Previous Editions____________________________________________________________________________SSRL Headlines Vol. 11, No. 4 October, 2010____________________________________________________________________________
Contents of this Issue:
1. Science Highlight —
Crystal Structure of NorM, a MATE Transmembrane Transporter
A team of researchers led by Prof. Geoffrey Chang at The Scripps Research
Institute used SSRL Beam Line 11-1 to determine the x-ray crystal structure of
the MATE transporter NorM from the bacterium Vibrio cholarae to 3.65
Angstrom resolution. They found that the 12 transmembrane helices form a novel
structure with an outward-facing conformation. The general V-shape of the
structure is reminiscent of other transporters from the same family, suggesting
that this shape is important for transportation of the hydrophobic and
amphipathic substrates. The authors also noticed cation-binding sites near
areas of the transporter previously found to be critical for transport. They
conclude that the structure captured in the crystals is in a stage of the
transport cycle where it is ready to bind cations and not substrate.
This work was published in the October 21 issue of Nature.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight
A team of researchers led by Prof. Zhenan Bao of Stanford University and Stefan
Mannsfeld of SSRL uses a thin sheet of rubber between very thin electrodes to
make flexible pressure sensors that can be paper-thin. To make the rubber sheet
more spongy and pressure-sensitive, millions of little structures were molded
into it. As the rubber film deforms on exertion of pressure, the electrodes
change proximity resulting in a change of charge that can register as
"feeling." The researchers found their material to be sensitive enough to
detect a fly and fast enough to provide fluid reaction times when perceived by
people.
This research was published in the October issue of Nature Materials.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight
Second, users will benefit from an additional station and new instruments in
2011. We will be commissioning one more station to bring the facility to a
total of 27 experimental stations (nine bend, 18 insertion device). The new
station is Beam Line 14-3 and will cover the intermediate energy range from
approximately two to five kilo-electron volts. This will allow us to cover the
important x-ray absorption K-edges from phosphorous to titanium. We have also
emphasized improving the in-hutch instrumentation including a state-of-the-art,
100-element germanium detector for Beam Line 11-2, replacing the diffractometer
on Beam Line 7-2 with one that has better capabilities. In addition, the
Recovery-Act-funded advanced spectroscopy instrument that will be commissioned
this year will address a wide range of scientific problems. Other developments
are planned to increase micro-focus imaging capabilities and, through a
Laboratory Directed Research and Development project in collaboration with
PULSE, we are exploring the use of SPEAR3 for picosecond pump-probe research.
This provides important, complementary information to the femtosecond
pump-probe research at LCLS.
Third, on the biology side, the SSRL Structural Molecular Biology program, or
SMB, continues to provide state-of-the-art capabilities in macromolecular
crystallography, biological small-angle scattering and x-ray absorption
spectroscopy. This will continue into the future as a result of successful
renewals in FY10 of funding for all areas of SMB, including the core SMB
program supported by the Department of Energy Office of Biological and
Environmental Research, and the National Institutes of Health National Center
for Research Resources and National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and
in structural genomics for the Joint Center for Structural Genomics-the
NIH-NIGMS high-throughput center, for which the Structure Determination Core
resides at SSRL.
Looking into the future, we will leverage the growth in the Photon Science
Directorate to expand the materials and chemical sciences programs, and develop
scientific programs complementary to LCLS. In particular, we will organize the
wide range of tools available at SSRL to tackle high-impact scientific problems
and problems with high societal impact, and facilitate the integration of basic
and applied research. We will enhance the partnership with SLAC and Stanford
faculties and synchrotron experts in the user community to better connect the
core competence of SSRL with the most important problems in the user community,
to better guide the investment in SSRL and to accelerate the speed of
discovery. Finally, we will begin to build the scientific case for the best use
of PEP-X.
—Chi-Chang Kao, SLAC
Today, October 22, 2010
The funding comes from the third phase of the National Institute of General
Medical Sciences' Protein Structure Initiative, called PSI:Biology. Under the
first two phases of the initiative, which began in 2000, JCSG contributed more
than 1,000 new structures to the Protein Data Bank, a free, publicly available
repository of all known protein structures.
