Science Highlights
Effect of an Ultrathin Coating on Stabilizing Li-ion Battery
Cathodes – Contacts: Anna Wise, Johanna Nelson Weker and
Mike Toney (SSRL)
The widespread adoption of renewable energy in many applications, such as
electric cars, is dependent on the development of better batteries. A lithium
ion battery can be made to have a higher capacity, better thermally stability,
and lower cost by changing the cobalt component of the battery cathode (usually
LiCoO2) to a mixture of nickel, manganese, and cobalt. While
providing great benefits, this material, known as NMC, also has a downside:
increased reactivity at the cathode resulting in a shorter battery lifetime. To
counteract this reactivity, scientists have developed a coating for the NMC
cathode. Read more...
Revealing a New Conformational State in a Chloride/Proton
Exchanger – Contacts: Merritt Maduke (Stanford University)
and Emad Tajkhorshid (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Ion transport across the hydrophobic barrier of the cell membrane is central
to life. Biological membranes are hydrophobic barriers that are
impermeable to ionic species. Thus, ionic movements across these membranes
require catalysis by specific proteins situated at the membranes such as ion
channels and transporters. CLC transporters are such proteins that facilitates
transport of chloride (Cl-) and protons (H+) across
biological membranes. Read more...
More SSRL-related Science
Biologist Describes Milestone toward a Universal Flu Vaccine - X-ray
Studies at SSRL Aid in Vaccine Design
Excerpted from January 4, 2016 SLAC News Feature
Every fall, millions of people roll up their sleeves to get a flu shot. Up
to 20 percent of the population gets the flu and more than 200,000 people are
hospitalized with flu complications each year, according to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. While seasonal vaccines provide some
protection, they are not always effective because the strains of influenza
virus in the vaccine may not be well matched to the flu viruses circulating
that year. So researchers are searching for a way to develop a more universal
vaccine that would be effective against any variety of influenza.
Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Crucell Vaccine
Institute have now designed a protein fragment called mini-HA that stimulates
the production of antibodies against a variety of influenza viruses.
Macromolecular cystallography experiments at SSRL enabled the research team to
look at the atomic structure of the mini-HA at each stage of its
development.
Ian Wilson, a leading structural and computational biologist at Scripps and
a long-time user of SSRL, led the research team. SLAC Communications asked him
to describe the team’s flu vaccine research. Read more...
Honors
Stanford Scientist among '10 People who Mattered' in
2015
Excerpted from January 6, 2016 Stanford News Article
Zhenan Bao, Professor of Chemical Engineering and
researcher at SSRL, was named to Nature‘s list of “10
people who mattered this year.”
The journal described Bao as a “master of materials,” a chemical
engineer who is merging electronics with the human body. She was lauded as a
founder of the field of thin, flexible organic electronics, leading to the
creation of medical devices that can be worn or implanted to monitor blood
sugar and other vital data. Her team has also made progress in creating
artificial skin that provides a sense of touch akin to natural skin.
Her work is highly interdisciplinary. “It’s not just one
idea,” she told Nature, “Many ideas came together and made
this possible.”
Instrumentation Developments at SSRL and LCLS
Collaborative Effort between Stanford, SLAC Biosciences Division,
SSRL and LCLS Sees First Light at LCLS' New MFX Experimental Station for
Biological Experiments
Excerpted from January 15, 2016 SLAC Today Article
For the first time in three years, LCLS has added a new instrument to its
set of experimental stations. Staff from Stanford and SLAC gathered on Jan. 12
in the x-ray laser’s Far Experimental Hall to celebrate the arrival of
the first x-rays in the brand new MFX hutch. LCLS’s seventh instrument,
MFX will expand the facility’s capability and capacity by generating more
opportunities for all kinds of groundbreaking user experiments.
Although MFX can support a variety of experimental settings, it was
specifically designed for macromolecular femtosecond crystallography. This
technique provides atomic-resolution x-ray images and ultrafast movies of
biomolecules in action. It will aid researchers in unravelling crucial
biological processes, from finding new ways of fighting disease to developing
methods to harness solar energy similar to photosynthesis. Read more...
