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Young EUCYS prize winners visit ESRF

17-03-2016

This week the ESRF has welcomed Ori Lavi and Avner Okun, winners of the ESRF EIROforum prize at EUCYS 2015 (European Union Contest for Young Scientists).

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“It has been very interesting scientifically”, explains Lavi. “We’ve learned a lot in very few days”, adds Okun. The students had four intensive days of scientific discovery both at the ESRF and the ILL, but also had some time to hike in the mountains and visit Grenoble.

The two students, both aged 18 and from Israel, were rewarded for their work in the laboratory of the Nobel laureate Ada Yonath on the structure of the large ribosomal subunit of Deinococcus radiodurans in complex with different antibiotics. The research used methods of structural analysis, including X-ray crystallography performed at the ESRF.

Today, Okun is studying first year of Physics in the university Technion, whilst Lavi is taking a year off working in the zoo in Jerusalem. After his year off, Lavi is planning on following a biochemistry degree.

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Matthew Bowler, scientist, explains to the EUCYS winners the functioning of the MASSIF-1 beamline. Credits: C. Argoud.

The goal of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) is to promote cooperation and interchange between young scientists and guide them towards a future career in science and technology.

The initiative was set up by the European Commission in 1989. Today it is co-funded under Horizon 2020, the current EU framework programme for research and innovation. It is part of a broader initiative to reinforce the links between science and society, responsible research and innovation, and to further the emergence of a European Research Area.