Contents of this Issue:
1. Science Highlight —
Potential Diabetes Drug Target
(contacts: M. Paddock, mpaddock@physics.ucsd.edu; H. Axelrod,
haxelrod@slac.stanford.edu; A. Cohen, acohen@slac.stanford.edu)
2. Science Highlight —
Exploding Beads and Ultrafast Imaging
(contacts: H. Chapman, henry.chapman@llnl.gov; J. Hajdu,
janos@slac.stanford.edu)
Stanford scientists, along with an international team at the German particle
lab DESY's free electron laser, have managed to observe exploding polystyrene
beads on a femtosecond timescale and 10 nm lengthscale, using equipment not
much more sophisticated than a dusty mirror.
The new technique, which produces a "hologram" of the object after excitation,
could prove useful for X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). These lasers will
allow scientists to fire photon pulses with short wavelengths and short
duration, probing structure at and below the nanometer scale. However, the
excitation pulse would destroy the object, and the achievable image resolution
depends critically on how fast the destruction occurs. Using the dusty-mirror
method, it is possible to excite and observe an object with the same pulse of
light, to measure the dynamics of the XFEL interaction with an inherently fine
time resolution that does not require sophisticated synchronization techniques.
The scientists observed 140-nm polystyrene spheres arrayed on a silicon nitride
membrane, which was positioned in front of an x-ray mirror. As the beam hit the
spheres the first time, it started an explosion. The beam bounced off the
mirror and through the expanding spheres a second time, collecting an image
shortly after the first pulse. Both beams were directed onto a CCD. The
resulting pattern of concentric rings, produced by the two interfering waves,
was modulated with speckles that contained information about the exploding
spheres.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight at:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/research/highlights_archive/holography07.html
3.
Papers Based on Science Performed at SSRL are Awarded
François Farges, Gordon Brown Jr. and co-workers have been awarded the Hawley Medal for their x-ray absorption spectroscopy-based work on the impact of pressure and temperature on structural environments around molybdenum in silicate glasses and melts. The XAS work was performed at SSRL and is described in the paper: The Canadian Mineralogist, 44, 755-773 (2006), which was named the best paper of 2006. The Hawley Medal of the Mineralogical Association of Canada is awarded to the authors of the best paper to appear in The Canadian Mineralogist in a given year. The award is named in honor of Dr. J.E. Hawley (1897-1965) who was distinguished professor of mineralogy at Queen's University.
The Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) award has been given for a paper in the journal Science, published in 1987 (Kim F. Hayes, A. Lawrence Roe, Gordon E. Brown Jr., Keith O. Hodgson, James Leckie and George Parks, "In Situ X-ray Absorption Study of Surface Complexes: Selenium Oxyanions on a-FeOOH," Science, 238, 783-786 (1987)). AEESP gives the award "to recognize the authors of a landmark environmental engineering paper that has withstood the test of time and significantly influenced the practice of environmental engineering". The award event took place at the 2007 WEFTEC (Water Environment Federation's Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference).
4.
Information Requested for Reports to SSRL Funding Agencies
(contacts:
C. Knotts, knotts@slac.stanford.edu; L. Dunn, lisa@slac.stanford.edu)
It is extremely important that users not only inform us whenever work conducted at SSRL results in a publication, but also acknowledge SSRL and our funding agencies in each publication. User help is needed to keep current records on publications including refereed journal papers, conference proceedings, book chapters and theses, invited lectures and major awards and patents based at least in part on work conducted at SSRL. This information allows SSRL to demonstrate scientific achievements and productivity when responding to requests sent out by the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health.
In the near term we will be sending out a request for information for inclusion
in our Annual NIH, NCRR/Biomedical Technology Program (BTP) Progress Report and
in our response to the DOE's request for information for an upcoming peer
review of our facility in January 2008. A direct request will be going out to
our user community, but this information can also be submitted anytime via
email message to Lisa Dunn or Cathy Knotts or via the reference submission form
at:
http://smb.slac.stanford.edu/forms/reporting/form_publication.shtml
For publications lists and the proper acknowledgement statements see:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/
5.
