

“Certain things women understand better, like being a bit nervous about leaving a beamtime at 3am on your own. Having support from other women means a lot in those situations,” says Jennifer Gilbert, postdoctoral researcher in molecular bioscience at Chalmers University of Technology.

Kate Alston, a PhD student in physics, from the University of Manchester, has always been surrounded by male researchers. She would like to work with more female professors, although her colleagues have always been supportive.

“It has been nice to present my research and network with other women who are here. It is a way to start creating a support network. It can be challenging to go to conferences and other events if you don’t know anyone and there is a majority of male scientists there.”

The event ended with a career panel with Giovanna Fragneto, Science Director at ESS, Karen Edler, professor in materials at Lund University, Judith Houston, instrument scientist at the ESS, and Simona Bianco, postdoctoral researcher at MAX IV.

“The aim with the career panel was to create a space for the audience to ask questions in an informal setting and encourage interaction between women at different stages of their career,” says Anna Stephens.

“Today, there are many women in the scattering community! Bringing them together sends an important message, and I wanted the event to inspire all the amazing female scientists out there.”

Understanding why liquid-liquid phase separation occurs in cellular systems can help researchers exploit or avoid it to cure disease, develop advanced materials, and shed new light on fundamental biology. A workshop and PhD school at LINXS in August explored this complex process from multiple perspectives.

Liquid-liquid phase separation is a universal physicochemical phenomenon through which homogeneous mixtures separate into coexisting liquid phases, giving rise to complex structures across diverse natural and engineered systems. Membraneless organelles constitute one of the most fascinating and complex examples of such phase-separated states.

Professor Anna Stradner organised the LLPS2026 PhD school and workshop in collaboration with the SMILE theme, COMMONS and SoftComp. Having spent many years investigating liquid-liquid phase separation in concentrated eye lens protein solutions to gain insights into cataract formation, she now focuses on the behaviour of antibodies in solution. Together with her collaborators, she studies how phase separation affects concentrated antibody formulations and how it can be avoided, since it may create significant challenges for intravenous drug administration.

“Our approach with these events was to look at this process from multiple perspectives, ranging from fundamental physics and chemistry to biology and biomedicine, while covering fundamental principles, experimental, computational and theoretical approaches, and applications in life and materials sciences,” says Anna Stradner, LINXS Vice-Director and Professor of Physical Chemistry at Lund University.

“When you deal with liquid-liquid phase separation in complex systems, whether they are biological systems, soft materials, or food systems, it becomes extremely important to understand the underlying principles, so that you can either prevent it or tailor and benefit from it.”

Bringing scientists from different disciplines together around a shared topic is important for learning from each other, engaging in discussions that would not typically happen within a single discipline, and creating a common understanding that benefits different types of science, she notes. It has not been uncommon that liquid-liquid phase separation has been approached differently within different disciplines, something that can be confusing for students.

“Through this event we have started to speak the same language and get inspiration from each other. It is very clear that there are many ways to work with liquid-liquid phase separation that can support new knowledge and approaches.”

Hanna Wacklin-Knecht, leader of the SMILE theme and associate professor in Physical Chemistry at Lund University and Head of Scientific Support at ESS, agrees:

“It was great to hear researchers talk about scientific problems that I can relate to even though they come from completely different backgrounds and work on different systems. It has given me a fresh view on self-assembly in soft biological and bio-inspired systems, which is often caused by liquid-liquid phase separation.”

Clifford Brangwynne, Princeton University: “Through studying liquid-liquid phase separation, we get a new lens through which we can understand disease processes”

The opening keynote lecture was delivered by Clifford Brangwynne, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, and one of the world's leading pioneers in the field of biomolecular condensates. His groundbreaking research has revealed how liquid-liquid phase separation can drive the formation of membraneless organelles, reshaping our understanding of cellular organisation.

“We still do not understand how cells are organised. They are incredibly complex, to the point of almost being magic. Each cell contains many thousands of molecules, and they rotate around a million times a second, interacting with hundreds of thousands of binding partners. In this chaotic sea of molecules, structure emerges, but how and why?”

The formation of membraneless organelles (biomolecular condensates) occurs because of liquid-liquid phase separation. Defects in this phase separation are linked to many diseases for which there are no cures, such as Alzheimer's disease, ALS, and dementia. They also play a part in cancer.

“Through studying liquid-liquid phase separation, we get a new lens through which we can understand disease processes. Our goal is to find out how and why defects in phase separation happen and use these findings to develop new therapeutics for our major diseases."

Coming to LINXS and Lund to meet other researchers was a valuable experience, he says:

“I was not aware of all the research that goes on here. It was interesting to learn more about how other people work with this extremely interesting and important process.”

Impact beyond the event

Anna Stradner notes how the workshop and PhD school have already generated positive impact. Different groups of researchers are making plans for a follow-up event and are also discussing meeting to apply for collaborative grants.

“LINXS allows for these types of events that support interaction well beyond these two activities. A lively discussion ensued on how we can pick this up in the future, and this is already being acted upon! LINXS was not simply a supporter of the LLPS2026 events. It was an enabler.”

“The events reflect the very philosophy of LINXS: bringing together people with different backgrounds to address complex scientific questions and create new scientific networks and momentum that extend far beyond the week itself."

PhD school was “very useful”

Karoline Rengel was one of the PhD students who attended the school on liquid-liquid phase separation. The initiative was highly popular and attracted a high number of applicants.

She is at the end of her first year of PhD studies at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany. Her research is focused both on the internal dynamics of liquid-liquid phase separation and on understanding liquid-solid phase separation, with an aim to use this knowledge to develop new types of biomaterials.

“I see a lot of what LINXS does and I have got very favourable reviews of your activities. I was interested to see what I could learn!”

She found the PhD school very useful.

“There were many interesting and useful lectures, and the networking has been great. Meeting other students at events like this makes it easier to strike up conversations.”

Read about the SMILE theme

Read about COMMONS

Read about SoftComp

LINXS welcomes Theme proposals from everywhere

LINXS invites proposals for new Themes, starting in 2028. We welcome original, innovative, and pioneering Theme proposals that will advance science using X-rays, neutrons, and complementing techniques.

LINXS Themes are funded for three years and aim to bring research communities together. A Theme does not fund research per se but facilitates research by bringing together active teams focusing on specific subtopics in the form of Working Groups (WG).

LINXS welcomes applications for Themes from everywhere. To lead a Theme, a commitment of resources from the host organisation of the Theme leader is required. Anyone with a tenure, tenure-track, or relevant long-term position can apply as the lead applicant for a Theme.

Deadline: 2027-02-02 

For almost ten years, LINXS has facilitated researchers’ use of MAX IV, highlighting the potential and exploitation of the powerful synchrotron X-ray beams and helping the growth and development of a diverse user community. This work has significantly impacted the quantity, scope, and quality of the science, and has led to a growing number of beamtime applications and increased collaborations.

