Biophysics & Radio-Biology Program Advisory Committee (Bio-PAC)

GSI/FAIR have established a Biophysics & Radio-Biology Program Advisory Committee (Bio-PAC) that evaluates experiment proposals in the areas of biophysics, radiobiology, and radiotherapy. The Bio-PAC members give advice to the GSI/FAIR directorate on selecting experiment proposals that are submitted by individual users or user groups, currently for the FAIR-Phase 0 program. Following periodic calls for proposals, the Bio-PAC meets two in two years. The Bio-PAC evaluates the experiment proposals on the basis of scientific merit and with regard to the GSI/FAIR strategy, and makes recommendations on the ammount of beam time to be allotted.

'Call for Proposals' for beamtime in 2026/2027

We hereby invite you to submit experiment proposals in the framework of FAIR Phase-0, which offers beamtime for experiments at GSI until the start of FAIR. The FAIR Phase-0 program is exploiting the facilities of GSI, upgraded to meet the requirements as FAIR injectors, plus the FAIR CRYRING storage ring and the PHELIX laser. Moreover, it offers an opportunity to use detectors developed for FAIR for scientific programs.

The present Calls for Proposals for all four Program Advisory Committees (PACs) is foreseen to offer a total user beamtime (counted as main shifts) in 2026 and 2027 combined of roughly

  • 350 shifts at UNILAC,
  • 300 shifts at SIS18,
  • 250 shifts in total for at ESR, ESR-HITRAP and ESR-CRYRING,
  • 100 shifts at PHELIX.

A list of typically available beam parameters can be found here.

Proposals to the Bio-PAC can be submitted between mid-January 2025 to mid-March 2025.

Please note that due to current European sanctions participants with Russian or Belarussian affiliation cannot be participants in experiment proposals at GSI/FAIR.

Detector Tests:

For beamtime applications for pure detectors tests in 2026/27 (i.e. w/o direct scientific goal) please contact the respective PAC Scientific Secretary (e.g. M. Vogel for G-PAC) to obtain specific access and instructions for this. Deadline is the same as for scientific proposals.

Proposals are to be submitted via the website-based system called GATE, to which each participant of a proposal is required to register1. More detailed information gives the short GATE manual.

In particular, we urgently ask you to consult the Link Scientist of the experimental site in question as soon as possible and well before final submission to discuss technical details and feasibility of the experiment, and for guidance with the application forms. The Link Scientist is chosen in the GATE forms, and can be contacted e.g. via GATE upon a first draft completion of all forms in the step ”Submit”. It is recommended to begin the process as early as possible.

A pdf file describing the proposed experiment is to be uploaded; details on its structure and content are given here. Should you yet encounter problems in GATE, please contact GATE-Help(at)gsi.de (Karin Füssel).

Please note that due to current European sanctions participants with Russian or Belarussian affiliation cannot be participants in experiment proposals at GSI/FAIR.

 

GATE website: https://gate.gsi.de

 

Submitted proposals will be evaluated by the Bio-PAC, whose recommendation will be considered by the Scientific Managing Director when granting beamtime2. Beamtime granted in this round will expire after 2027.

 

Research Data Management Plan (RDMP):

Currently, a RDMP is not obligatory but recommended for accepted experiment proposals. For more information see this document.

 

We are looking forward to an exciting science program in FAIR Phase-0!

 

Applicants eligible to the European program ‘HITRIplus’ are encouraged to submit their applications additionally through ‘HITRIplus’ for obtaining financial support. Note that since 2021 GSI provides access to its facilities under HITRIplus (Heavy Ion Therapy Research Integration_plus); a contract within the framework of Transnational Access (EU/Horizon2020 Integrating Activities). Please find more information here and HITRIplus.

