Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Intriguing DNA Editor Has a Structural Trigger
The molecular structures of two proteins from a family of genome-editing enzymes reveal how they target and cleave DNA. The results point the way to the rational design of new and improved versions of the enzymes for basic research and genetic engineering. Read more…
ALS researchers have discovered a material that is essentially a 3D version of graphene — the 2D sheets of carbon through which electrons race at many times the speed at which they move through silicon. The discovery promises exciting new things to come for the high-tech industry, including much faster transistors and far more compact hard drives. Read more…
Industry @ ALS: Toyota Collaborates with the ALS and Molecular Foundry
Toyota has been working at the ALS for a few years now to gain deeper insight into the chemistry of electrolytes for use in magnesium-ion batteries. The hope is that the research eventually leads to a fully developed magnesium-based battery technology that would replace lithium-ion batteries with essentially twice the energy in the same volume. Toyota hopes to move toward this goal more quickly through a new collaborative research project at the ALS and the Molecular Foundry. Read more…
Call for General User Proposals: Upcoming Deadline for Next Cycle
The User Office is accepting new General User Proposals (GUPs) from scientists who wish to conduct research at the ALS in the January – June 2015 cycle. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: September 3, 2014
The Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) is now accepting applications for the 2014 submission process. The deadline is September 24, 2014. The SCGSR program provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to conduct part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist for a period of 3 to 12 consecutive months with the goal of preparing graduate students for scientific and technical careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission. Read more…
In addition, the ALS has a similar program that starts at the beginning of the academic year for Ph.D. students who have completed their qualifying exams. While the application process is closed for 2014, see the ALS Doctoral Fellowship Program page for more information.
ALS Data Visualization Lab Serves Up Computing Power
Even though the ALS has been in shutdown mode for almost two months, there’s one area of the facility where users have been busy. The new ALS Visualization and Analysis Lab, which opened to users in November 2013, hosts an impressive amount of computing power that’s helping scientists work through data-heavy beamline results much more quickly and efficiently. Read more…
2015 International Year of Light Photo Contest
The SPIE International Year of Light photo contest is now open: submit your work by September 30, 2014 and show how light and light-based technologies play a vital role in our everyday lives. The contest is open to anyone not employed by SPIE with prizes totaling $4,500 — winning photographs will be published in the SPIE Professional magazine. Read more…
Around the ALS in Photos: A Dome in the Hills
Many staff and visitors take photos of the spectacular views from the ALS, but this time our photographers turn their cameras around to take photos of the iconic dome and its surroundings. See the images, including an early aerial photo from 1946.
Awards
Congratulations go to ALS user Hoi-Ying Holman and her colleagues who were one of the three teams from Berkeley Lab to win a 2014 R&D 100 Award, the “Oscars of Invention.”
ALS user Clemens Heske (UNLV), along with Todd Deutsch (NREL) and Tadashi Ogitsu (LLNL) recently won a 2014 Merit Review Award from the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Program “for outstanding dedication and collaboration in photoelectrochemical surface validation.” Read more about these awards…
The summer is rapidly passing and it’s not too early to start thinking about Fall events. The ALS User Meeting will be held October 6-8th and registration is now open (see meeting information above). Confirmed keynote speakers include John Hill (BNL), Sam Bader (ANL), and Jim Hurley (UCB).
The next UEC meeting will be September 4th, and users who are interested in raising issues to be addressed by the UEC are encouraged to talk to one of the UEC committee members or email us all at alsuec@lbl.gov before that date. As always we are interested in hearing your experiences, thoughts, or concerns. To that end, we encourage everyone to fill out their end-of-run summary and particularly to add written comments.
Operations Update
User operations resumed on Thursday, July 10, after the scheduled shutdown for maintenance and upgrades (May 5-July 9). For the user runs from July 10 to July 20, 2014, the beam reliability [(time scheduled – time lost)/time scheduled)] was 97.2%. For this period, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was 25.0 hours, and the mean time to recovery (MTTR) was 49 minutes. There were no significant interruptions.
Detailed information on reliability is available on the ALS reliability bulletin board, which is located in the hallway between the ALS and the control room in Building 80. Questions about beam reliability should be directed to Dave Richardson (DBRichardson@lbl.gov, x4376).
ALS in the News