“LINXS research Themes result in a wide range of novel collaborations involving researchers having different backgrounds,” says LINXS Director Trevor Forsyth. “This impacts on facility capabilities through beamtime applications and often through research project funding that otherwise would not have occurred. What unites all of the Themes is that the collaborations add up to a great deal more than the sum of their parts.”

LINXS has grown steadily since the institute opened in 2017 and during this time 16 research Themes have been resourced, each lasting three years. Initially three Themes ran concurrently but this has grown, and as of 2025/2026 LINXS operates at a steady state of ten Themes. The Themes are awarded competitively and prioritised by an external and impartial Scientific Advisory Board. The Theme focus areas have varied widely, including imaging, soft matter, drug design, integrative structural biology, heritage science, climate and environment, quantum materials, semiconductors, and rheometry.

Opening doors to MAX IV

Researchers who have led or been part of different activities throughout the years highlight how LINXS opens doors to MAX IV and other facilities.

One example is how the number of applications for advanced rheometry experiments at MAX IV has increased significantly since the start of the RheoMAXESS Theme at LINXS in 2025. The Theme itself grew out of the early success of new techniques developed within the Advanced Rheological Testing Science Initiative (artSI) at MAX IV.

“The RheoMAXESS Theme has become the platform that was needed for creating new networks with a shared interest in rheology,” says Roland Kádár, Theme leader and professor of rheology at Chalmers University of Technology.

“It is not enough to just have a good technique if no one knows about it. You also need to have the means to reach out. Now we are seeing proof that more researchers are eager to explore how rheology can support their research questions.”

Another LINXS Theme, the Heritage Science Theme, has organised several events to introduce X-ray methods and educate new users. The Theme brings together researchers and professionals from all over Europe working in archaeology, geology, art history and conservation.

“We create networks and help open doors to new possibilities. As these methods develop so rapidly and the heritage science field is so broad, we need to continuously educate people in how to access and use large facilities,” says Theme leader Mikael Fauvelle, archaeologist at Lund University.

Supporting data analysis

LINXS and its Themes are also working to support data analysis and processing, which remain key bottlenecks in translating experimental results into published output. This work includes hackathons to analyse data from different synchrotron techniques, data clinics that provide specialist support, and the installation of four powerful workstations at LINXS that are free to use for researchers on an ad-hoc basis.

The Theme Advanced Imaging and Data Analysis (AIDA), co-led by MAX IV, has put a special spotlight on how to improve workflows after experiments, which is essential for supporting researchers to work with their data.

“This is what AIDA is all about: creating a platform for training and help for data and image analysis. The more knowledge exchange and interaction we have around the beamlines and large-scale infrastructures, the easier we can find solutions,” says Theme leader Martin Bech, senior lecturer in medical radiation physics at Lund University.

Supporting the next generation of MAX IV users

LINXS’ young researchers’ initiatives (YRI) for hard matter, soft matter and life science support PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to access science infrastructures and to collaborate locally, nationally, and internationally. Through organising events and workshops, they introduce different techniques, encourage peer-to-peer learning and lower the barriers for young researchers to reach out to beamline scientists and learn from more experienced facility users.

Simona Bianco works at the CoSAXS beamline at MAX IV and has organised many events aimed at early-career researchers. She is part of the YRI initiative on soft matter.

“I believe that these techniques should be made more easily approachable and understandable to prospective users and this can only be achieved through collaborations, talks and workshops!”

Collaborations and summer schools with MAX IV

Many of LINXS’ Themes include researchers and beamline scientists from MAX IV. Events, summer schools and webinar series are often organised in collaboration with MAX IV and other large-scale facilities.

The interaction between researchers and instrument scientists is key to supporting user groups, developing the beamlines, identifying researchers’ needs, and finding new ways of performing experiments.

“Collaboration is an extremely important aspect of modern science and never more so than at large-scale facilities such as MAX IV. Over the next decade, I can see LINXS continuing to play a key role in strengthening the user communities, their relation to MAX IV, ESS and other infrastructures, and to the development of the huge potential of Science Village at Brunnshög,” says Trevor Forsyth.

“Many of us who work in computational chemistry sit on modelling tools that we have developed for scattering data in the last ten years. But these tools are currently not readily available, require a lot of prior knowledge to use, and take a long time to analyse data,” says theme leader Mikael Lund, Professor in Computational Chemistry at Lund University.

Mikael Lund was one of the first LINXS fellows when the institute launched in 2017. It was through LINXS that he started developing computational tools to interpret X-ray and neutron scattering data from soft matter and biological systems. Since then, he has been a member of two other themes but has never led one himself. Until now.

“Now is the right time for such a theme. We have the contacts, the know-how, and the right people to bring these tools to X-ray and neutron users.”

Making the tools more accessible is a major focus within the theme. This entails both including them in standard workflows and small-angle scattering analysis software packages, and organising workshops, hackathons and tutorials for the user community on how to use the tools in practice.

“The most important thing is to ensure that the tools are available to users, and to make people interested in testing them out. Researchers tend to choose the tools that are easy to use, so even the most advanced methods need to be accessible to make a difference.”

Advanced tools give more information about samples

Mikael Lund highlights how computational tools give researchers more information about their sample in comparison to the standard tools in use today. One reason is that simpler tools tend to rely on rough approximation to make calculations easier. Proteins are e.g. treated as spheres, even though they are highly complex macromolecules whose functions depend entirely on their specific shapes and dynamic movements.

“With standard tools you miss out on interpretation, and often cannot infer why a protein behaves in a certain way. It also makes it harder to understand how changes to your protein will change the results of the experiment.”

“In contrast, our tools get closer to reality because you can see the real shape of the protein and use that information to predict its behaviour.”

Supporting synergy between modelling and experimental research

The use of computational tools can not only aid data interpretation but also support more targeted, and even entirely new types of experiments, which in turn creates more refined and accurate modelling tools, Mikael Lund emphasises.

“The ideal synergy between modelling and experimental research is that they inform and build on each other in an iterative process. You feed your data into the model, which predicts a certain process or behaviour, that you can then test in your next experiment. The data from that experiment feeds into the model again, in a loop.”

Ultimately this workflow can help maximise the output from experiments at facilities like MAX IV or ESS – that are expensive to perform. However, one challenge to using computational tools more widely is that their high resolution makes them slower to run than most standard tools currently in use. The theme members will therefore focus on how to reduce the time it takes for certain models to render results.

“Experimental users don’t want to wait for two weeks to see results. If we can speed up our existing models, we will be able to put them in the hands of many more people.”

An opportunity to bring people from different backgrounds together

Mikael Lund is excited to run the theme at LINXS – because it is quite rare to get support for initiatives such as CATS which centres around knowledge exchange, education and networking. The theme will gather researchers, X-ray and neutron users, and instrument scientists.

“It is great to have a platform to connect people who are working on very similar things but have never met before. I think this can generate lots of new ideas in terms of developing the tools we already use and making them more accessible.”

About the theme CATS: Accessible Computational Scattering Tools

The theme will start in early 2027 and work across five working groups: Working Group 1: Simulation-Based Structure Factors; Working Group 2: Numerical Theory for Structure Factors; Working Group 3: Hydration, Solvation, and Coarse-Grained Scattering Models; Working Group 4: Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Flexible Systems; and Working Group 5: End-User Integration and Training.

