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ALSNews Vol. 421

October 28, 2020

Jennifer Doudna and the Nobel Prize: The Advanced Light Source Perspective

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for the development of a world-changing gene-editing technology. At the ALS, Doudna’s work on CRISPR-Cas9 was enabled by many visionary people with innovative ideas, implemented in support of a world-class structural biology program. Read more »PPT-icon-35

Increasing the Efficiency of CO Catalytic Conversion

Using a combination of tools at the ALS and other facilities, researchers probed specific mechanisms affecting the efficiency of catalysts for CO-to-CO2 conversion. The work brings us closer to the rational design of more effective catalysts for cleaning up toxic CO exhaust and advances our understanding of fundamental catalytic reactions. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Experimental Drug Targets HIV in a Novel Way

Researchers from Gilead Sciences Inc. solved the structure of an experimental HIV drug bound to a novel target: the capsid protein that forms a shield around the viral RNA. The work could lead to a long-lasting HIV treatment that overcomes the problem of drug resistance and avoids the need for burdensome daily pill-taking. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Detecting Phonon Overtones in Correlated Materials

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) has recently been shown to be a promising technique for studying electron–phonon coupling in correlated materials. When a photoexcited electron interacts with phonons during decay, it shows up in the RIXS spectra as clear phonon overtones: higher-order excitations that appear as ripples in intensity. Read more »

Stress-Induced Structural Transformations in Gold Nanocrystals

Metallic nanocrystals are widely used in catalysis, electronics, photonics, and sensing applications, but our understanding of their stability under operational stresses is limited. These studies of gold nanocrystals at high pressures found that large-scale structural transformation is possible and must be considered at the nanoscale. Read more »

Yang Ha, Chemistry and Materials Postdoc

Synchrotron science is in Yang Ha’s DNA. After getting his PhD from Stanford/SSRL, he joined the ALS in 2018 to study batteries and has branched out to theoretical computation and machine learning. He has also learned useful skills for sharing cutting-edge research with a broader audience. Read more »

ALS Shutdown Schedule for 2021

The ALS will be shut down for the holidays and maintenance beginning Dec. 24; user operations are scheduled to resume on Mar. 30. The summer shutdown is expected to begin in early July and last approximately three months. Over the next few years, shutdowns will likely be longer than in recent years to allow preparation and installation associated with the ALS-U Project. Read more »

In Memoriam: Alan Jackson, Retired Accelerator Physicist

Alan Jackson led the accelerator physics group of the ALS through its design, construction, and early years of operation. He took an active role in building synchrotrons around the world, and the accelerator physics community will miss both his expertise and joie de vivre. Read more »

ALS in the News (October 2020)