ToScA - Speakers

A Virtual World of Palaeontology

Dr Imran Rahman, Natural History Museum, London

Dr Imran Rahman is a Principal Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London. He is a palaeontologist interested in the origin and early evolution of animals, which dates back over half a billion years to the so-called Cambrian ‘explosion’. His research involves studying the three-dimensional...

Dr Imran Rahman is a Principal Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London. He is a palaeontologist interested in the origin and early evolution of animals, which dates back over half a billion years to the so-called Cambrian ‘explosion’. His research involves studying the three-dimensional and internal structure of exceptionally-preserved fossils using a range of tomographic techniques, including lab-based X-ray micro-tomography, synchrotron tomography and neutron tomography. He is also interested in correlative approaches combining different imaging methods and the application of AI to image segmentation. He currently leads the ‘Phenomics and Advanced Analysis’ research theme at the Natural History Museum, which is focused on the development and application of new tools for imaging and analysis of natural history specimens.

A travelogue through 27 years of the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT): the good, the bad, and the ugly

Dr Jessie Maisano, University of Texas

Dr. Jessie Maisano is a research scientist at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT) in Austin. She received her BA in geology at Kent State University in 1994 and her PhD in vertebrate paleontology at Yale University in 2000. She then moved to the University of Texas as a ...

Dr. Jessie Maisano is a research scientist at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT) in Austin. She received her BA in geology at Kent State University in 1994 and her PhD in vertebrate paleontology at Yale University in 2000. She then moved to the University of Texas as a postdoc on the then-nascent Digital Library of Morphology (DigiMorph.org). Jessie held a subsequent postdoctoral position on the Deep Scaly project (Assembling the Tree of Life) before being hired as full-time staff by UTCT, where she is now facility manager. She is also the primary operator of UTCT’s Zeiss MicroXCT-400 and caretaker of DigiMorph.org.

Scientific opportunities with next generation synchrotron facilities

Prof. Christoph Rau, Diamond Light Source

Christoph is Principal Beamline Scientist at the Diamond Light Source I13-2 Imaging beamline and leads the OCTOPI upgrade program for multiscale and operando imaging at the I13L beamlines. He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of tomographic X-ray imaging and microscopy with synchrotr...

Christoph is Principal Beamline Scientist at the Diamond Light Source I13-2 Imaging beamline and leads the OCTOPI upgrade program for multiscale and operando imaging at the I13L beamlines. He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of tomographic X-ray imaging and microscopy with synchrotron radiation. His pioneering works include a variety of instrumental and scientific topics, such as novel schemes for electron storage rings, hard X-ray microscopy and hearing research, imaging cochlea soft tissue structures. He is currently visiting assistant Professor at Northwestern University Chicago and honorary Professor at Manchester University.
During his PhD in materials sciences at Université Montpellier II, he received his initial synchrotron experience, using EXAFS and SAXS at LURE, Paris. He then joined the imaging community as a postdoctoral fellow at the ESRF, Grenoble and later APS, Chicago. Since 2007, he is Principal Beamline Scientist at Diamond, Didcot, building and operating the I13L Imaging and Coherence beamline. He now leads the I13L OCTOPI (Operando Coherent Tomography and Ptychography) upgrade, focussing on instrumental and scientific opportunities related to hard X-ray tomography. Multiscale, operando and high throughput tomography and their applications for scientific fields such as bio-medical, material and environmental sciences are in the centre of his interest.

Advanced Imaging Workflows from 2D to 4D for Energy related Materials

Dr Roland Brunner, Materials Center Leoben

Roland is currently the deputy head of the department of microelectronics as well as group leader at the Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH (MCL). His group, Material and Damage Analytics, strongly focuses on the development and utilization of image-based methods with a strong focus on materials...

Roland is currently the deputy head of the department of microelectronics as well as group leader at the Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH (MCL). His group, Material and Damage Analytics, strongly focuses on the development and utilization of image-based methods with a strong focus on materials for energy storage and conversion as well as for microelectronics. Further, artificial intelligence-based approaches for efficient microstructure analysis and to gain an in-depth understanding of the structure-property relationship are developed and utilized. The goal of the group is to work within a multidisciplinary environment on new and ambitious ideas to trigger improved failure resilient material designs for industrial applications. He has degree in material science and a PhD in material physics. After several research stays abroad in the USA and Japan, he joined the MCL in 2012. He made his habilitation in 2014, and is co-opted at the Doktoratsschule Physik der Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Graz and the University of Leoben. Since 2014 he is training master and PhD students in the field of imaging and computational analysis.