LINXS is pleased to have announced three new research Themes that will start in early 2027: Functional Proteins for the Future (FunProF), led by Petri Kursula (Bergen, Norway); Accessible Computational Scattering Tools (CATS), led by Mikael Lund (Lund, Sweden); and Generating Advances with AI for neutrons/X-rays (GAIN), led by Pablo Villanueva Perez (Lund, Sweden). They will all describe their plans at our Digital Town Hall on 26 October. The Town Hall meeting is deliberately kept short and exclusively online to enhance wide and international participation. It is a good meeting for anyone thinking about submitting an application for the next LINXS National and International Theme Call (to be announced in the coming weeks).

The current Themes are very active and organising numerous events over a wide range of science. The LINXS community is making increasing use of the data analysis workstations funded by the Crafoord Foundation. Please remember that you are welcome to work at LINXS before or after experimental sessions, and do not hesitate to contact us if you think you can benefit from these powerful workstations.

We are very pleased to announce the appointment of two new external experts to our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB): Victoria Garcia Sakai, who is a Division Head at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source in the UK, and Teresa Carlomagno, Professor of Integrative Structural Biology at the University of Birmingham, UK. They will provide expertise on the SAB for the areas of Soft Matter and Life Sciences, respectively. We extend a warm welcome to them and thank them for taking on this task.

We are very grateful to our two departing SAB members, Annette Langkilde (Copenhagen) and Jan Skov Pedersen (Aarhus), for their dedication and time as SAB members over the past years. It is extremely important for LINXS to have impartial external assessment of our work, and both Annette and Jan played invaluable roles.

Next year will be the 10th birthday of LINXS, and we intend to mark this with a special conference on 2-3 June 2027. Please note the date in your diary. The agenda is currently being planned and a draft will be circulated shortly. It will also be an important year for Science Village as a whole, with MAX IV undergoing major development, the ESS set to start operating, and a continuous ramp-up of the national and international user communities. Lund University’s plans for a nanoscience centre have reached an advanced stage, and there have also been extended discussions about the relocation of specific departments (or parts thereof) to Brunnshög (see the recent Vice Chancellor’s blog). LINXS, with its powerful collaborative base, is well positioned to facilitate these developments.

We are also pleased to share our Annual Report 2025 Highlights, which describes some of the major developments that occurred at LINXS during this period, in addition to a great deal of more detailed information.

In this newsletter, we share highlights from our 2025 Annual Report Highlights, information about upcoming events, and news about three new themes that will start at LINXS in 2027. We also highlight interviews with people connected to LINXS, and give a heads-up about our upcoming 10-year anniversary celebration, an event you won't want to miss!

Read the newsletter to find out more about our activities, and to stay updated on more opportunities to engage, learn and connect with others.

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Read about our key events, impact and thematic activities during the year!

Foreword from our Director Trevor Forsyth

2025 was marked by one of the most important events in the history of LINXS: the move into The Loop at Science Village in Brunnshög. It represents the fulfilment of a major goal of establishing LINXS as an advanced studies institute right at the heart of Science Village between MAX IV and ESS and supporting the development of the science and innovation ecosystem being built around them.

This followed a huge amount of planning over many years but was finally completed rapidly and efficiently over little more than a single week in March. The impact of the new working environment was almost immediate for the LINXS community, with activities benefitting from the extended and purpose-designed space and a huge increase in direct interaction with MAX IV and ESS facility staff and scientists. In addition, The Loop provides us with some exceptional neighbours in the form of Camurus, Catator, Science Village Scandinavia, Altitude Meetings, the Swedish Chips Competence Centre (SCCC), and the remarkable Science Village Hall. This constitutes a unique blend of academic and industrial enterprise, co-located with a common motivation for a collaborative science environment. We should also not forget to mention Vectura, our hosts in The Loop building, who work tirelessly to maintain this exceptional environment in which we now work.

Science Village itself is also starting to take shape and is now optimally positioned to become a major international hub for science and industry over the years and decades to come. The MAX IV synchrotron radiation facility is undergoing major scientific development, and the European Spallation Source (ESS) is set to start operating in 2027, with an ongoing ramp-up of its national and international user communities. On the other side of the tramline from LINXS, the Space building is also now open and active. Lund University is, of course, a key player in this environment. Plans for the establishment of a nanoscience centre have reached an advanced stage, and there have also been extended discussions about the relocation of specific departments (or parts thereof) to Brunnshög. LINXS, with its extensive local, national, and international collaborative base, is well positioned to help facilitate these developments.

In Midsummer week, LINXS held an inaugural conference in Science Village Hall that gathered delegates from all over the world (265 registrations) and hosted presentations ranging from laser physics to soft matter, structural biology, medical imaging, and cultural heritage.

The conference was opened by Tom Erixon, President and CEO of Alfa Laval and Deputy Chair of the Lund University Board. A number of key announcements were made, including one from Sven Lidin on behalf of the Crafoord Foundation about a major award to LINXS, and another from Olof “Charlie” Karis congratulating a consortium of scientists (spokesperson Stephen Hall) that had been successful in attracting a very large award from the WISE programme of the Wallenberg Foundation to deliver a new imaging beamline named TomoWISE. The formal sessions were followed by an interactive poster session in The Loop atrium that included stands for the Young Researchers Initiative, Visualising Science and Data with Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, ‘Pokémon Go’ technology for beamline experiments, a virtual guided tour of MAX IV Laboratory, and an ESS stand.

The Crafoord award announced by Sven Lidin is of particular importance to LINXS. It makes a key contribution to our mission as an advanced studies institute. The grant will be used to fund strategic initiatives that will enhance the research environment and data analysis capabilities. LINXS will further develop ‘data clinics’ to support data analysis; powerful workstations will be installed to create ‘twinned’ digital environments, with the ultimate aim of narrowing the delay between experiment and publication. The funding also supports the involvement of experts who can collaborate on data analysis, whether they are from local, national, or international facilities or departments. The grant also supports key aspects of the move into The Loop, including a total upgrade of the audiovisual systems throughout the premises and the inaugural conference.

Another important development during the year has been a major increase in core funding from the Faculties of Science, Engineering, and Medicine at Lund University, as well as from the University centrally. This follows the recommendations of an extremely positive external review of LINXS in 2024. The budget increase is central to the growth of LINXS as a whole, but is of particular importance to the Themes, where the coordination effort of LINXS staff was under pressure. The increased funding includes additional coordination resources for Lund University staff involved in Themes to take a greater role in this function. Overall, it means that LINXS can now work continuously with about 9 to 10 Themes at any one time.

