DOE Lightsource Directors Meet at SLAC
SSRL and LCLS recently hosted a meeting of the Directors of the 5 DOE Lightsource User Facilities at SLAC. The group meets periodically to discuss topics of shared interest and hear updates from several standing working groups. Topics for the most recent meeting included data handling, remote access, detector development, industry access and diversity-equity-inclusion (DEI).
Science Highlights
“What is Dead May Never Die” - Fluctuating Superconductivity Illuminates a Path towards Better Superconductors – Contacts: Yu He (Yale University) and Zhi-Xun Shen (Stanford University)
Since the groundbreaking discovery of copper oxide (cuprate) high-temperature superconductors in 1986, the quest to raise the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) in these systems never stopped. However, since the realization of the 135K Tc in Hg-containing cuprates in 1993, the record has remained off-limits to ensuing efforts under ambient conditions. Understanding the mechanisms that limit the superconducting Tc in cuprates has become an imperative task in order to effectively engineer Tc. Read more...
First Atomic Structure of an Intact Polyketide Synthase Revealing Two Asynchronous Reaction Chambers – Contacts: Chu-Young Kim (University of Texas at El Paso), Saket R. Bagde (Cornell University) and Irimpan Mathews (SSRL)
Polyketides are a diverse and important category of molecules with various functions including antibiotic, immunosuppressant, and antitumor. Some polyketides have great medical and economic value. One type of polyketide synthase (PKS), the enzymes that make polyketides, is called type I modular PKS. These are proteins with multiple modules that each contain multiple domains that catalyze different reactions of the polymerization pathway. Read more...
Junctophilin: A Hot Spot for Cardiomyopathy Mutations – Contact: Filip Van Petegem (University of British Columbia)
Junctophilins (JPHs) are protein molecules that initiate junctions between the endoplasmic reticulum or sarcoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells, enabling communication. Humans make four isoforms of JPH, which are expressed in different cell types. In heart muscle cells, isoform JPH2 is critical for converting electrical signals to a calcium ion signal that causes the cell to contract. Read more...
More SSRL-Related Science
Scripps Research Discovery could Enable Broad Coronavirus Vaccine
Excerpt from Scripps 2022 Press Release
The COVID-causing virus SARS-CoV-2 harbors a vulnerable site at the base of its spike protein that is found also on closely related coronaviruses, according to a new study from Scripps Research. The discovery could inform the design of broad-acting vaccines and antibody therapies capable of stopping future coronavirus pandemics.
The scientists had previously isolated an antibody from a COVID-19 survivor that can neutralize not only SARS-CoV-2 but also several other members of the family of coronaviruses known as beta-coronaviruses. In the new work, they mapped at atomic scale the site, or “epitope,” to which the antibody binds on the SARS-Cov-2 spike protein. They showed that the same epitope exists on other beta coronaviruses, and demonstrated with animal models that the antibody is protective against the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Read more...
Science Translational Medicine, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abi9215
San Jose State Undergraduate Students Study Nanodiamonds at SSRL
Excerpt from SLAC News Article by Stephanie Melchor
To Abraham Wolcott, diamonds are so much more than sparkly rocks and status symbols. The San Jose State University physical chemist works with nanodiamonds – that is, nanoscale diamonds made from breaking up larger synthetic diamonds. These nanodiamonds are so small that it takes a row of about 8,000 of them to span the width of a human hair.
What can a chemist like Wolcott do with such miniscule gemstones? Engage undergraduates in advanced research to pursue the chemistry. Read more...
Honors and Awards
2022 Wolf Prize in Chemistry
The 2022 Wolf Prize has been awarded for "for contributions to understanding the chemistry of cellular communication and inventing chemical methodologies to study the role of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in such biological processes". Carolyn Bertozzi and Benjamin F. Cravatt III, two of the three recipients awarded this year's prize, have ties to SSRL.
Carolyn Bertozzi, Stanford University, is awarded the Wolf Prize for pioneering biorthogonal chemistry and understanding glycocalyx, and its roles in both health and disease, thus allowing for bioimaging, chemoproteomics, and in-vivo drug delivery.” She has used our SSRL and CryoEM facilities at SLAC as part of her research. Read more...
Benjamin F. Cravatt III, The Scripps Research Institute, "is awarded the Wolf prize for developing activity-based protein profiling, which has emerged as a powerful and widely used chemical proteomic strategy to characterize enzyme function in native biological systems. He used this approach to characterize numerous enzymes which play critical roles in human biology and disease, including the endocannabinoid hydrolases whose lipid products regulate communication between cells.” He has been an author on papers involving work done on SSRL macromolecular crystallography beam lines since 2001. Read more...
Congratulations to Newly Elected AAAS Fellows!
AAAS Fellows for 2021 were announced earlier this year. Election as a Fellow honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues. We are pleased to see members of our SSRL and CryoEM user communities on the list.
AGRICULTURE, FOOD, AND RENEWABLE RESOURCES
José R. Dinneny, Stanford University
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Eva Nogales, University of California, Berkeley
Melanie D. Ohi, University of Michigan
CHEMISTRY
Aimin Liu, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Stephen L. Mayo, California Institute of Technology
MEDICAL SCIENCES
Ann H. West, University of Oklahoma
