Contents of this Issue:
1. Jo Stöhr Named New Director of SSRL
(contact: Keith
Hodgson, hodgson@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu)
2. Science Highlight —
Functional Sites of Biomolecules Sensitive to Damaging
X-rays
(contact:
Vittal K. Yachandra, vkyachandra@lbl.gov)
The research suggests that the x-ray dose that can cause such damage to the active site in metallo-proteins, a typical dose for diffraction studies, may be lower than previously believed. However, the new investigation showed that lowering the temperature of the sample and using higher energy x-rays can dramatically reduce damage, thus providing a way for working around the problem.
To learn more about this research see:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/research/highlights_archive/psII.html
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/research/highlights_archive/psII.pdf
2. Science Highlight —
Structural Insights into Human Innate Immunity
(contact:
Ian A. Wilson, wilson@scripps.edu)
To learn more about this research see:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/research/highlights_archive/tlr3.html
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/research/highlights_archive/tlr3.pdf
4.
Register for 32nd Annual SSRL Users' Meeting and Vote for SSRLUOEC
Candidates
(contact:
Cathy Knotts, knotts@slac.stanford.edu)
The SSRL user community is represented by scientists in various disciplines who
serve on the SSRL Users' Organization Executive Committee (SSRLUOEC). In 2006,
the SSRLUOEC will need new representatives in Environmental Science,
Biospectroscopy, Macromolecular Crystallography, and a graduate student (in any
discipline). Please take a few minutes to review the candidate biographies at
the following link, and return your ballot to us by October 17:
http://www-conf.slac.stanford.edu/ssrl/2005/
The newly elected SSRLUOEC members will be announced at the awards dinner on Monday, October 17. All interested users are invited to join with the current and newly elected SSRLUOEC members when they meet on Tuesday, October 18, at 3-5:30 pm (this immediately follows the Annual Users' Meeting). Users are also invited to the post-meeting reception which will be held at the SLAC auditorium lobby on Tuesday, October 18, 5:30-7:30 pm. Additional information on the SSRLUOEC, including the list of the current members and minutes of previous meetings are posted at: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/users/ssrluo/ssrluoec-mtgs.html
5.
SSRL32 Workshop: Advances in X-ray Scattering/Diffraction Studies on
Non-Crystalline Biological Systems, October 15-16
(chair:
Hiro Tsuruta, tsuruta@slac.stanford.edu)
For more program information see:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl32/workshop-biosaxs.php
Register at: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl32/registration/attendee.php
6.
SSRL32 Workshop: The Role of Small-Angle X-ray Scattering in Materials
Science, October 19
(chairs:
Mike Toney, toney@slac.stanford.edu; John Pople, pople@slac.stanford.edu)
This will be a hands on workshop with intent to demonstrate the burgeoning applicability of small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) resulting from the expansion of research and development on the nanoscale. The day will begin with presentations, briefly showing the techniques involved in SAXS in Materials Science and more closely focusing on current experimental data at the forefront of research which demonstrate the power of SAXS capabilities. The presentations will be semi-formal, with questions and discussion encouraged. Attendees will then move onto the beam line floor to gain hands-on control of configuring the SAXS beam lines (BL 1-4 will be utilized for this purpose) and collecting and analyzing data. New software recently developed for data analysis will be demonstrated. This practical aspect of the workshop will highlight both the techniques involved in SAXS data collection, reduction and analysis as well as identifying the limitations of existing beam line facilities. A final presentation will outline suggestions for a new Materials Science beam line at SSRL which can overcome those limitations and advance the capabilities that SSRL is can provide to the Materials Science community.
For more program information see:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl32/workshop-matsaxs.php
Register at: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl32/registration/attendee.php
7.
SSRL32 Workshop: Soft X-ray Science at LCLS, October 18-19
(chairs:
Jan Lüning, jan.luening@slac.stanford.edu;
Anders Nilsson, nilsson@slac.stanford.edu;
Jo Stöhr, stohr@slac.stanford.edu)
This workshop is aimed at the formation of a user community with a common interest in ultrafast and ultrabright soft x-ray pulses from a free electron laser like LCLS. The workshop will bring together scientists interested in developing new techniques and tools tailored for experiments relying on ultrafast soft x-ray laser pulses with scientists interested in utilizing the unique properties of such soft x-ray pulses for their research. The workshop will start with a series of invited talks that will give an overview about soft x-ray laser sources and techniques currently available or under development as well as about first performed and currently planned or envisioned experiments utilizing soft x-ray laser pulses. In order to provide an environment for intense discussion, all participants are encouraged to contribute to the workshop. To contribute to the workshop, please send a title to luning@slac.stanford.edu and let us know how much time you would like to have reserved for your contribution. In addition to contributed talks there will also be time reserved for 'walk-in' presentations.
