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Short Biography
Alessandro Tengattini is an instrument scientist at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL).
AMBER postdoctoral fellowship project (fifth call)
Neutron plus X-ray Tomography of Bio-structures
Neutron and X-ray tomography provide distinct yet highly complementary information. In biomaterials research, neutron imaging is particularly powerful because it is sensitive to hydrogen, enabling the study of hydrogen-rich phases and their spatial distribution in plants, bones, cartilage, and other biological tissues. Additionally, neutrons have minimal impact on the biological materials making it ideal for operando studies, where multiple subsequent tomographies are acquired while the sample evolves, for example under hydraulic or mechanical load. Neutrons also penetrate metals with minimal attenuation, allowing virtually artifact-free imaging of metallic components such as implants, while certain pollutants, including cadmium, produce strong neutron contrast. When combined with simultaneous X-ray imaging, these complementary modalities offer unique insights into internal structure, density variations, and composition.
Recently, our facility has achieved record neutron tomographic resolution (see, for example,https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.448932), opening new possibilities for high-resolution imaging of biomaterials—an area that remains largely unexplored. The combined use of neutrons and X-rays also presents significant untapped potential, including applications such as visualizing pollutants in plants.
Location: Grenoble, France
Organisation: Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL)