The X-ray Tomography group welcomes Stefan Gstöhl (Post-Doc), Maxim Polikarpov (Post-Doc), Margaux Schmeltz (Post-Doc) and Aleksandra Ivanovic (PhD Student) as new members. The group also thank everybody who helped making it possible for our Post-Docs and PhD student to join PSI amidst the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stefan Gstöhl (Post Doc) is joining the group with the objective of establishing a comprehensive material testing platform for the TOMCAT beamline. Stefan’s project will strive for the compatibilization of rheological and dynamic mechanical analysis with rapid tomography to facilitate mechanical experiments at the beamline. Stefan studied food science at ETH Zürich, where he recently graduated in the Laboratory of Food Process Engineering with a PhD. During this time, he developed an image analysis pipeline for granular materials, and studied the shear localization in such materials down to the microscopic level.
Maxim Polikarpov (Post Doc) will work on projects on R&D of biomedical X-ray imaging for clinical applications. In particular, he will continue the work on performing clinical tests and image quality development of a commercial phase-contrast X-ray mammography scanner being developed in the X-ray Tomography group. Maxim will also participate in system design of a clinical breast-CT X-ray scanner, and manage the creation of a lab-based facility for phase contrast biomedical X-ray imaging. Before joining the group, Maxim was a Post Doc at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Hamburg, Germany, where he operated a system for high-throughput biomedical high-resolution X-ray micro-tomography at the P14 beamline of DESY synchrotron.
Margaux Schmeltz (Post Doc) and Aleksandra Ivanovic (PhD Student) will investigate the micromotions of the human middle ear ossicles during sound stimulation and using dynamic synchrotron-based X-ray phase contrast imaging. This work will be done in collaboration with the Inselspital and the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research in Bern. This project entitled “The Human Auditory System in Motion: Direct Observation of the Microfunction of Sound Transmission using Dynamic Phase-contrast X-ray Imaging” is financed by the Swiss National Fund (SNF). Margaux recently completed her PhD in physics at the Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences at Ecole Polytechnique (France). She was characterizing the 3D organization of collagen thanks to linear and circular polarization-resolved SHG microscopy. Aleksandra finished her master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering by writing her Master Thesis at the Bio-Inspired RObots for MEDicine-Laboratory (BIROMED-Lab) at the University of Basel.