Three new Themes started during the year: Quantum Materials (led by Oxford University), Advanced Imaging and Data Analysis (led by Lund University), and Advanced Rheometry for Neutron and X-ray Science (led by Chalmers University). These have already created considerable impact for their respective scientific communities through summer schools, hands-on workshops, and collaborative events related to large MAX IV beamtime applications. The existing Themes, Environment and Climate, Chemistry of Life, and Heritage Science, have also developed further in a highly satisfying way, with key examples being the First Nordic Sub-Micron IR Microscopy Conference, organised jointly by the Environment and Climate Theme and the AIDA Theme, a joint publication between the Chemistry of Life Theme and ESS, and an interactive, well-attended Heritage Science workshop in Slovenia.

During the year, our Scientific Advisory Board approved four new Themes for a 2026 start: X-ray and Neutron-based Characterization of Advanced Semiconductors (Semiconductors), led by Rainer Timm (Physics, Lund University); Soft Matter in Life: Biological Self-Assembly Across Time and Length Scales (SMILE), led by Hanna Wacklin-Knecht (ESS); Pandemics and Alertness (PandA), led by Wolfgang Knecht (Biology, Lund University); and Scattering and Imaging for Health Insights and New Evidence (SHINE), led by Karin Lindkvist (Medical Faculty, Lund University).

The Young Researchers’ Initiatives (YRIs) have grown steadily over the year. In 2025, in addition to organising three symposia in connection with LINXS’ focus areas of Hard Matter, Soft Matter, and Life Sciences, the YRIs network also hosted a joint LINXS YRI Science Day, as well as a thematic workshop on X-ray computed tomography. The breadth and range of these different events point to both the need to gather early-career researchers and the continued high interest in these types of activities. It is very healthy that the YRIs have increased participation from external organisations as well as international organisations such as the IUCr.

Our guest researcher programme welcomed six researchers in 2025. Their stays at LINXS have all generated collaborations and different types of impact, not least the ongoing collaboration between Professor Petri Kursula from the University of Bergen and guest researcher Roland Kádár, Professor at Chalmers University of Technology and leader of the RheoMAXESS Theme.

The AMBER MSCA COFUND project on advanced medical and biological imaging, coordinated by LINXS, has also expanded. During the year, LINXS coordinated three calls for postdoctoral fellows. By the end of 2025, the number of AMBER postdoctoral researchers totalled 28, forming a closely interacting cohort working across Europe at the different partner organisations (Lund, ESS, EMBL, ILL, IMOL, Leicester). The programme combines high scientific quality, interdisciplinarity, and opportunities to collaborate across methods, disciplines, and organisations. The EU mid-term review of AMBER will occur in early to mid-2026.

In summary, 2025 has been an exceptionally productive and positive year. Much of the success derives from the efforts of the LINXS staff and administration, the management, the external Scientific Advisory Board, the stakeholder Board (led by Stacey Sörensen), as well as the wider LINXS community within and beyond Sweden.

It has been a very special year.

/Trevor Forsyth

“Within FunProF, we aim to create a strong Nordic community and foster science on protein function and innovation, while developing experiments at large-scale research infrastructures and supporting new synchrotron and neutron users,” says theme leader Petri Kursula, professor in Biomedicine at the University of Bergen.

Petri Kursula has studied protein structures for over 25 years using mainly synchrotron radiation and complementary techniques, with several projects also taking advantage of neutrons. He has broad interests in structural biology, from atomic-resolution protein crystallography to disordered proteins and structure and dynamics of proteolipid membrane complexes. He explains that the research theme FunProF (Functional Proteins for the Future) has two focus areas: one is to understand the behaviour of functional proteins in the cell (in the human body or other living organisms), while the other is to engineer new functional proteins.

Harnessing new opportunities in protein science

“While proteins have been studied for more than a hundred years, we now have X-ray and neutron techniques and facilities that enable us to carry out experiments on protein function that were previously unthinkable. With the rise of computational methods such as AI, these opportunities are even greater,” says Petri Kursula.

He notes that X-ray and neutron techniques offer significant potential for studying functional proteins in an integrative fashion, while combining experimental methods and computational tools such as AlphaFold. Current AI-based approaches can predict what a protein might look like, but they provide little information about its functional state and dynamics, and predictions require experimental validation. X-ray and neutron methods, on the other hand, enable researchers to study the structure and dynamics of proteins at very high resolution. Dynamic movements are of key importance to understand and control because they can affect the function of the protein.

“Using X-rays or neutrons, we can begin to understand how the protein behaves in terms of its structure and function. We can, for example, see how each atom in the protein is arranged and, from there, visualise molecular function and even start to design enzymes to catalyse a certain reaction or antibody-like fragments to regulate protein function.”

Tackling the challenges of functional proteins

However, research on functional proteins is still developing, and Petri Kursula emphasises that scientists need to combine theories of protein behaviour with X-ray and neutron experiments in an iterative, integrative process to design functional proteins with improved or novel properties.

Conducting experiments on some of the most difficult proteins, for example membrane proteins that many theme members are interested in, is also challenging. These proteins perform important biological functions and are major targets for drug development. Yet, they are very unstable outside their native membrane environment and cannot be stored prior to the experiment, which adds another layer of difficulty to experimental studies.

To address these issues, FunProF has created a working group that will focus specifically on protein sample preparation and characterisation. The aim is to develop best practices and protocols that can be useful to the community working with functional proteins using both synchrotron and neutron facilities.

In addition to sample preparation, FunProF will focus on the design and optimisation of synchrotron and neutron experiments, the use of computational methods to better understand, design and analyse the behaviour of functional proteins, and discussions of future applications of functional proteins for health and sustainability.

“Careful design of experiments goes hand in hand with sample preparation. We will discuss what is currently possible at synchrotron and neutron facilities such as MAX IV, ESS, and DESY, and identify where current gaps and opportunities exist. Integrating computational methods into this work will be an important focus, as well as supporting improved data analysis,” says Petri Kursula.

Building a collaborative community

A key ambition is to bring together people from many different backgrounds and geographic locations who share a common research interest in functional proteins.

“When people get together, ideas start appearing. By being open and sharing knowledge with people you have not worked with before, you will soon identify new questions and problems, as well as solutions.”

Petri Kursula has first-hand experience of working in this way. During 2025, he was on a sabbatical leave as a visiting researcher at LINXS within the Chemistry of Life theme. While at LINXS, he began collaborating with researchers from other LINXS themes on beamtime experiments and funding applications.

“The openness of LINXS appeals to me and is something I want to maintain within the theme.”

The theme will start in early 2027. It has four working groups: Working Group 1: Sample Production and Characterisation Workflows; Working Group 2: Experiments on Functional Proteins at Synchrotron and Neutron Facilities; Working Group 3: Computational Approaches to Experimental Design and Data Analysis; and Working Group 4: Future Applications of Functional Proteins.

“Ever since I first heard about the idea of LINXS, I was impressed. I remember thinking, “Bingo, that's an excellent idea.” The vision of ensuring that huge scientific investments in ESS and MAX IV translate into world-leading science and impact, by building and connecting user communities was simple yet powerful.”

Victoria Garcia Sakai is an expert in quasi-elastic neutron scattering with particularly interests in understanding the role of dynamics in the structure-dynamics-function relationships of biological macromolecules, functional polymer systems and cryopreservation mechanisms.

What is your background?

