Press Release: Top international researcher will maximise the potential of MAX IV and ESS
Lund University has recruited Trevor Forsyth to lead the development of LINXS, Lund Institute of advanced Neutron and X-ray Science. He also takes up the position as professor of biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine. This strategic recruitment is part of Lund University's efforts to develop new research using neutron and synchrotron light techniques - and is an important step to maximise the potential offered by the large research facilities MAX IV and ESS.
Trevor will take up this position on 1 December, coming from the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, where he is Head of the Life Sciences Group and a Senior Fellow in Biology. He is also a Professor of Biophysics at Keele University in the UK.
As director of LINXS, he will lead the institute's work to maximise the exploitation of MAX IV, ESS and other large research facilities worldwide, and work to develop and strengthen national and international research that can benefit from using neutron and synchrotron light techniques. The overall goal is to establish a strong research and collaboration environment linked to MAX IV and ESS in order to capitalise on the potential for research to respond to global challenges, and to develop collaborations with universities – both nationally and internationally. As part of this, LINXS, will have a major mission to help motivate and push forward scientific, industrial and regional developments around Science Village Scandinavia (SVS).
In parallel, he will continue his multidisciplinary research in structural biology and in the field of life sciences - an area that includes diverse interests but with a particular focus on the molecular aspects of amyloid formation and the relationship to clinical manifestation in different types of amyloidosis such as transthyretin cardiomyopathy and polyneuropathy.
- I am incredibly happy that we have managed to recruit a researcher of Trevor Forsyth's caliber as director of LINXS; it shows what an attractive research environment Lund is. We are convinced that he, with his unique focus, large networks, and solid experience from other research facilities, will be a strong force to link the research at the facilities in Lund with other universities in Sweden and the world, says Professor Martin L. Olsson, deputy dean at the Faculty of Medicine.
- For the Faculty of Medicine, the appointment is also a strategic investment to link medical research in life sciences closer to MAX IV, and in the long term ESS. Recruitments like this can help us develop future treatments for the major public diseases, he concludes.
About the appointment
The appointment as professor of biophysics at the Department of Experimental Medical Science is the result of a unique collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Science and the Faulty of Engineering. For the very first time, the three faculties have jointly contributed in terms of funding and scientific direction of a professorship.
Trevor Forsyth will work half of the time as director of LINXS, and half of the time as professor at the Faculty of Medicine.
About Trevor Forsyth
Trevor will be coming from the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in France, where his group is embedded in the Partnership for Structural Biology (PSB) on a campus that is highly interdisciplinary, and includes the ILL, ESRF, IBS and EMBL institutes. In 2004, he was appointed professor of biophysics at Keele University in England. He has extensive experience in working with interdisciplinary and cross-border networks that include researchers, the public sector and businesses. He has published extensively in the field of structural biology / biophysics and life sciences, and uses both neutron and synchrotron-based techniques in his research.