 

Contact persons for the 'Call' are:

PPAC Scientific Secretary: Karin Füssel

For issues with GATE: GATE-Help

Access and support through HITRIplus: Marco Durante, Konrad Lehmann

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(1) All participants of a proposal need to register themselves and allow being searchable for other users. General Data Protection Regulation GDPR apply according to Art. 13 and 14 DSGVO: Staff Management Board GDPR english

(2) Beamtime is granted at no charge within the framework of the Helmholtz Association: "Rahmenrichtlinie über die Nutzung von Forschungsanlagen der Helmholtz-Zentren durch Dritte” (1.3.2000), §II. 1.2. GSI/FAIR need to report to funding agencies on user operation and user communities in form of statistical data.

Please note that GSI does not cover the consumables and investments necessary for running an experiment.

During proposal submission the Proposer is explicitly asked to indicate host lab resources required for the proposed experiment additional to beamtime requests. Related to preparations for FAIR, technical and infrastructure departments often have very tight time schedules and need to plan carefully with respect to time and manpower.  In order to offer the best possible service enabling the experiments to be set up and run in an optimal way, we need to know all requirements to us as host lab in advance.

 

In the webform you are asked to mark whether and which resources you will need, incl. further specifications on this request. This will allow the involved departments to confirm the feasibility. Together with your local contact person, you can restrict your information there to a minimum and best guesses from experience or after consulting the department involved. In case of doubts, the respective department will come back to you with further questions before confirming feasibility of your experiment.

While this information in the proposal serves as rough information only, when planning the execution of your experiment you need to contact the respective host department directly and with concrete details on your requirements.

 

We absolutely want to avoid the situation in which after evaluation and granting we discover, that the proponents had expected service of GSI, which cannot be delivered (at the required time/in that detail or volume) and thus a granted experiment cannot run.

Database of granted beam time

Experiments with granted beamtime (i.e. ranked A) are listed in this table. It contains experiments in the status after granting and before completion/expiry, and gives number of granted shifts.

Experiments in the reserve list have been ranked A- due to large overdraft of beamtime. They might be scheduled if beamtime becomes available. 

Data are updated before and after a beamtime block.

Further information on application and scheduling of beam time is given under the websites Applying for Beamtime and Scheduling, respectively. General information on beam time can be found here.

 

Members of the Bio-PAC

  • Prof. Dr. Peter Dendooven
    University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands /  Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland
  • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chiara La Tessa
    University of Miami, Radiation Oncology, Miami, USA
  • Prof. Vincenzo Patera, Chair Bio-PAC (Spokesperson of Biophysics Collaboration)
    Sapienza University of Rome, INFN, Italy
  • Dr. Yolanda Prezado (Deputy Spokesperson of Biophysics Collaboration)
    Centre for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
    / Institut Curie Centre de Recherche, Centre Universitaire, Orsay, France
  • Dr. Michael Story
    Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL USA

Bio-PAC Scientific Secretary

Dr. Karin Füssel

GSI, Darmstadt

Phone: +49-6159-71 1441

Fax: +49-6159-71 2991

contact by E-Mail to: K.Fuessel(at)gsi.de

 

Calls for Proposals

During the 'calls for Proposals' experiment proposals can be submitted electronically via GATE. At 'Call' for beamtime in 2026 and 2027 is planned for the first quarter of 2025.

'Call for Proposals' are sent to users registered in GATE and published through the users' mailinglist. For registering to this mailinglist please see the Users Webpage.

Information on applilcations and scheduling of beam time is given under the websites: Applying for Beamtime, respectively Scheduling. General information on beam time can be found here.

Next Bio-PAC Meeting

Date of the next Bio-PAC Meeting: June 30 - July 1, 2025

 

Information for users of the biophysical research facility

Please see:  Information for Users and Facilities within the Biophysics group.

 

Please note that financial support is available via the TNA pograms HITRIplus and EURO-LABS, for which separate applications need to be submitted. Please find more information for user, incl. finanical support here.

Recent Bio-PAC Meetings

   

User Servics

Information for Users on services and beam time can be found on the Users' Webpages.  

Central point of contact for associated guests and users on campus is the Welcome Office.

 

General Data Protection Regulation GDPR (according to Art. 13 and 14 DSGVO): Staff Management Board GDPR english


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