I am currently the Division Head for Neutron Spectroscopy at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK. A chemical engineer by training, I hold a PhD in Polymer Solution Thermodynamics from Imperial College London. I entered the world of neutron scattering during a postdoctoral appointment at The Pennsylvania State University, where I explored the synergies between quasi-elastic neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations in soft matter systems.

Since then, I have worked at, or been closely involved with, many of the world's major neutron research facilities. I joined ISIS in 2007 and currently hold advisory positions internationally – now Chair of the MLZ Science Advisory Board, and previously chair of the ESS Scientific Advisory Council.

I bring 25 years of experience in neutron science: as a scientist supporting research across soft matter, materials science, chemistry and the life sciences; as a leader driving the development of strategy and capabilities within the neutron community; and as an advocate committed to training the next generation of researchers and fostering strong international collaborations that enable access to, and benefit from, advanced neutron techniques. 

What are your main research interests?

My research interests focus on understanding the relationship between structure, dynamics, and function in complex materials using neutron scattering techniques. A particular focus throughout my career has been the use of neutron spectroscopy, especially quasi-elastic neutron scattering, in combination with complementary approaches, to investigate dynamics systems relevant to health and life sciences, polymers and functional materials, and materials for energy and sustainability applications. I am particularly interested in understanding how molecular-level dynamics influence macroscopic properties and performance.

Furthermore, I have a strong commitment to developing new instrumentation and experimental capability that expand the scientific opportunities available to the user community.

How would you like to contribute as SAB member?

I would like to contribute both a facility perspective and a community perspective. Having spent much of my career working with neutron facilities and their user communities, I have seen first-hand how much we can learn from one another and the benefits of working more closely together. I hope to draw on those experiences to help identify opportunities where neutron and X-ray methods can have significant impact, while supporting the long-term sustainability of the communities that depend on them.

As the landscape for large-scale research infrastructures continues to evolve, maintaining expertise, attracting new users, and demonstrating the unique value of neutrons and X-rays, are challenges we all share. I would welcome the opportunity to contribute to LINXS's strategic thinking in these areas and help strengthen the connections that underpin scientific excellence.

What do you see as the value of LINXS?

Ever since I first heard about the idea of LINXS, I was impressed. I remember thinking, “Bingo, that's an excellent idea.” The vision of ensuring that huge scientific investments in ESS and MAX IV translate into world-leading science and impact, by building and connecting user communities was simple yet powerful.

LINXS provides a neutral and inclusive space that helps stimulate new ideas and collaborations, foster interdisciplinary networks, develop expertise, support education, and enable researchers from different backgrounds to work together to tackle the important scientific challenges. LINXS provides a community-driven platform enabling researchers to exploit the complementarity of these unique research infrastructures. It has clearly established itself as an internationally recognised meeting place for excellent science, and it is an honour to contribute to its continued development and success.

How would you like to see LINXS develop?

Building on its success to date, I would like to see LINXS take on an even stronger role as a connector between  facilities and researchers in academia and industry, across national and disciplinary boundaries. As ESS and MAXIV mature, there is an increasing opportunity for LINXS to serve as a beacon for scientific networking, education, and advocacy.

One of the things I admire most about LINXS is its ability to foster ideas and bring people together around scientific challenges. I would like to see it continue to build on that strength, serving as an example of how research infrastructures and scientific communities can work together to achieve more than either could alone.

Read more about Victoria Garcia Sakai at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Facility website

“What I find most compelling about LINXS is that it fosters interdisciplinary science. By bringing together different research communities and talented individuals, LINXS creates the intellectual critical mass that can spark innovative ideas and lead to breakthrough discoveries.”

She is a professor of Integrative Structural Biology at the University of Birmingham, UK, and leads the national biomolecular NMR laboratory hosted in Birmingham that provides access to ultra-high-field NMR and state-of-the-art expertise in NMR methodologies and applications in biology, biomedicine and chemical biology.

What is your background?

My background is in physical chemistry. I trained at the University of Naples, where I was initially fascinated by quantum mechanics, an interest that led me into NMR spectroscopy. At that time, biomolecular NMR was still a relatively young field, offering many opportunities to develop new methods.

As my career progressed, I became increasingly interested not just in the techniques themselves, but in the biological questions they could address. I was drawn to understanding molecular mechanisms: how biomolecules underpin and regulate function. What I find especially compelling is that these processes are governed by a delicate balance between kinetics and thermodynamics, and NMR provides a uniquely powerful window into both.

Today, my research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of dynamic biomolecular assemblies.

What are your main research interests?

My laboratory studies complex and dynamic biomolecular assemblies involved in RNA metabolism, gene expression regulation, DNA repair ad signalling. We seek to reveal how flexible or even disordered molecular partners communicate, adapt, and function together. To do this, we combine NMR spectroscopy with complementary methods including X‑ray scattering, electron microscopy, small‑angle scattering and mass spectrometry. We also develop advanced computational approaches that enable the interpretation of diverse experimental data within unified structural models. Furthermore, in NMR spectroscopy, we continue to push the boundaries of the technique both in solution and solid-state.

How would you like to contribute as SAB member?

I am a strong believer in integrating complementary methodologies to understand molecular function and regulation in the life sciences. As a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, I would like to build on the collaborative culture that already characterises LINXS by further strengthening the integration of X-ray and neutron-based approaches with other advanced techniques. Bringing together different perspectives and probing biological systems across multiple length and time scales allows us to gain a more complete understanding of biomolecular processes and fully realise the potential of interdisciplinary research. 

What do you see as the value of LINXS? 

What I find most compelling about LINXS is that it fosters interdisciplinary science. Many of today's most important scientific challenges cannot be addressed by a single field or methodology. By bringing together different research communities and talented individuals, LINXS creates the intellectual critical mass that can spark innovative ideas and lead to breakthrough discoveries.

How would you like to see LINXS develop?

One area where I believe LINXS can make an even greater impact is by further bridging the gap between experimental and computational science. My ambition would be to help position LINXS as a recognised hub for the integration and analysis of structural and imaging data, bringing together the expertise needed to extract deeper biological insights from increasingly complex and diverse datasets.

Read more about Teresa Carlomagno at the University of Birmingham website

Ken Andersen, Director General at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, is excited about LINXS’ role in supporting a growing neutron community worldwide as ESS is set to open in early 2027.

He visited Lund, Sweden, for LINXS Science Day in June, where he delivered a keynote address.

"LINXS supports both X-ray and neutron users, which adds value to the co-location of MAX IV and ESS," says Ken Andersen. "In Grenoble, ILL and the X-ray facility ESRF are similarly co-located, and I think there is great potential for closer collaboration between our facilities."

"As far as I know, there is nothing like LINXS elsewhere, even though this kind of construct is really needed. Both neutron and X-ray facilities need to collaborate to highlight their different strengths and complementarities to the user communities."

"The most advanced research questions cannot be answered through one technique alone but rather require many experiments using different methods. Here, we can collaborate to support users in seamlessly accessing different large-scale facilities."

