From Brookhaven Lab: "Doors Open at New Interdisciplinary Science Building for Energy Research at Brookhaven Lab"

Brookhaven Lab

April 11, 2013
Joe Gettler

“Doors opened today, April 11, 2013, at the , a new world-class research facility at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory where scientists will work to drive breakthrough solutions to the nation’s energy challenges. Representatives from DOE, Brookhaven Lab, and Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) joined elected officials and members of the Brookhaven Lab community at the ISB for a dedication ceremony to celebrate the facility’s opening.

The new world-class Interdisciplinary Science Building at Brookhaven Lab is an 87,700-square-foot facility containing 60 standard laboratories, four specialty labs, and offices, where researchers will collaborate to tackle America’s most pressing energy challenges.

Scientists at the ISB will engineer and optimize materials with the goal of developing breakthrough technologies for batteries, biofuels, and solar panels.

‘Energy innovation plays a direct role in the continued prosperity and security of the United States, and the ISB is at the forefront of the Department of Energy’s investment in a vibrant future,’ said DOE Office of Science Director Bill Brinkman. ‘The research done here will have long-lasting and far-reaching impacts’”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world.Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Argonne APS: "Protein Structure Could Lead to Better Treatments for HIV, Early Aging"

News from Argonne National Laboratory

APRIL 9, 2013
No Writer Credit

“Researchers have determined the molecular structure of a protein whose mutations have been linked to several early aging diseases, and side effects for common human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) medications. This breakthrough could eventually help researchers develop new treatments for these early-aging diseases and redesign AIDS medications to avoid side effects such as diabetes. The research was carried out at the Southeastern Regional Collaborative Access Team(SER-CAT) facility at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory.

Ribbon diagram of the Ste24p protease.

The researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry determined the molecular structure of the enzyme Ste24p. Their Membrane Protein Structural Biology Consortium is funded by the National Institutes of Health Protein Structure Initiative, which supports the determination of molecular structures of biomedically important target proteins. Their findings were published March 29 in the journal Science.

Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory is one of five national synchrotron radiation light sources supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science to carry out applied and basic research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels, provide the foundations for new energy technologies, and support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security.

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From Berkeley Lab: “…Black Nanoparticles Could Play Key Role in Clean Energy Photocatalysis”

Berkeley Lab

“A unique atomic-scale engineering technique for turning low-efficiency photocatalytic “white” nanoparticles of titanium dioxide into high-efficiency “black” nanoparticles could be the key to clean energy technologies based on hydrogen.

Samuel Mao, a scientist who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division and the University of California at Berkeley, leads the development of a technique for engineering disorder into the nanocrystalline structure of the semiconductor titanium dioxide. This turns the naturally white crystals black in color, a sign that the crystals are now able to absorb infrared as well as visible and ultraviolet light. The expanded absorption spectrum substantially improves the efficiency with which black titanium dioxide can use sunlight to split water molecules for the production of hydrogen.

Berkeley Lab’s Samuel Mao used disorder engineering to transform titanium nanocrystals into highly efficient solar hydrogen photocatalysts, a transformation marked by turning the crystals from white to black. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt)

‘We have demonstrated that black titanium dioxide nanoparticles are capable of generating hydrogen through solar-driven photocatalytic reactions with a record-high efficiency,’ Mao said in a talk at the American Chemical Society (ACS)’s national meeting in New Orleans.

‘The synthesis of black titanium dioxide nanoparticles was based on a hydrogenation process in which white titanium dioxide nanocrystals were subjected to high pressure hydrogen gas,’ said Mao. ‘The unique disordered structure creates a photocatalyst that is both durable and efficient, and gives titanium dioxide, one of the most-studied of all oxide materials, a renewed potential.’”

See the full article here.

A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Operated by the University of California

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From Brookhaven Lab: “Structure Helps Yield Drug ‘Hypersensitivity’ Tests for Patients”

Brookhaven Lab

April 8, 2013
Laura Mgrdichian

“From a patient’s point of view, one of the unsettling things about taking a new drug is the possibility of unwelcome side effects or worse, dangerous allergic reactions. As drugs are being developed and then enter clinical trials, these issues play a huge role in the process, increasing costs and sometimes determining whether a drug will get to market at all.

In this “ribbon diagram,” the HIV/AIDS drug abacavir (orange, blue and red spheres) interacts with a protein (grey) made by a particular gene that causes a hypersensitivity to the drug. The protein “shows” the body’s immune system a peptide (light blue) it has never seen, causing an allergic reaction. No image credit.

