From Director Chi-Chang Kao: SSRL's Molecular Environmental and Interface Science Strategy We continue to define SSRL's five-to-ten year strategic goals. In this column we present our plans for Molecular Environmental and Interface Science at SSRL. Understanding and mitigating biological and environmental impacts of energy production is important to society. Fundamental research is needed to better understand or control carbon cycling and sequestration (in soils, oceans, the atmosphere, and geological repositories), safe disposition of nuclear waste, fate and mitigation of groundwater contaminants, and sustainability and resiliency of complex biogeochemical and environmental systems that support life on Earth. Key processes are driven by reactions occurring at the molecular scale, at interfaces between water, minerals, and biological surfaces (e.g., biofilms), and in complex natural mesoscale systems in which dimensions range from nano- to millimeter. The exceptional capabilities of synchrotron light source facilities, which provide information about bonding environments and electronic structure under in situ conditions, over a continuum of length and temporal scales, are crucial to enabling new discoveries and building our understanding in these research areas. Full understanding of these systems requires consideration of both "bio" and "geo" components and how they interact. Read more...

Features SSRL Weathers Power Outage Caused by Lightning Friday the 13th arrived about 90 minutes early on Thursday night when a rare Bay Area electrical storm crashed the 230-kV power feed to SLAC. Nestled safely at home, such a power loss represents an inconvenience, perhaps accompanied by a sense of awe for nature's fireworks display. A significant power loss at a light source, however, represents much more than an inconvenient loss of beam time. The first order of business for SSRL Duty Operator Wes Leonard was to ensure staff and users were safely evacuated from the now dark experimental facility, illuminated by emergency lights only. This accomplished, the DO's focus turned to beam line systems protection. Leading the list of concerns were the 11 LN-cooled monochromators which are quite sensitive to loss of LN coolant flow. Fortunately, the two emergency diesel generators, which were funded and installed as part of an ARRA project in 2010, started flawlessly and provided "life sustaining" power to the LN-cooled monochromator heat exchange systems as well as other crucial systems, such as the experimental floor oxygen deficiency warning systems and key lift pumps. As night turned to day Friday morning a skeletal SSRL staff arrived to monitor and maintain systems and participate in the SLAC-wide plan for the site-wide power recovery effort. Read more... SSRL Structural Molecular Biology Program's NIH Component Moved to NIGMS On December 23, 2011, the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) at the National Institutes of Health was abolished when the FY2012 Federal budget became law. The SSRL Structural Molecular Biology program was initially started with a center grant from NCRR (a so-called P41 grant), and later on the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research initiated funding in synergy with NCRR. NCRR has since the inception of its Biomedical Technology Program (BTP) - 50 years ago - funded a range of innovative technology developments that have had a profound impact on biomedical research. Among other areas, NCRR has supported grants for many of the structural biology facilities at synchrotron radiation laboratories in the US. The NCRR BTP P41 grant portfolio was distributed to three different NIH entities as a result of the reorganization. We are pleased that the SSRL facility grant was among those getting a new home in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences' (NIGMS) Division of Biomedical Technology, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology (BBCB). The transition has been seamless and as a user you will see only one change - the acknowledgement that we and NIH require that you include in any publication that is based on research using the SSRL SMB facility. The new acknowledgement needs to include the following (please see SSRL publications page): 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 (including P41GM103393) and the National Center for Research Resources (P41RR001209). The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIGMS, NCRR or NIH. Researchers Find Vulnerability in Ulcer-causing Bacterium Research at SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource is helping to reveal how an ulcer-causing bacterium survives the changing levels of acid in the human stomach. The bacterium is Helicobacter pylori, which also contributes to some stomach cancers. "To survive the wide range of pH levels this organism encounters, it needs to be able to deploy a variety of enzymes on short notice," said Lester Carter, staff scientist at SSRL and a co-author of the paper documenting the research, which appeared March 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more... Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project Funds SLAC Efforts The Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) at Stanford University has awarded $8.4 million to seven Stanford research teams to develop new technologies that could significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions. The research programs will be led by 11 investigators from the Stanford School of Engineering and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The ones at SLAC include: High-power batteries for the electric grid - Investigators: Robert Huggins, Materials Science and Engineering (MSE); and Yi Cui, MSE and Photon Science/SLAC. New materials for energy conversion applications - Investigators: Roger Howe, Electrical Engineering; Jens K. Nørskov, Chemical Engineering and Photon Science/SLAC; and Piero Pianetta, Electrical Engineering and Photon Science/SLAC. For the full article, visit the Stanford News Service. Events Sabbatical Visit - Lecture Series - Prof. Bert Weckhuysen The SSRL Chemistry and Catalysis Division and the SUNCAT Center in the Photon Science Directorate welcome Professor Bert Weckhuysen, Chair of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Utrecht University, to SLAC for a several-month sabbatical visit. In addition to working on scientific projects and collaborations, he will present a lecture series during the week of May 21. We also look forward to his engagement in our continued development of the SSRL chemistry and catalysis program and facilities. SSRL School on Synchrotron X-ray Scattering Techniques in Materials and Environmental Sciences, May 29-31 The 2012 SSRL SRXRS School will provide a practical users' guide to planning and conducting scattering measurements at SSRL beam lines, and will cover important techniques including thin-film scattering, powder diffraction, in-situ x-ray scattering, and amorphous materials. The school will address topics that are not commonly included in text books or class lectures, and typically obtained only through on-the-experiment training. Good planning and a working knowledge of beam lines, in addition to techniques, are key to conducting successful SRXRS measurements. The school will also cover new instrumentation at SSRL scattering beam lines. Learn more... SSRL Workshop on XAS and RIXS Data Analysis Using CTM4XAS and CTM4RIXS, June 28-29 Prof. Frank de Groot, Utrecht University, will present a two-day comprehensive lecture and hands-on analysis session on XAS charge transfer multiplets using CTM4XAS, which is a semi-empirical program that includes important interactions for the calculation of x-ray spectra of transition metal systems. The workshop will feature XAS, MCD, XPS and XES data analysis with CTM4XAS. In addition, CTM4RIXS, an interactive tool to calculate and visualize resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra, including 2p3d, 3p3d, 1s2p and 1s3p RIXS spectra, will be used. The lecture and hands-on analysis will be held on June 28. Prof. de Groot will address participant-driven topics and address specific scientific problems on the 29th. The course is free to participants, but space is limited. Advanced registration is required by May 20, 2012. More information will be available soon on the SSRL Events website. Structural Molecular Biology Summer School 2012, July 16-20 The Structural Molecular Biology Summer School 2012 will be held at SSRL from July 16-20 and will focus on the following disciplines: Macromolecular Crystallography, Small Angle X-ray Scattering, X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy, Fluorescence XAS Imaging and X-ray Emission Spectroscopy. The five-day summer school will include invited lectures by experts in the field, hands-on data acquisition, and practical training session for data analysis. The goal of the summer school is to disseminate information about scientific opportunities in synchrotron techniques applicable to biologically-relevant systems and to train the participants at both the beginner and expert levels to successfully plan, execute and report their research at SSRL. Space is limited and advanced application is mandatory. More information will be available soon on the SSRL Events website. Save the Date: LCLS/SSRL Users' Meeting, October 3-6 In response to user feedback, the 2012 Users' Meeting will include joint SSRL/LCLS parallel science sessions and many opportunities for students to present their work. The organizers encourage your suggestions for workshop topics and speakers who would draw in the larger photon science community to explore new opportunities for SSRL and the Linac Coherent Light Source. Tell us what would make this meeting a great one by e-mailing Cathy Knotts . In addition, we encourage and will reserve slots for student talks; start planning your talk today. Stay tuned for registration details. Announcements Upcoming Proposal Deadlines June 1 and July 1 are the next deadlines for submitting new X-ray/VUV and Macromolecular crystallography proposals, respectively. Proposals submitted for these deadlines will be eligible for beam time beginning in fall 2012. For the full list of 2012 deadlines please see the SSRL deadlines webpage.

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 for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences by Stanford University. 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 National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Additional information about SSRL and its operation and schedules is available from the SSRL website.

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