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Restart for on-site acitivities

12-05-2020

A gradual restart plan for ESRF's on-site activities has been implemented as of 11 May 2020, following the recommendations of the French authorities.

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This gradual plan will be reviewed and adapted to the COVID-19 situation and the recommendations of the Host country, with the constant aim to fulfil the two following objectives:

1. Guaranteeing with the highest priority the protection of people health and safety in the COVID-19 pandemic context, with the implementation of a series of health and safety measures,

2. Enabling – consistently with the 2020 ESRF strategic objectives – i) the restart of the User Service Mode (USM) of operation on a maximum number of beamlines from 25 August 2020, and ii) COVID-19-related research on operational ESRF platforms 

The ESRF has already re-opened some of its macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines (ID30A-1, ID30B and ID23-2) as well as its Titan Krios cryo-electron microscope (cryo-EM) CM01, and a bio-imaging beamline BM05 for Covid-19 related experiments. Already several COVID-19 projects have been received and will be soon underway, including one led by CM01 scientist Eaazhisai Kandiah in collaboration with the IBS (Institut de Biologie Structurale), who has won backing from the French ANR funding agency for a SARS-CoV-2 research project involving potential therapeutic targets, crucial to the life-cycle of the virus. The ESRF, in collaboration with its EPN Science campus partners, ILL, EMBL, IBS, provides a unique combination of state-of-the-art facilities and common platforms. For more information, please check the related information news.

Regarding the COVID-19 situation, the ESRF has also implemented new guidelines for beam-time allocation for the 2020-II period, such that a majority of experiments are conducted or followed up remotely. More information here.