LINXS to coordinate postdoctoral programme with 47 positions on advanced multiscale biological imaging
LINXS has been awarded major funding from the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) COFUND scheme for a project entitled Advanced Multiscale Biological imaging using European Research infrastructures (AMBER). AMBER will fund a five-year postdoctoral programme for 47 postdoctoral researchers to address key needs for biological imaging of fundamental importance to human health. This was the only project awarded to Sweden in the latest MSCA COFUND call, and was one of the largest funded. The total value of the project is over €12 million, of which €6 million will come from the European Commission.
– The AMBER fellows completing this programme will be extraordinarily well equipped for further careers in academia, at infrastructures, and in the health and MedTech sectors. AMBER will have a major impact on interdisciplinary research over lengthscales from molecular to organism, on connectivity between science and clinical communities, and on the exploitation of the large facility infrastructures throughout Europe, says LINXS Director Trevor Forsyth.
AMBER will address gaps in biological imaging
AMBER will focus on addressing scientific and sectoral gaps in biological imaging ranging from molecular, through cellular, to tissue, organ and organism levels of organisation.
The consortium has six core partners: Lund University/MAX IV, Sweden, the European Spallation Source (ESS), Sweden, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), France, the International Institute of Molecular Mechanisms and Machines, (IMOL) Poland, and the Leicester Institute of Structural and Chemical Biology, United Kingdom.
AMBER will exploit ongoing convergence in the scientific landscape in terms of European central facility development, data management, and data analysis and interpretation, coupled with the explosive growth in the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches, and bring together a wide range of science including clinical practitioners, biological and biomedical scientists, physical scientists, and facility/infrastructure experts.
– It is hard to imagine a time for which there has been a bigger need to bring together these communities in an adaptive and progressive way. In addition to the gaps of knowledge that exist between different levels of organisation, for example between molecular and cellular levels, there are also major gaps in scientific culture – for example between clinical and fundamental science. AMBER will offer outstanding postdoctoral opportunities for physicists, chemists, life scientists and clinicians, and generate profound impact for Europe’s next generation of research and researchers, says Trevor Forsyth.
47 postdoctoral research fellow to be recruited in three calls
The 47 AMBER postdoctoral research fellows will be recruited in three calls of around 14 fellows each, with each fellowship lasting 36 months. Their work will include clinical and biomedical projects. It will also include technique development work aimed at combining imaging techniques and data analysis to provide a more integrated picture of life processes in the context of health and disease.
The first call will be advertised in early 2024 with a view to have the first researchers starting in autumn 2024. The research projects will make extensive use of the large research infrastructures at MAX IV in Sweden, the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in France, the Grenoble, Heidelberg, Hamburg, and EBI Outstations of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the European Spallation Source (ESS), the Leicester Institute of Structural and Chemical Biology (United Kingdom), and the institute for molecular machines (IMOL) in Poland.
Watch the LINXS website and newsletter for the call!
Camilla Björklund has just been appointed as project manager for AMBER at LINXS.