One type of severe reaction is ‘hypersensitivity,’ in which the immune system over-reacts to a substance that is foreign but not infectious, producing symptoms that can be mild (such as rashes) to severe (organ failure, even death). In this study, researchers studied an antiviral drug known to cause hypersensitivity in patients who carry a particular gene. Using x-rays at Brookhaven Lab’s National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), they were able to ‘see’ how at the molecular level, the drug binds to the protein created from the gene, triggering the immune response. Their work has produced new ways to predict whether a drug is likely to induce a gene-based allergic reaction.”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world.Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Fermilab: “Pushing accelerator technology with PXIE”

Fermilab is an enduring source of strength for the US contribution to scientific research world wide.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Leah Hesla

“The Intensity Frontier program planned for Fermilab’s proposed Project X is an ambitious one, making extraordinary demands of its particle beams and thus of the machine that provides them. Project X teams aren’t shying away from the challenge. They’re tackling the machine head-on and from the front.

Engineering physicist Bruce Hanna works on the PXIE ion source test stand at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The ion source will arrive at Fermilab this month. Photo: Lionel Prost, AD

This month the Accelerator Sector will begin assembling the Project X Injector Experiment (PXIE), kicking off an R&D program to understand, integrate, test and hammer the dents out of this most complex subsystem in the Project X accelerator. PXIE focuses on the front-end injector of Project X, the section that prepares the beam for delivery to multiple physics experiments.

‘The unique aspects of Project X are pretty much enabled by the way the front end is configured,’ said Steve Holmes, project manager for Project X.

The injector takes up the first roughly 40 meters of the Project X 400-meter linear accelerator. In that short length reside the novel accelerator technologies that are most crucial for Project X.

‘There isn’t anything similar to PXIE in the world, so in some respect we are in uncharted waters,’ said Sergei Nagaitsev, project scientist for Project X.

In addition to those at Fermilab, researchers at Argonne, Berkeley, Oak Ridge and SLAC national laboratories and in the Project X India collaboration participate in PXIE, contributing R&D and the injector’s major components. The goal is to demonstrate by 2018 that the injector system works.

‘If you can prove you can produce, slice and dice the beam the way you like it, with the right beam quality, then you’re a lot more confident that the rest will go well downstream,’ Henderson said. ‘Relatively, the rest is a piece of cake.’

See the full article here.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics.

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From Berkeley Lab: “Sweet Success”

Berkeley Lab

Berkeley Lab Researchers Find Way to Catalyze More Sugars from Biomass

April 07, 2013
Lynn Yarris (510) 486-5375 lcyarris@lbl.gov

“Catalysis may initiate almost all modern industrial manufacturing processes, but catalytic activity on solid surfaces is poorly understood. This is especially true for the cellulase enzymes used to release fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass for the production of advanced biofuels. Now, researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) through support from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) have literally shed new light on cellulase catalysis.

PALM – for Photo-Activated Localization Microscopy – enables researchers to quantify how and where enzymes are binding to the surface of cellulose in heterogeneous surfaces, such as those in plant cell walls.

Using an ultrahigh-precision visible light microscopy technique called PALM – for Photo-Activated Localization Microscopy – the researchers have found a way to improve the collective catalytic activity of enzyme cocktails that can boost the yields of sugars for making fuels. Increasing the sugar yields from cellulosic biomass to help bring down biofuel production costs is essential for the widespread commercial adoption of these fuels.

From left, Jan Liphardt, Harvey Blanch and Doug Clark led the development of a way to improve the collective catalytic activity of enzyme cocktails that can boost the yields of sugars for making advanced biofuels. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt)

‘The enzymatic breakdown of cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars has been the Achilles heel of biofuels, a key economic bottleneck,’ says chemical engineer Harvey Blanch, one of the leaders of this research. ‘Our research provides a new understanding of how multiple cellulase enzymes attack solid cellulose by working in concert, an action known as enzyme synergy, and explains why certain mixtures of cellulase enzymes work better together than each works individually.’”

See the full article here.

A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Operated by the University of California

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From Argonne APS: “Antibody evolution could guide HIV vaccine development”

News from Argonne National Laboratory

“Observing the evolution of a particular type of antibody in an infected HIV-1 patient has provided insights that will enable vaccination strategies that mimic the actual antibody development within the body. Spearheaded by Duke University, the multi-institution study included analysis from Los Alamos National Laboratory and used high-energy X-rays from the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

The evolution of the viral protein (green) from 14 weeks through 100 weeks post-transmission is compared with the maturation of the human antibody.

The kind of antibody studied is called a broadly cross-reactive neutralizing antibody, and details of its generation could provide a blueprint for effective vaccination, according to the study’s authors. In a paper published online in Nature this week titled Co-evolution of a broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibody and founder virus, the team reported on the isolation, evolution and structure of a broadly neutralizing antibody from an African donor followed from the time of infection.

The observations trace the co-evolution of the virus and antibodies, ultimately leading to the development of a strain of the potent antibodies in this subject, and they could provide insights into strategies to elicit similar antibodies by vaccination.