First Joint SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting a Success!
(contact: C. Knotts, knotts@slac.stanford.edu)
The first joint SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting was held September 28-October 3, 2007.
Approximately 320 individuals participated in the various activities scheduled
over the six-day event which began with a special symposium on the future of
x-ray science, September 28-29; this was followed on September 30 with a joint
SSRL/ALS workshop on synchrotron radiation techniques. The main Users'
Meeting, on October 1-2, featured presentations on recent developments and new
opportunities in structural biology, material and environmental science,
ultrafast science and LCLS instrumentation. On October 2, the keynote
presentation was given by Nobel Laureate Professor Roger Kornberg, who utilized
SSRL's crystallography beam lines for his experiments on RNA polymerase. As
part of the meeting tradition several awards for outstanding technical and
scientific achievement in synchrotron radiation-based science were presented.
The William Spicer Young Investigator Award was presented to Hugh Harris, a
lecturer at the School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide,
Australia; Jessica Vey, a graduate student at MIT, received the Melvin Klein
Professional Development Award; and Cathy Knotts, Manager of User Research
Administration at SSRL received the Farrel Lytle Award (see below).
Additionally, several graduate students received prizes for outstanding
scientific poster presentations, including: Brittany Nelson-Cheeseman (UC
Berkeley), Origin of Anomalous Magnetic Behavior in
NiMn2O4 Thin Films; Stephen Kelly (Stanford), The Effect
of Cycling on Microstructure and Reaction Kinetics in Mg/MgH2; David
Singer (Stanford), Using Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Techniques to Examine
Uranium Speciation as a Function of Depth in Contaminated Hanford Sediments;
and Samuel Wilson (Stanford), XAS Pre-edge and EXAFS Spectroscopy Reveals
Mechanistic Differences between Tyrosine Hydroxylase and Other Pterin Dependent
Hydroxylases. The event concluded on October 3, 2007, with four concurrent
workshops on 1) XANES Spectroscopy; 2) Microfocusing; 3) Imaging and X-ray
Microscopy; and 4) Scientific Opportunities for Studying Laser Excited Dynamics
at the LCLS.
http://www-conf.slac.stanford.edu/ssrl-lcls/2007/
6.
Cathy Knotts Presented with 2007 Lytle Award
- SLAC Today article by Brad Plummer
Congratulations to Cathy Knotts, who received the 2007 Farrel W. Lytle Award,
given each year by the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) User
Organization Executive Committee during the annual SSRL Users' Meeting.
Knotts came to SLAC in 2000 and has worked as manager of SSRL's User Research
Administration ever since. She says, "I am extremely honored to receive this
award, and even more so to have the privilege of being part of the User
Administration team at SSRL. I am continually in awe of the pioneering work
done by the scientists who built and utilize this facility, by the individuals
who give generously of their energy to support it."
"From SSRL's point of view, I am delighted that Cathy received this prestigious
award," said Joachim Stöhr, Director of SSRL. "She is the heart and soul of
our user program, and embodies SSRL's mission to serve our users and implements
that vision."
The Lytle Award was established in 1998 by the SSRL Organization Executive
Committee to promote important technical or scientific accomplishments in
synchrotron radiation-based science and to foster collaboration and efficient
use of beam time among users and staff at SSRL.
7.