LINXS: connecting ILL and ESS

Ken Andersen underscores how LINXS can play an important role in bringing together the future users of ESS and user groups at ILL. He especially highlights the ongoing theme model at LINXS, where researchers can apply for funding to explore and develop a field of research using X-rays and/or neutrons over a three-year period. Through future themes, researchers can come together to advance neutron science.

At this year’s Science Day, attendees heard many presentations focusing on how X-rays have contributed to revealing new knowledge about everything from soft matter to heritage science. The same potential exists for neutrons, Ken Andersen notes, but the user community is currently smaller.

LINXS can support ESS in developing neutron science

Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen is the incoming Director General of ESS and will take over from the current Director General, Helmut Schober, on 1 November. In her previous role, she served as Denmark’s scientific delegate to the ESS Council.

During her attendance at LINXS Science Day, she reflected on her anticipation of getting to know ESS from the inside.

"It will be exciting to learn more about the neutron user community and the whole ecosystem around ESS over the next few months."

She agrees with Ken Andersen that LINXS can support the ESS user community.

"I think the LINXS initiative is really exciting. You are truly doing something important to build up the community and ensure that researchers are ready to carry out science at ESS when it goes into operation."

She also identifies LINXS’ themes as an important driver of neutron science.

"LINXS themes could be an inspiration for ESS: how can we support the new scientific questions posed by these groups? How do these questions align with our instrument suite?"

She continues:

"It will also be interesting to see which areas the LINXS community identifies as emerging fields and to hear from scientific groups that are either new to neutron science or not yet neutron users."

Huge potential for neutron science to address global challenges

Both Ken Andersen and Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen are continually impressed by the contribution neutron science makes to society.

"The breadth of applications and impact is enormous, from both scientific and technical perspectives. Neutrons can provide new knowledge for batteries, fuel cells, and solar cells. The fact that researchers can study real energy devices while they are operating, with the aim of improving their performance and sustainability, is truly unique," says Ken Andersen.

Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen adds that neutron science has significant potential to support various EU initiatives, especially in the areas of advanced materials for clean energy and sustainability.

"The upcoming EU Advanced Materials Act, which aims to accelerate the research, scale-up, and deployment of advanced materials and is expected in late 2026, will present an important opportunity. Neutron science can make a huge contribution by supporting the widespread use of advanced materials across different sectors of society."

“Performing experiments at large-scale facilities like MAX IV and ESS can be challenging. Our goal is to lower some of the barriers researchers face when using such facilities. This means looking at the entire experimental pipeline, from accelerator and beamline operations to data analysis,” says theme leader Pablo Villanueva Perez, Associate Professor in Physics at Lund University.

Identify bottlenecks in X-ray and neutron science

GAIN (Generating Advances with AI for neutrons/X-rays) will bring together three communities: scientists working at large-scale facilities, X-ray and neutron users, and experts in AI and scientific computing. The challenge is not simply to develop new AI methods, but to connect them with real scientific and operational needs, Pablo Villanueva Perez notes.

GAIN will create a platform where facility scientists who understand the instruments, users who encounter challenges during experiments, and AI and scientific-computing experts can identify problems and solutions. These challenges occur across the whole experimental workflow, from loss of beam during an ongoing experiment and the need for extensive training and support to operate certain beamline instruments, to challenges in data processing and analysis.

Pablo Villanueva Perez highlights several examples of how AI could be used to tackle these issues.

“Losing the beam can be extremely disruptive during an experiment because every interruption means losing valuable beamtime. AI could help in several ways. It could identify unusual patterns in operational data that indicate a potential problem before an interruption occurs. When a problem does happen, an AI agent could also search facility documentation and previous cases to help identify possible solutions.”

Freeing up time for science and opening facilities to new users

“AI can also be used to optimise experiments at large-scale research facilities”, says Pablo Villanueva Perez.

One example is to develop AI-assisted tools that can help researchers interact with complex beamline control systems and perform operations that today require extensive training or the assistance of an instrument scientist. Already, scientists have begun to develop autonomous beamline experiments in which AI can control parts of the experimental workflow. Such approaches could also allow experiments to adapt in real time, using data being collected to help decide what to measure next.

By handling routine operations and helping users navigate complex controls, such tools could allow instrument scientists to devote more time to scientific collaboration, challenging experiments, and developing new capabilities. In addition, by reducing some of the technical barriers associated with operating complex instruments, AI could also make X-ray and neutron techniques more accessible to researchers from different scientific fields.

Use AI where it can make a meaningful difference

“There are many exciting possibilities for AI, but the important question is where it can make an actual difference. To answer that, we need to bring together the people who understand the facilities, the researchers who experience the challenges, and the people developing AI methods. GAIN is a place where we can match real problems with new possibilities and turn them into meaningful solutions,” says Pablo Villanueva Perez.

Builds on Pablo Villanueva Perez’s own research interests

The aim of the theme is also close to Pablo Villanueva Perez’s own research interests. Originally from Spain, he came to Lund seven years ago to explore the new capabilities offered by MAX IV and ESS. He develops novel X-ray imaging methods and instruments, with AI as a key ingredient in enabling new imaging capabilities.

“AI became a tool that enabled us to come up with solutions for how to develop new imaging methods. It allows us to tackle problems that are very difficult to address with conventional computational methods and helps us think in new directions.”

“Our work in X-ray imaging made us interested in exploring how we can integrate AI into the whole pipeline for X-ray and neutron science and motivated the theme application. With GAIN, we are looking forward to working with colleagues across these different communities to identify where AI could be used smartly and to accelerate its adoption.”

About GAIN

GAIN will start its work in 2027. The theme will work across three interconnected working groups spanning the full scientific workflow: Working Group 1: AI for sustainable accelerators; Working Group 2: Beamline controls, autonomous experimentation, and online data analysis; and Working Group 3: AI for knowledge. Through these working groups, GAIN aims to create a meeting point for facility scientists, X-ray and neutron users, and experts in AI and scientific computing.

He is a professor at the Faculty of Basic Sciences at the EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where he founded the Laboratory for Quantum Magnetism in 2007. He has chaired the Swiss and European Neutron Scattering Societies and is the incoming Dean of Basic Sciences at EPFL.

Why did you want to come to LINXS?

I am interested in contributing to the exciting scientific and strategic activities related to quantum materials taking place at ESS and MAX IV.

I invented the CAMEA (Continuous Angle Multiple Energy Analysis) class of instruments – and a modified version will be used at the ESS instrument BIFROST to form its back-end spectrometer. The CAMEA instrument belongs to a class of revolutionary multiplexing neutron spectrometers designed to maximise data collection efficiency.

BIFROST is of particular relevance to quantum materials as the instrument will be able to explore the physics of magnetism and superconductivity, with applications in many new energy materials and functional materials. It makes use of neutron spectroscopy, the main tool for investigating low-energy dispersive dynamics in single crystals.

Initially, the idea was that BIFROST would be up and running in time for my stay at LINXS, but since there are no neutrons yet, I will work with researchers to prepare for the commissioning and early science at BIFROST, as well as discuss how to optimise sample environments and scientific computing support.

