Euro-BioImaging Scientific Ambassador 2026: DZL Academy Fellow Claudia V. Benke
I am very pleased to have been selected as a Scientific Ambassador of Euro-BioImaging for 2026, as one of 11 scientists from across Europe chosen for this programme. I am a licensed pharmacist and a final-year PhD student at the Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg (TLRC) in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at Heidelberg University Hospital. My DZL-funded research focuses on high-resolution translational lung imaging, combining synchrotron radiation-based imaging, micro-computed tomography, and multimodal approaches to investigate structural changes in lung disease across different spatial scales.
Euro-BioImaging is a European research infrastructure for biological and biomedical imaging that provides open access to advanced imaging technologies, training, and data services across 39 Nodes and nearly 300 facilities in 18 countries and at EMBL. The Scientific Ambassadors programme brings together researchers who promote these services and help make advanced imaging infrastructures more accessible to the scientific community.
My connection to Euro-BioImaging evolved through several synchrotron beamtimes at the Phase-Contrast CT Flagship Node in Trieste, Italy. Having benefited directly from Euro-BioImaging’s services, I applied for the Ambassador programme to help raise awareness of these opportunities and make them more accessible to the wider research community.
As a Scientific Ambassador, I hope to strengthen connections between imaging infrastructures and the lung research community, particularly by helping early-career researchers discover training opportunities, imaging platforms, and collaborative networks.
Further information about Euro-BioImaging and the Scientific Ambassadors programme can be found on the Euro-BioImaging website.