Patients early in HIV-1 infection have primarily a single “founder” form of the virus that has been strong enough to infect the patient, even though the population in the originating patient is usually far more diverse and contains a wide variety of HIV mutations. Once the founder virus is involved in the new patient’s system, the surrounding environment stimulates the HIV to mutate and form a unique, tailored population of virus that is specific to the individual.

‘Our hope is that a vaccine based on the series of HIV variants that evolved within this subject, that were together capable of stimulating this potent broad antibody response in his natural infection, may enable triggering similar protective antibody responses in vaccines,’ said [Bette] Korber, leader of the Los Alamos team.”

Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory is one of five national synchrotron radiation light sources supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science to carry out applied and basic research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels, provide the foundations for new energy technologies, and support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security.

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From Berkeley Lab: “Department of Energy Renews Joint BioEnergy Institute for Another Five Years”

Berkeley Lab

April 04, 2013
Lynn Yarris

“Reaffirming the Obama administration’s commitment to the development of sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel energy, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a five-year renewal of funding for the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a Bay Area multi-institutional scientific partnership. Under the renewal, JBEI will be funded at the rate of $25 million annually through 2018.

JBEI is one of three DOE Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs) established by DOE’s Office of Science in 2007 on the basis of a nationwide competition to accelerate fundamental research breakthroughs for the development of advanced, next-generation biofuels. Funded at $125 million for its first five-year period, JBEI was officially dedicated on December 2, 2008 at its state-of-the-art laboratory facility in Emeryville. Today the JBEI partnership, which is led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), includes the Sandia National Laboratories, the University of California (UC) campuses of Berkeley and Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Said Energy Secretary Steven Chu, ‘Developing the next generation of American biofuels will enhance our national energy security, expand the domestic biofuels industry, and produce new clean energy jobs. It will help America’s farmers and create vast new opportunities for wealth creation in rural communities. By investing in innovative approaches and technologies at our Bioenergy Research Centers, we can continue to move the biofuels industry forward and grow our economy while reducing our reliance on foreign oil.’”

See the full article here.

A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Operated by the University of California

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From ORNL: “ORNL microscopy uncovers “dancing” silicon atoms in graphene”

April 3, 2013
Morgan McCorkle

“Jumping silicon atoms are the stars of an atomic scale ballet featured in a new Nature Communications study from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers used electron microscopy to document the ‘dancing’ motions of silicon atoms, pictured in white, in a graphene sheet.

The ORNL research team documented the atoms’ unique behavior by first trapping groups of silicon atoms, known as clusters, in a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon called graphene. The silicon clusters, composed of six atoms, were pinned in place by pores in the graphene sheet, allowing the team to directly image the material with a scanning transmission electron microscope.

The ‘dancing’ movement of the silicon atoms was caused by the energy transferred to the material from the electron beam of the team’s microscope.

‘It’s not the first time people have seen clusters of silicon,’ said coauthor Juan Carlos Idrobo. ‘The problem is when you put an electron beam on them, you insert energy into the cluster and make the atoms move around. The difference with these results is that the change that we observed was reversible. We were able to see how the silicon cluster changes its structure back and forth by having one of its atoms ‘dancing’ between two different positions.’”

See the full article here.

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

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From ESA: “Seeing green”

European Space Agency

3 April 2013
No Writer Credit

“Test engineer Laurence Levan is bathed in an intense green glow from powerful ultraviolet lamps simulating the unfiltered sunlight of space within a test chamber – the lamplight being in fact blue, but filtered through yellow screens to block the harmful ultraviolet rays.

UV test facility at ESTEC

This is the CROSS1 VUV-UV high vacuum chamber at work, based in the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratories at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

The facility is used to recreate the space environment by attaining space-quality vacuum, while subjecting the test item to temperature extremes – ranging from -150°C to +400°C or higher – and exposing it to simulate ultraviolet solar radiation, up to 13 times the sunlight experienced by satellites in Earth orbit.

Typically, such high-intensity radiation is used to perform lifetime testing, artificially ageing the test material to gain insight into how they will perform across a mission’s entire lifetime. In a couple of cases, there are indeed space missions that will have to endure comparable conditions for real.

The facility has recently been used for screening and qualifying various materials for ESA’s 2015 BepiColombo mission to Mercury, as well as Solar Orbiter, which will venture even closer to the Sun after its 2017 launch.

The materials being tested include solar cells, insulating white ceramics to cover the high-gain antenna that will return mission data back to Earth and high-performance thermal control material, such as specially tailored multilayer insulation and Nextel ceramic blankets.”

See the full article here.

The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 19 member states. Headquartered in Paris, ESA has a staff of more than 2,000. ESA’s space flight program includes human spaceflight, mainly through the participation in the International Space Station program, the launch and operations of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon, Earth observation, science, telecommunication as well as maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana, and designing launch vehicles. ESA science missions are based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands, Earth Observation missions at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy, ESA Mission Control (ESOC) is in Darmstadt, Germany, the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany, and the European Space Astronomy Centre is located in Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain.

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