Once there are neutrons, I will come back for another visit!

What else will you do during your visit?

My plan is to connect with the Swedish research community in my field of quantum materials – for example by visiting other Swedish universities – including Karlstad University, where my cousin is the vice-chancellor! I am half-Danish and half-Swedish, so the stay at LINXS has some sentimental value to me as well!

I know the Danish research community very well, but I am less connected in Sweden, and this will be a good chance to build my network and also work with researchers in the Quantum Materials theme.

What are your research interests?

My research focuses on quantum magnetism, strongly correlated electron phenomena, and materials with novel electronic properties, including high-temperature superconductors, CMR manganites and skyrmion-hosting materials. 

Within the field of quantum materials, my specialty could perhaps be described as going for the experiments others thought were impossible!

Read more about Henrik Moodysson Rønnow at the EPFL website
Read more about the Quantum Materials theme

“The LINXS Science Day in June was a very lively event and one of the largest Science Days ever, filling the entire premises as well as the main atrium for an extremely interesting programme of interdisciplinary science,” says LINXS Director Trevor Forsyth.

The event featured two keynote lectures: one by Ken Andersen, Director General at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, in France, and another by Michael Sattler, Professor at Helmholtz Zentrum Munich in Germany. LINXS’ ten scientific themes also presented their work, highlighting how X-rays and neutrons enable new discoveries and scientific breakthroughs.

“The presentations were first class and extended from quantum materials, heritage science, semiconductors, life science, chemical biology, materials processing, and soft matter, and brought out the huge impact that large-scale science infrastructures have over a range of pure and applied science,” says Trevor Forsyth.

Other participants included Joachim ‘Achim’ Schnadt, Science Director of MAX IV; Helmut Schober, current Director of ESS, and former Director of ILL; incoming ESS Director Jane Hvolbaek Nielsen; and ESS founding Director Colin Carlile.

LINXS’ position between MAX IV and ESS builds bridges

Keynote speaker Ken Andersen, Director General at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), is impressed with how LINXS connects both X-ray and neutron communities.

“A construct like LINXS increases the value of the co-location of MAX IV and ESS by acting as a bridge between the facilities,” says Ken Andersen.

“ESS is about to open, and it will be interesting to see how LINXS can support collaboration between the user communities at ESS and ILL. All neutron facilities have different strengths, and it will be important to highlight their complementarity to researchers interested in using neutrons.”

Platforms for early-career researchers to meet

LINXS’ early-career researcher initiatives were also present, emphasising how they engage with scientists at the PhD and postdoctoral levels through creating strongly enabling platforms in the areas of hard matter, soft matter and life sciences.

“It is nice to see how links between LINXS’ early-career initiatives and other international activities are developing, such as the International Union of Crystallography Early Career Scientist Division,” says Trevor Forsyth.

Showcasing LINXS’ new workstations

The day ended with an interactive session showcasing LINXS’ new workstations – an initiative that has been funded by a large grant from the Crafoord Foundation. Each workstation is preloaded with analysis software for imaging, scattering, diffraction, and microscopy experiments and is free to use for all researchers working with X-rays and neutrons. The workstations are also used for targeted Data Clinics, providing support for specific techniques and methods based on researchers’ needs. The Data Clinics are hosted by invited experts.

“The participants had many questions about what can be done at the workstations,” says Martin Stankovski-Clark, senior strategist at LINXS. “It was great to highlight the different options for analysis and pre-processing.”

“There was also a great deal of interest in our Data Clinics. It will be exciting to develop this concept further together with the community. Our ambition is to help reduce the time it takes between experiments and publication by supporting users in analysing and processing their data.”

Read more about LINXS Science Day

“These themes were prioritised by the LINXS Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and selected from a large number of highly competitive applications. They include initiatives for AI, data interpretation, and protein design/analysis,” says Trevor Forsyth, LINXS Director.

“We extend a warm welcome to the new theme leaders, core groups and working groups. Many of these researchers have been actively involved in LINXS previously, either as visiting researchers or as participants of other activities. That they return to lead their own themes as part of completely new initiatives is very gratifying.”

Themes

Functional Proteins for the Future (FunProF)

Led by Petri Kursula, Professor in Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway

The FunProF theme aims to understand, design, and exploit functional proteins. Functional proteins include both different states of proteins in the cellular environment as well as engineered molecular tools that have been established by biotechnology and molecular engineering. The theme will focus on how their structure, dynamics, and performance can be interrogated and optimised using synchrotron and neutron sources.

FunProF will advance the understanding and application of functional proteins through combined experimental and computational approaches, linking experimentalists and data scientists to state-of-the-art facilities. This approach will foster both basic science on protein function and innovation towards sustainable protein-based solutions, expanding the user base and capabilities of large-scale research infrastructures, with a strong Nordic dimension.

The theme will divide its work across four working groups: Working Group 1: Sample production and characterisation workflows; Working Group 2: Experiments on functional proteins at synchrotron and neutron sites; Working Group 3: Computational approaches to experimental design and data analysis; and Working Group 4: Future applications for functional proteins.

Accessible Computational Scattering Tools (CATS)

Led by Mikael Lund, Professor in Computational Chemistry, Lund University

The CATS theme aims to consolidate computational scattering tools and make them available through standardised interfaces and workflows to support users of ESS, MAX IV, other facilities, and industry, to interpret scattering data from concentrated biomolecular and soft matter systems.

By focusing on improving the accessibility and integration of different tools, enhancing interoperability between different systems, and validating tools through experiments, the theme will improve the analysis of scattering data, which up to now has been very challenging, despite small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS/SANS) being indispensable techniques for probing structure and interactions in soft matter and biological systems.

The theme will work across five working groups: Working Group 1: Simulation-Based Structure Factors; Working Group 2: Numerical Theory for Structure Factors; Working Group 3: Hydration, Solvation, and Coarse-Grained Scattering Models; Working Group 4: Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Flexible Systems; and Working Group 5: End-User Integration and Training.

Generating Advances with AI for neutrons/X-rays (GAIN)

Led by Pablo Villanueva Perez, Associate Professor in Physics, Lund University

The GAIN theme aims to establish a collaborative platform and roadmap for integrating AI into MAX IV and ESS, with the goal of making facility operations more efficient, experiments easier to perform and optimise, and the path from experimental data to scientific knowledge faster.

GAIN will bring together three communities: scientists working at large-scale facilities, users of neutron and X-ray techniques, and experts in AI and scientific computing. Together, they will identify key bottlenecks before, during, and after experiments and explore where AI can provide meaningful solutions.

The theme will work across three interconnected working groups spanning the full scientific workflow: Working Group 1: AI for sustainable accelerators; Working Group 2: Beamline controls, autonomous experimentation, and online data analysis; and Working Group 3: AI for knowledge.

By connecting expertise across facilities, users, and AI, GAIN aims to lower barriers to using MAX IV and ESS, accelerate the adoption of AI where it can make a genuine difference, and build a strong community at the intersection of AI, neutron, and X-ray science.