For more program information see:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl32/workshop-softxray.php
Register at: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl32/registration/attendee.php
8.
SSRL32 Workshop: Remote Access for Macromolecular Crystallography Beam
Lines, October 19
(chair:
Mike Soltis, soltis@slac.stanford.edu)
SSRL now provides remote access tools that allow experimenters to screen macromolecular protein samples and collect crystallographic data from remote locations, anywhere in the world. The system makes use of high capacity sample cassettes and robotic mounting systems implemented on the macromolecular crystallography beam lines.
SSRL is hosting a remote access workshop where participants will learn about remote experimentation as well as specific methods for mounting crystals in cassettes and subsequent shipment of cassettes to SSRL. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptop computers and learn how to successfully install the remote access software (Windows, MAC and Linux operating systems are currently supported). Participants will be able to control beam lines remotely and also learn how to use Web-Ice, a web-browser based interface for scoring and indexing diffraction images.
Register at: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/conferences/ssrl32/registration/attendee.php
9.
Herman Winick Receives 2005 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights Award
(by: Nina Adelman
Stolar, SLAC Communication Office)
For the full article including Herman's thoughts upon receiving the award, see:
http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/tip/special/winick_award.htm
10.
Franz Himpsel Receives SSIN Prize
11.
SLAC Hosts FEL 2005
(contacts:
John Galayda, galayda@slac.stanford.edu;
Ingolf Lindau, lindau@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu)
On August 21-26, LCLS and SSRL hosted the 27th International Conference on Free Electron Lasers, FEL2005. The conference took place at the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center on Stanford Campus and attracted slightly more than 300 registered participants and 12 industrial exhibitors. A total of 250 papers had been selected by the Program Committee (chaired by Claudio Pellegrini) for presentation at the meeting, divided between invited, oral and poster contributions. A broad spectrum of topics were covered: high gain, single-pass FELs; high average power, long wavelength FELs, FEL oscillators and storage ring FELs, technology advances (accelerators, undulators, high brightness electron guns, diagnostics, detectors). A number of presentations were devoted to recent developments of x-ray FELs and potential future scientific applications. The participants were engaged in lively discussions both at the oral presentations and at the poster sessions. Dr. Z. Huang, SLAC, gave a much appreciated lecture in memory of the late scientist Ming Xie. This year's FEL prize was awarded to Dr. Avraham Gover from the University of Tel-Aviv for his many pioneering contributions to the FEL field, including a unified theory of superradiant emission. The proceedings will be published on-line at the Joint Accelerator Conference Website (http://www.jacow.org), and should be available by the end of October 2005. The International Executive Committee decided that the next FEL conference will be held in Berlin August 27-September 1, 2006, with BESSY as the host.
12.
Structural Molecular Biology Summer School Wrap-up
(contacts:
Clyde Smith, csmith@slac.stanford.edu; Serena DeBeer George,
serena@slac.stanford.edu)
The fifth Structural Molecular Biology (SMB) Summer School (SMB) was held at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) from September 12-15. This year the school focused on two synchrotron-based techniques: x-ray absorption spectroscopy and macromolecular crystallography and the application of these techniques to biological problems (small angle x-ray scattering, which is usually taught as well, is the subject of a two-day workshop in conjunction with the 2005 Annual SSRL Users' Meeting). This year's Summer School was attended by 21 students and taught by a team of 14 tutors. It consisted of a day and a half of lectures, followed by two days of rotating practical sessions, concluding with another half day of lectures on advanced topics in synchrotron-based structural molecular biology given by Drs. Ingrid Pickering from the University of Saskatchewan, David Bushnell and Dan Herschlag (both from Stanford University).
The Summer School was opened by Britt Hedman (SSRL), who gave an overview of synchrotron radiation and structural biology at SSRL. It was followed by introductory talks on synchrotron radiation and beam line optics, given by James Safranek and Thomas Rabedeau (SSRL), respectively, at which point the method- and science-specific program ensued. The SMB Summer School series is switching from an annual school to a biennial format, with workshops in the intervening years, and we plan to come back in 2007 bigger, brighter and better than ever before! The Summer School series is an integral part of the NIH NCRR and DOE BER funded SMB program.
__________________________________________________________________________
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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