ALSNews Vol. 322

The Advanced Light Source is featured in Popular Science magazine this month as part of “Big Science: The 10 Most Ambitious Experiments in the Universe Today.” The article touts the ALS’ scientific utility, citing contributions to the fields of chemistry, astrophysics, biomedicine, material science, and energy research. Other “awe-inspiring science projects” include the International Space Station, the Large Hadron Collider, and the Earthscope.

Aberrant activation of Notch receptors has been linked to many diseases, making the Notch pathway a compelling target for new drug studies. Researchers working at ALS Beamline 5.0.2 have synthesized highly specialized antibody inhibitors that act only on Notch1 or Notch2 through a potent and novel mechanism of inhibition. Read more…

Contact: Christian Siebel

When an x-ray photon boosts an electron from an unreactive gas atom trapped in a carbon cage, the electron waves might be transmitted through or reflected off the cage. In the first experimental test of this “confinement resonance” theory, an international team at ALS Beamline 10.0.1 produced and isolated xenon endofullerenes, and observed confinement resonances. Read more…

Contact: Ronald A. Phaneuf

Registration is now open for the 2011 ALS User Meeting to be held at Berkeley Lab, October 3-5, 2011. The meeting will feature plenary sessions with facility updates from the director, reports from DOE, recent ALS scientific highlights, and invited speakers from industry and the user community. Thirteen workshops will begin following the conclusion of the plenary session.

The early registration fee is 95.00 (student); after Friday, September 23, the registration fee will be 115.00 (student).When registering, attendees are invited to nominate members of the staff and user community for awards for outstanding contributions in scientific achievement, instrumentation development, and user support at the ALS.

All staff and users are invited to participate in the second annual ALS Photo Contest. This year’s theme is “The ALS at Work” with the focus on users, students, and staff working in and around the ALS, celebrating the broad spectrum of people who make the ALS a success. Prizes will be awarded to the photographers whose photos are selected by the user community during the meeting. More information about the contest, and how to enter, is available online.

The Discovery Channel Canada filmed some footage at the ALS last week for a special episode of the program Daily Planet. “Discovery Science in the U.S. and Around the World” will coincide with the the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and will focus on engineering and technological advances that have been made since that time. The episode will air on Sept. 9, 2011.

Following the attacks, Thomas Cahill (DELTA Group, UC Davis) used ALS Beamline 10.3.1 to detect, measure, and analyze aerosols from the collapse piles of the World Trade Center as the dust drifted over New York City. Cahills’ research on these aerosols was also featured in an Esquire magazine article “The Bag” in 2007.

Director Mark Stevenson assesses the shot while camera man Mark Foerster shoots footage of ALS user Thomas Cahill (UC Davis).

Standing: Kyle Ludwig, Camille De La Croix, Thomas Cahill, Jun Hamamoto, David Barnes, and Mark Stevenson. Kneeling: Mark Foerster.

The replacement of roof tiles on the exterior of the ALS dome is nearly complete, as is the sealing of the inside of the dome. A new vacuum chamber and chicane magnet were installed at sector 6, and all the super bends got new cold heads. Read about shutdown activities on the Shutdown Update Web page, which will be updated as work continues.

The ALS is scheduled to resume normal operations on August 11, 2011.

The “International Workshop on Strong Correlations and Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy” (CORPES11) was held at Berkeley Lab from July 18-22, 2011. To learn more about the interdisciplinary CORPES 11 workshop read the online review.

The “Interdisciplinary Consortium for Research and Educational Access in Science and Engineering,” or INCREASE, hosted their 5th Synchrotron Science Workshop July 11-13, 2011, in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, SLAC national Accelerator Center, and Berkeley Lab.

Participants included professors and researchers interested in advancing their research through synchrotrons and developing collaborations with DOE researchers.

The workshop included an introduction to Berkeley Lab by Paul Alivisatos, presentations by ALS management and User Services, as well as guided tours of the ALS, with hosts Alex Aguilar, Tanja Cuk, Simon Morton, and Corie Ralston; A poster session in the User Support Building was introduced by a poster “slam,” where each presenter had one minute to introduce their work.

For the period June 13-August 11, 2011, the ALS is shut down for scheduled maintenance and upgrades. User beam time is scheduled to resume at 8:00 am on Thursday, August 11, 2011. For more information, please see the current ALS operating schedule.

ALS Communications

Liz Moxon shares details about how the Communica- tions Group works its magic to promote the scientific and technical achievements of ALS staff and users online, in print, through social media, via personal interaction, and more. Read the Article

ALS Science Café TODAY AT NOON!

The next ALS Science Café takes place today! Come by the User Support Building’s main conference room at noon to hear Hans Bechtle (Infrared Beamlines 1.4, 5.4) talk about Stardust: The search for organics, Gerry McDermott (National Center for X-Ray Tomograhy) discuss biology, and Ruihua He (Beamlines 8.0.1, 10.0.1) tell us what’s new about high-Tc.

Deciphering Mediator Began at the ALS

ALS Helps Discover Promising Melanoma Drug

A Manganite Changes its Stripes

Graphene Gives up More of its Secrets

Magnetic memory and logic could achieve ultimate energy efficiency

Geek-Up: A Cool Roof, Graphene, and the ALS

Berkeley Lab’s Iconic Dome Gets a New Roof-a Cool One