Read more at: http://today.slac.stanford.edu/feature/2010/jcsg.asp
"It's really been an extraordinary year here at SLAC," SLAC Director Persis
Drell said in her opening talk. "A year ago, the LCLS was just starting
user-assisted commissioning, and we really were wondering how it was all going
to go. It's gone brilliantly. In the past year we've also built the strongest
possible team to lead SSRL into the future, while being mindful of the needs of
its users."
The past year, Drell said, has seen more than 90 percent of scheduled beam time
delivered to LCLS end stations, and in that time the machine has been
"operating more reliably and with far more flexibility than we had any right to
expect." Meanwhile, SSRL delivered more than 95 percent of scheduled beam time,
serving more than 1400 users at 26 experimental end stations.
"We are very excited about the near- and long-term future of SLAC," Drell told
attendees, "and we are thrilled to have you here to share it with us." Read
more at:
"I was completely-but pleasantly-shocked," Webb said after the announcement was
made at the 2010 LCLS/SSRL Users' Meeting. "Being in the x-ray absorption
business, we all use the Lytle detector. I've had the further pleasure of
helping Farrel out with his data collection here at SSRL. But to win this
award. all I can say is that I'm very happy and very, very humbled."
SSRL Users Organization Executive Committee Member Wayne Lukens, who presented
the award, said that Webb received the honor for his exceptional skills and
motivation, dedication to technical and software developments, remarkable
commitment to the user community, positive attitude and generous personality.
In all, Lukens said, Webb helps users to achieve the most satisfying and
productive scientific experience at SSRL's micro-imaging spectroscopy beam
lines.
"Sam's dedication to synchrotron science and SSRL users makes him unique and a
great asset to SSRL," said Sarah Hayes, a researcher from the USGS and an SSRL
user. "His scientific savvy, investment in user projects and technical
expertise. foster efficient use of beam time and have brought many
collaborations to SSRL. For me, Sam embodies everything I expect from SSRL: a
commitment to scientific excellence, consistently working for technical
improvements that enhance science, and a desire to go the extra mile to make
sure users are collecting the best data in the most efficient way."
Congratulations, Sam!
Congratulations to Inna Vishik, Munzarin Qayyum, Michael Massey, Jared Schwede
and Daniel Riley on their award-winning poster contributions to the graduate
student poster competition held as part of our Annual Users' Meeting. Abstracts
for their respective posters can be viewed at:
8.
Photon Science Users and Faculty Honored
We are pleased to add our congratulations to SSRL, SIMES and LCLS users and
faculty who have recently received awards for excellence and/or innovation in
their endeavors.
Newly elected members of the SSRL and LCLS Users' Organization Executive
Committees were announced during our Annual Users' Meeting last week. Stefano
Marchesini (LBNL) will serve as the Coherent X-ray Imaging representative on
the LCLS UEC replacing Anton Barty (LLNL). For SSRL, Serena DeBeer (Cornell
University) and Sarah Hayes (USGS) will serve as the Bio Spectroscopy/Bio SAXS
and Environmental/Geoscience representatives replacing Robert Szilagyi (Montana
State University) and Yuji Arai (Clemson University) respectively.
We extend a warm welcome to our incoming representatives and many thanks to
outgoing UEC members. We appreciate their willingness to represent the
interests of their respective user communities in this capacity.
Structures at SSRL are bolstered against earthquakes, thanks to some hard work
and funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The work completes
the first of two phases in the Recovery-Act-funded seismic upgrades at SSRL.
Phase I, the Booster to SPEAR Seismic Retrofit Project, was completed on
schedule on October 5, during SSRL's scheduled annual shutdown. Read more at:
X-ray/VUV Beam Time Requests for February through May 2011 beam time are due
Wednesday, December 1. Please submit your requests via our user portal:
December 1 is also the next deadline for submitting new X-ray, VUV and
Macromolecular Crystallography proposals. New proposals should be submitted
through our user portal as well.
__________________________________________________________________________
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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