BL4 Optics Upgrade Scheduled May-July 2016
Beam Line 4 (BL4-1, BL4-2, and BL4-3) will be closed during most of our
third scheduling period to address degraded mirror performance over the last
several years. After evaluating the SSRL-wide upgrade needs as well as
limitations in available staff and resources, we have determined that the best
window for the BL4 mirror upgrade is May to July. We anticipate
recommissioning the BL4 mirror systems in July just prior to the annual summer
shutdown.
SPEAR3 Update
The SSRL storage ring team is in the final stages of installing hardware
that will enable reducing the SPEAR3 emittance to 6 nm from its present value
of 10 nm. The last piece is the installation of the thin septum injection
magnet that will occur this summer. Work to implement the new lower
emittance optics in SPEAR3 will proceed after the summer shutdown, with
delivery for operations expected sometime during the FY17 user run.
SSRL's summer shutdown will begin on July 26 this year to facilitate
this SPEAR3 installation and other instrumentation development and installation
projects.
Upcoming Events
Workshop on Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Diffraction Studies -
March 28-30, 2016, Menlo Park, CA
The SSRL Structural Molecular Biology Group hosts a 3-day comprehensive
workshop on the use of non-crystalline small-angle x-ray scattering and
diffraction techniques in structural biology research. The workshop will focus
on solution x-ray scattering studies on biological macromolecules and
macromolecular complexes. The workshop will cover the basic theory of small
angle scattering, experimental aspects of solution scattering as well as recent
applications of solution scattering in structural biology research. We will
have extensive software and data analysis tutorials covering all aspects from
the basic SAXS analysis to advanced modeling methods. Participants are
encouraged to bring their own solution samples for data collection tutorial at
SSRL Beam Line 4-2 and the data analysis and modelling tutorials.
Registration coming soon.
SSRL School on Synchrotron X-ray Scattering Techniques in Materials
& Environmental Sciences, June 21-23, 2016, Menlo Park, CA
12th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation,
August 21-24, 2016, Menlo Park, CA
The International Biology and Synchrotron Radiation (BSR) meetings are held
every three years with the aim of presenting and discussing state of the art
applications in relevant research fields, providing a unique opportunity to
discuss the novel possibilities of synchrotrons and x-ray lasers and to promote
their applications to challenging biological problems.
This meeting provides a forum for scientists involved in research and
development on synchrotron and free electron laser sources to come together
with a broad community of biologists, with the ambition to make the best use of
the most advanced infrastructures in structural biology. Possible applications
range from atomic-resolution and time-resolved structures of biological
macromolecules, medium resolution images of the largest molecular complexes in
the living word, and cellular and sub-cellular structures.
Scientists at all possible career levels are invited to this meeting –
ranging from graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and principal
investigators both from academia and industry. There will be ample
opportunities for individual presentations. Conference
website
User Research Administration
Beam Time Request Deadline
February 22 is the next X-ray/VUV Beam Time Request deadline for May-July
scheduling.
Submit proposals and beam time requests through the user
portal.
We encourage users to 'bookmark' this SSRL Deadlines page and set a reminder for these annual
deadlines in their calendars. Deadline reminders are also included in user
portal.
User Portal Update
An updated version of our User Portal is coming soon. Our development
team has been working extensively to convert our User Portal pages to a
responsive, mobile-friendly interface. Users should immediately find the
newly redesigned top level pages easier to navigate through. Stay
tuned.
The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) is a third-generation
light source producing extremely bright x-rays for basic and applied
research. SSRL attracts and supports scientists from around the world who
use its state-of-the-art capabilities to make discoveries that benefit society.
SSRL, a U.S. DOE Office of Science national user facility, is a Directorate of
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, operated by Stanford University for the
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SSRL Structural
Molecular Biology Program is supported by the DOE Office of Biological and
Environmental Research, and by the National Institutes of Health, National
Institute of General Medical Sciences. For more information about SSRL science,
operations and schedules, visit http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu.
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Questions? Comments? Contact Lisa Dunn