“As more heritage science professionals are starting to use X-rays and neutrons, we need to discuss how and when to use these methods, and for what purpose,” says Mikael Fauvelle, leader of the Heritage Science theme, and researcher at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University.

In May, the theme organised a conference at LINXS to explore these questions. Archaeologists and heritage science professionals from institutions and museums worldwide were invited to the conference.

They discussed the impact various X-ray and neutron methods can have on different types of artefacts.

Raise awareness of both opportunities and potential negative impacts

One of the presenters was Dr. Lucia Burgio, Lead Scientist at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK. A trained chemist, she highlighted how many X-ray and neutron methods can cause changes to objects.

For example, neutron analysis can make materials temporarily radioactive, some only for a couple of hours, while others, like gold, can remain radioactive for days. The use of neutrons can further impact an object’s isotopic ratio, which researchers measure to determine age, chronology or provenance. X-ray analysis, in turn, can affect the chemical composition of an object, effectively changing or removing a layer of information that can no longer be evaluated by other researchers.

“These techniques are often labelled as non-invasive and non-destructive, but that is not necessarily true,” says Lucia Burgio. “To use them conscientiously, it is important to establish what damage, changes, or consequences different techniques may cause, so that any consent to analyse an object is given with full knowledge by collections or other heritage holders.”

Important to highlight hidden costs

Laura Perucchetti, who also presented at the conference, agrees. She is a researcher at the British Museum in the UK, and underscores how all analyses come with hidden costs. One such cost is the time commitment required from everyone involved - from curators to instrument scientists - in applying and preparing for beamtime, transporting objects to facilities, performing experiments, and learning new data analysis tools.

There is also the risk of damaging cultural objects. Large-scale infrastructures are not designed specifically for heritage science, which can make analyses more challenging.

“There is a sweet spot between potentially harming an object and only preserving it, and thus not sharing it with the world. In other words, we need to balance any research opportunity with its associated risks.”

Another aspect, highlighted by both Laura Perucchetti and Lucia Burgio, is how to handle and work with the large amounts of data acquired through experiments. They emphasise the importance of storing and sharing data properly so that different research teams can make use of the results. Otherwise, the same analysis might be performed twice, further increasing risks to the objects.

Questions of when and how to subject objects to analysis at the centre of discussions

Underlying the discussions during the conference was the more existential question of when and how an object should be subjected to analysis.

“The lifetime of a rare painting or vase can be hundreds of years, whereas our lifespan is much shorter. I often ask my staff and colleagues to sit on a research question and wait and see if less invasive methods might emerge in the future. The answer might not come to me, but to my successor. Fundamentally, it is about keeping the object at the centre,” says Lucia Burgio.

These issues are further brought to the fore in analyses of objects that belong to Indigenous groups or carry special cultural value.

Engage local stakeholders in large-scale analyses

Jamie Hampson, Associate Professor of Rock Art and Indigenous Heritage at the University of Exeter, studies cave paintings that still hold cultural significance for descendant communities. In his presentation, he highlighted the importance of engaging local stakeholders in large-scale analyses, especially when they involve changing the object’s material composition or transporting it over long distances. Different cultures also have different value systems that need to be considered when performing X-ray imaging or neutron analysis.

“Have you explained what you want to do to the object? What knowledge you are after and what it will mean? These are crucial steps in ensuring a good collaboration.”

He notes that many Indigenous groups are interested in the possibilities that neutrons and similar techniques offer, for example in determining the provenance of materials, such as where a pigment was originally quarried. This knowledge can help communities demonstrate historical presence in a geographical area and support land-use claims.

“As with any analysis, it is key to ensure you have all stakeholders on board. We also have to ask ourselves who will benefit from the analysis - is it only museum curators or researchers, or can this knowledge also support the communities connected to these cultural artefacts?”

Report on the effects of large-scale techniques on heritage science objects

The discussions at LINXS led to an agreement to draft a report outlining key considerations related to the use of large-scale techniques. That they represent the future of archaeology and heritage science is a given - never before has it been possible to obtain such detailed knowledge about human culture, trade routes, and physical movements.

“I continue to be amazed at what you can do with X-rays and neutrons. No other techniques enable us to look inside materials in this way and at such high resolution. That is also why now is the time to discuss how we can use them in the best and least damaging way,” says Mikael Fauvelle.

Read more about the Heritage Science theme

Reflection on the Heritage Science Conference by the Italian Embassy of Sweden

The event was co-sponsored by the Italian Embassy of Sweden. Prof. Augusto Marcelli, the Scientific Attaché at the Italian Embassy, opened the conference at LINXS.

Read the Embassy’s reflection on the conference, published on their website

In our very last newsletter for the spring term, we reflect on the past few months of exciting activity for LINXS! We are so proud over what we have achieved together with all of you - the LINXS community!

Happy summer! See you in August!

Read the newsletter to find out more about our activities, and to stay updated on more opportunities to engage, learn and connect with others.

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He is staying at LINXS from mid-May to mid-June.

What are your research interests and your background?

I am a (palae)oceanographer interested in the biomineralisation of marine calcifying plankton, particularly planktonic foraminifera and coccolithophores, and their role as recorders of past ocean conditions.

My work bridges physical oceanography, palaeoclimate and the carbon cycle, with a focus on biogeochemical proxies and advanced X-ray imaging techniques. I hold a PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and have held fellowships at the University of Oxford (Royal Society Newton and Marie Skłodowska-Curie) and am currently an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research in Bremen.

My key contribution so far has been establishing that planktonic foraminifera regulate their calcification according to ambient seawater density, a discovery with direct implications for how we reconstruct past ocean physics and carbon cycling from deep sea sediment cores.

What will you work on during your stay in Lund, Sweden?

I will be using synchrotron and laboratory X-ray microtomography to characterise the three-dimensional shell architecture of planktonic foraminifera from modern Red Sea sediments at unprecedented resolution, with the aim of extracting proxies that record past changes in seawater physics such as density (i.e. temperature and salinity).

I am also interested in exploring the potential of neutron-based techniques for non-destructive boron analysis of foraminiferal shells, which would open new possibilities for paleo-ocean pH reconstructions using museum collections.

Why did you choose to come to LINXS?

LINXS sits at the heart of a unique concentration of large-scale research infrastructures, and the combination of synchrotron and neutron capabilities in one place is unmatched. The Environment and Climate theme at LINXS is a natural fit for my research, and the opportunity to connect with scientists applying these techniques across disciplines is precisely the kind of cross-pollination my work can benefit from.

What do you hope you'll get out of the visit overall?

I hope to establish new methodological workflows combining X-ray and neutron techniques for the study of microfossils, and to build lasting collaborations with researchers at LINXS and the surrounding institutions.

There is much to gain from techniques that have long been standard in materials science, physics and engineering but remain underutilised in marine sciences, and this visit is an opportunity to bridge that gap and bring these tools into the palaeoceanographic toolkit.

More broadly, I hope the visit will help open a new chapter in how we use biomineral archives to reconstruct past ocean physics, going beyond conventional geochemistry.

Read more about Stergios Zarkogiannis at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT)