Previous Editions__________________________________________________________________________SSRL Headlines Vol. 11, No. 7 January, 2011__________________________________________________________________________
Contents of this Issue:
We recently expanded the SAC membership
to provide better
coverage in priority scientific areas and facility management. We are also
looking to the SAC for help facilitating the formation of strategic alliances.
In the SAC meeting, SSRL management presented an overview of the light source
for the benefit of the new SAC members, and updated the SAC of the recent
progress and changes at SSRL. And, most importantly, we presented the SAC with
our vision and the current status of SSRL strategic plan development. In the
coming months, we will work with the SAC to complete the plan.
As part of the SSRL strategy, it is critically important that SPEAR3 is
operated reliably for the user program and that there is a clearly defined
improvement plan to keep SPEAR3 competitive for the next decade and beyond.
The MAC was charged to review the accelerator improvement plan developed by the
accelerator staff and provide feedback. The MAC report will be discussed at
the next SAC meeting to get input from the SAC on the prioritization of
accelerator upgrades, in particular their relevance to the scientific programs.
At the UEC meeting, we discussed at length the ways in which we can communicate
with the user community, in particular in the next few months as we develop the
strategic plan. It was a very productive discussion and generated many great
ideas. We will start by using this monthly column to provide everyone an
update of the new directions being explored by SSRL and to solicit input and
participation. In addition, we are looking at setting up a space on the SSRL
website to allow more timely feedback than the monthly newsletter. The goal is
for SSRL to engage in a timely fashion the user community as widely as
possible-not only in the development of the strategic plan right now, but also
in our future planning. In the meantime, please send your ideas on how to
improve the communication between SSRL and user community to SSRL's new science
information specialist, Kelen Tuttle, at kelen.tuttle@slac.stanford.edu.
I look forward to planning SSRL's future together.
—Chi-Chang Kao
A group of University of California-San Diego and University of North Carolina
researchers recently used protein binding groups as building blocks, forming
them around a metal before rigidifying the structure by engineering covalent
and non-covalent bonds. By characterizing the structures-and the metal centers
formed in the protein complexes-using SSRL's macromolecular crystallography
Beam Lines 9-2 and 7-1, the research team was able to show that this templating
approach successfully altered the protein's surface, yielding a unique protein
architecture that self-assembled in the presence (or absence) of metals. This
approach provides a new method for engineering protein interfacial
interactions.
This work was published in the February 2, 2010 edition of the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight
In a recent x-ray scattering study undertaken at SSRL Beam Line 11-3, a team of
Stanford and SLAC researchers studied how the molecular arrangement of the two
components that often make up the active layer of an organic solar cell-the
polymer that absorbs photons and converts them into an electric charge and the
fullerene that accepts this charge and transports it out of the solar cell-is
affected by the heating process, which in turn affects the cell's efficiency.
The study reveals that, in one of the most popular blends, the heating process
can cause significant rearrangements of the active layers' structure, including
the formation and rearrangement of crystals. By manipulating the layers'
structures, the authors conclude, it may be possible to develop improve the
performance of organic solar cell devices.
This work was published in the October 22, 2010 edition of Advanced
Functional Materials.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight
Cisplatin, a platinum-based anti-cancer drug, is a widely-used and effective
cancer chemotherapy drug. It slows the growth of cancer cells by inhibiting
transcription through DNA modification, creating chemical links that serve as a
roadblock as the polymerase attempts to transcribe the DNA into RNA. Since
cancer cells can develop resistance to cisplatin and related drugs, researchers
are interested in finding alternative treatments with different targets or
mechanisms of action. Pyriplatin shows promise because, as one member of a
potentially larger class of such candidates, it remains active in
cisplatin-resistant cells and has different chemical and biological properties.
Whereas most chemically modified DNAs affect transcription at the site of
alteration, DNA modified by pyriplatin can be transcribed through the altered
base but cannot continue further.
A team of researchers led by Profs. Stephen J. Lippard of MIT and Dong Wang of
UCSD used SSRL macromolecular crystallography Beam Line 11-1 to solve crystal
structures of the RNA pol II transcription complexes stalled by a
pyriplatin-modification in a DNA template. They found that polymerase-induced
structural perturbations of the DNA allow the pyriplatin-modified nucleotide to
be transcribed but prevent the next DNA base from swinging into the active site
of polymerase. Pyriplatin thus stops pol II from moving down the DNA template
in a transcription-stalling mechanism that is significantly different from that
achieved by cisplatin-modified DNA.
The mechanism revealed by this study will allow further development of
different and more potent anti-cancer drugs. This work was published in the May
25, 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight
"Ambient pressure" is the key to the APPES's capabilities. The instrument uses
x-rays to knock electrons off the surface of a material in a process called
photoemission spectroscopy, a fairly common technique in surface
characterization. Where the APPES differs is its ability to reliably capture
data from a material under a few tenths of an atmosphere of pressure.
Previously, photoemission spectroscopy required ultra-high vacuum conditions so
that the liberated electrons would not be scattered away by atoms in the
surrounding atmosphere. Read more at: http://today.slac.stanford.edu/feature/2011/ssrl-beamline-13-2.asp
The SSRL Users' Executive Committee (UEC) meets periodically with management as
a forum to communicate the needs and desires of users regarding planning,
operations and other issues of concern to those engaged in research at this
facility. The UEC would like to add a representative from industry to the
committee in order to better consider the perspectives of industry users,
particularly to understand what may be helpful to industry users as well as any
perceived barriers. User representatives are nominated and then elected by the
general user community to serve three-year terms. The UEC meets every few
months with the main meeting held in October in conjunction with the Annual
Users' Conference and workshops. Please consider whether you or a colleague
would be interested in standing for election to represent industry users.
Submit nominations by February 15th to knotts@slac.stanford.edu. Additional
information on the users' committee can be found on the Users'
Organization website.
We encourage your feedback and suggestions.
SLAC is working to develop a plan for the expansion of the laboratory's
research program by establishing new strategic directions in energy-related
research. This may include the integration of separate projects into a larger
coordinated effort with defined goals and stronger and sustained support, a
major expansion of existing research, creation of entirely new research in
areas of strategic importance, and/or partnerships with other national labs and
industry, as well as for research infrastructure development.
To accomplish this task, SLAC Chief Scientist Z.-X. Shen set up a task force
that started its work in November 2010 and has already evaluated many potential
topics. On February 4 from 10 a.m. to noon, the task force will hold a town
hall meeting in SLAC's Kavli Auditorium to report preliminary findings and seek
input from the broader SLAC/Stanford research community. Based on the findings
and recommendations of the task force, SLAC Director Persis Drell intends to
present SLAC's energy strategy to the Department of Energy Office of Science in
spring 2011 as part of the laboratory business plan presentation. The results
of this task force will also likely guide future Laboratory Directed Research
and Development investments and lead to the development of specific funding
proposals in the future.
Sam Webb's X-rayUtils app is a reference utility application for the iPhone,
iTouch, and iPad that provides synchrotron scientists and users with all the
information you wish you had easy access to at a beam line: status, lines,
absorption, and ion chambers. The X-rayUtils app includes status updates for
storage rings; general atomic properties, absorption edges, and fluorescence
lines (with yields) for elements hydrogen through californium (a must for the
x-ray absorption experimenter or microprobe user); an x-ray absorption
calculator for absorption length and total absorption of any compound, given
the x-ray energy, chemical formula, density and thickness of the compound of
interest); by entering the basic properties of the ion chamber in your
experiment (gas composition, pressure, energy, chamber length, measured voltage
and amplifier gain) you will get the x-ray flux in photons per second.
For more info, see http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/x-ray-utilities/id386510883?mt=8#
On January 19, SLAC welcomed 25 instructors and staff of the Youth Science
Institute-a local non-profit which provides hands-on science education to over
35,000 children in the Bay Area-for a day of tours and presentations. The
group visited SLAC's visualization laboratory, the Stanford Synchrotron
Radiation Lightsource and the Linac Coherent Light Source and learned about
topics ranging from how the first massive stars formed in the universe to
studies of lead deposits found in 19th century silk clothing on display in
American museums. YSI and SLAC will be looking for ways to foster new
educational partnerships in the near future.
Boris (Bob) Batterman, 80, a frequent SSRL user, died peacefully last month in
his sleep. Bob was one of the founding fathers of synchrotron radiation
research, the first director of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source
(CHESS), and one of the pioneers of dynamical diffraction theory and its
application in materials science. A memorial service is planned for the spring.
__________________________________________________________________________
SSRL Headlines is published electronically monthly to inform SSRL users,
sponsors and other interested people about happenings at SSRL. SSRL is a
national synchrotron user facility operated by Stanford University for the
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy
Sciences. Additional support for
the structural biology program is provided by
the DOE
Office of Biological and Environmental Research, the NIH
National Center for Research Resources and the NIH Institute for General Medical
Sciences. Additional information about
SSRL and its operation and schedules is available from the SSRL WWW
site.
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