Users' Organization Meetings
(contacts:
C. Kim, cskim@chapman.edu; R. Szilagyi, szilagyi@montana.edu;
J. Hastings, jbh@slac.stanford.edu)
At the SSRL Users' Organization meeting on October 2, SSRLUOEC Chair Chris Kim
gave a report summarizing the SSRLUOEC's activity for the 2006-2007 year,
thanked the SSRL/LCLS 2007 organizers for an outstanding event, announced that
Yuji Arai and Katherine Kantardjieff had been elected to the SSRLUOEC, and then
turned the baton over to Robert Szilagyi who will chair the SSRLUOEC in
2007/08. Robert summarized the results from the 2007 user survey and solicited
input into questions that could be added to the next survey which is planned
for 2008.
http://www-conf.slac.stanford.edu/ssrl-lcls/2007/slides/CSKim_SSRLUOECtalk.pdf
Mike Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs and CCNY Professor of Physics, shared his insights into 'Communicating Science for the Public' and summarized communication strategies and possible forums that can aid the dissemination of scientific achievements and research results to non-expert audiences. http://www-conf.slac.stanford.edu/ssrl-lcls/2007/slides/Lubell-SSRLUOEC07.pdf
Following the SSRL Users' Organization Meeting, Jerry Hastings and John Galayda led a discussion of how to organize the LCLS user community and prepare for general user access at the first LCLS experimental station, which is expected to be ready for first light in 2009.
An interim LCLS users' executive committee was formed with the responsibility to draft bylaws for the LCLS Users Organization. The goal is to have these ready to be adopted at the User Workshop in the March-April 2008 where the near term instrument capabilities and schedule will be discussed.
Users interested in learning more about experiments with the LCLS are
encouraged to join the LCLS mailing lists in the areas of: Atomic, Molecular,
and Optical Physics; Femtosecond Dynamics of Molecules; Nanoscale Dynamics of
Condensed Matter; Imaging of Single Nanoparticles and Biomolecules; and/or
Physics of Dense Plasmas and Warm Dense Matter. Additional meetings and
pre-proposal workshops in these focus areas will be organized during 2008.
Register at:
https://oraweb.slac.stanford.edu/apex/slacprod/f?p=173:1:1830939364339841
Kate Beers and Jean Cottam of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (EOP) visited SLAC on Tuesday, October 2, as part of a tour of DOE labs in the Bay Area to learn more about our respective science programs. At SLAC they were given brief overview presentations on SSRL, PULSE, Elementary Particle Physics, Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Accelerator Research. The agenda included sitting in on a session of the joint SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting focusing on LCLS science, a tour of the site, and listening to the Users' Meeting keynote lecture by Roger Kornberg.
9.
Film Crew Visits SLAC
- SLAC Today article by Melinda Lee
On Tuesday, October 23, at 6:30 a.m., an army of production vehicles rolled through the Main Gate on their way to a full morning of filming at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). The 40-person crew spent seven hours capturing images for a video on Stanford's outstanding research institutions. Having first filmed at BaBar the week before, the crew returned yesterday with a state-of-the-art high-definition camera to catch researchers in action at SSRL.
10.
User Administration Update
(contact:
C. Knotts, knotts@slac.stanford.edu)
X-ray/VUV Proposals due November 1: It's not too late to submit a new proposal
for the November 1, 2007 deadline. More information and the forms for
submitting proposals for beam time on SSRL X-ray and VUV beam lines is
available at:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/users/user_admin/xray_vuv_proposal_guide.html
Macromolecular Crystallography Proposals due December 1: If you are interested
in submitting a proposal for the December 1, 2007
deadline for time on
macromolecular crystallography beam lines, see:
http://smb.slac.stanford.edu/public/forms/becominguser/
X-ray/VUV Beam Time Requests: December 7 is the deadline for submitting Beam
Time Requests for the February-May 2008 scheduling period.
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/users/user_admin/xray_btrf.html
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/users/user_admin/vuv_btrf.html
SSRL/LCLS T-Shirts for Sale: Check in for beam time and check out fall's
hottest look. We have t-shirts for sale this year. Get noticed in our new
SSRL/LCLS-themed t-shirt, available in Texas Orange only. T-Shirt price $10.
See Michelle Steger Bldg. 120, Rm. 219. Don't miss out!!!
__________________________________________________________________________
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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