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Newsletter========================================
************************************* 1. 13TH ANNUAL CLS USERS' MEETING - EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE MAY 3RD! The Canadian Light Source Annual Users' Meeting will be held in Saskatoon, on June 17-18, 2010. The meeting is a great opportunity to learn about progress at the Canadian Light Source, present your recent synchrotron work and meet fellow users. Please register online NOW, before the early registration deadline of Monday, May 3rd. This years event will feature a day of workshops on exciting new topics and scientific presentations including a beamline and facility update, latest results from the CLS, as well as talks by young scientists and guest speakers from around the globe. Other events include a vendor exhibition, poster session, and a banquet. You are invited to submit posters about your recent or planned synchrotron work. Submit your abstract before May 14: http://www.lightsource.ca/uac/meeting2010/poster_session.php The Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation (CISR) will again offer a prize for the best synchrotron related poster(s) presented by a graduate student(s) or post-doctoral fellow(s). The prize is up to $1000 to support travel by the winner(s) to attend a related conference of their choice in the coming year and present their work. Funding is available to provide travel subsidies to students or post-docs attending the meeting, plus attendees of the Annual Users' Meeting presenting a poster. Visit our website for program and registration information: http://www.lightsource.ca/uac/meeting2010 2. GENERAL USER PROPOSAL RESULTS: JULY-DECEMBER, 2010 CLS held its Peer Review Committee (PRC) meeting on April 16, chaired by Glenn Waychunas (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA). The PRC reviewed general user proposals for beam time requested for the July-December, 2010 period. Eight beamlines participated in this call, including two Phase II beamlines, VESPERS and SXRMB. Ninety-five new proposals were received, along with 43 beam time requests against existing proposals, for a total of 138. Proposals were reviewed and scored by the Peer Review Committee and at least three external reviewers on a scale of one to five, one being the highest score, five being the lowest. Beamtime was allocated based on each proposal's ranking in relation to all other proposals for a given beamline. Ninety-five of the 138 proposals received were awarded beamtime and recipients are currently being notified. To view details on the results as well as learn more about the peer review process please see http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/results_of_call.php 3. REIXS - ACCEPTING LETTER S OF INTENT The Resonant Elastic and Inelastic X-ray Scattering beamline (REIXS 10ID-2) is now accepting Letters of Intent for the scheduling of beam time for the May-December, 2010 period. Letters of Intent provide the opportunity to perform some exploratory experiments as the beamline is being commissioned. Research must be discussed with the beamline scientist prior to submitting an application. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.lightsource.ca/experimental/intent_letter.php and http://www.lightsource.ca/experimental/reixs.php If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our office at mailto:clsuo@lightsource.ca or 306-657-3700. 4. ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE G. MICHAEL BANCROFT PH.D. THESIS AWARD Applications are now being accepted for the G. Michael Bancroft Ph.D. Thesis Award. Named after one of the founders of Canadian synchrotron science, the award consists of a plaque and a cash prize of $3000. The CLS will present the award annually to the Ph.D. thesis judged to be the best published in the last calendar year. The award will be presented at the Annual Users Meeting. For information on how to apply, please visit http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/bancroftthesisaward.php 5. CLS GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL SUPPORT PROGRAM The CLS Graduate Student Travel Support Program will be available starting with Cycle 12 (July December 2010). Each grant has a maximum value of $1500. Applications will be accepted starting June 1st and will be filled on a first come, first served basis. For more information regarding the application process and eligibility criteria, please visit: http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/travel_support.php 6. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT: STRUCTURE OF THE BACTERIAL TEICHOIC ACID POLYMERASE TagF PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO MEMBRANE ASSOCIATION AND CATALYSIS Teichoic acid polymers are composed of polyol-phosphate units and form a major component of Gram-positive bacterial cell walls. These anionic compounds perform a multitude of important roles in bacteria and are synthesized by monotopic membrane proteins of the TagF polymerase family. We have determined the structure of /Staphylococcus epidermidis/ TagF to 2.7- resolution from a construct that includes both the membrane-targeting region and the glycerol-phosphate polymerase domains. TagF possesses a helical region for interaction with the lipid bilayer, placing the active site at a suitable distance for access to the membrane-bound substrate. Characterization of active-site residue variants and analysis of a CDP-glycerol substrate complex suggest a mechanism for polymer synthesis. With the importance of teichoic acid in Gram-positive physiology, this elucidation of the molecular details of TagF function provides a critical new target in the development of novel anti-infectives. Lovering, A.L., Lin, L.Y.-C., Sewell, E.W., Spreter, T., Brown, E.D., Strydnaka, N.C.J. 2010. Structure of the bacterial teichoic acid polymerase TagF provides insights into membrane association and catalysis. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, Advance Online Publication 18 April 2010. Doi:10.1038/nsmb.1819. 7. GET THERE ON TIME: NEW CAMPUS SHUTTLE A new University of Saskatchewan shuttle service will operate as a pilot project from March 30 to June 25, 2010. The shuttle is provided for anyone travelling between CLS and the university campus. For more information, contact Bryan Peppin at 966-4591 or bryan.peppin@usask.ca. To view a PDF of the route map and timetable visit http://www.usask.ca/vpfr/pdf/shuttle.pdf 8. UPDATE ON VUVX2010 - 11-16 JULY 2010, VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA. Over 500 abstracts have been submitted. We expect over 450 delegates from more than 30 countries. If you wish to attend please note that the early registration deadline is 14 May. There will be an increased registration fee after that date. For those who have submitted abstracts, notification of the type and date of presentation will be sent by May 7th at the latest. 9. ACCOMMODATION WHILE VISITING CLS We regret to inform you that due to circumstances beyond our control, accommodation at the Lutheran Seminary is temporarily unavailable. Alternative accommodations on the University of Saskatchewan campus are available between May August, 2010, and appropriate arrangements will be made for fall as well. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/housing.php ********************************************* Check out these links to see who is planning to sponsor and/or exhibit! SPONSORS: http://www.lightsource.ca/uac/meeting2010/sponsors.php EXHIBITORS: http://www.lightsource.ca/uac/meeting2010/exhibitors.php 11. NOW HIRING The following job postings are currently available at CLS:
For the complete job descriptions, please go to http://www.lightsource.ca/careers/ 12. 16TH PAN-AMERICAN SYNCHROTRON RADIATION INSTRUMENTATION CONFERENCE (SRI2010) ON SEPTEMBER 21-24, 2010, AT ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY The Advanced Photon Source is pleased to announce the 16th Pan- American Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation Conference (SRI2010) to be held September 21-24, 2010 at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois (USA). The SRI2010 Conference Program will feature presentations on the latest developments in synchrotron methods and instrumentation, including new sources, optics, detectors, beam lines, and groundbreaking applications. In addition, SRI2010 will emphasize the impact of synchrotron radiation instrumentation in many disciplines, including life, energy, and environmental sciences. SRI2010 is now accepting abstracts for posters and contributed oral presentations. To be included in the program book and to be considered for oral presentation at the conference, abstracts are due by June 15th, 2010. The conference proceedings will be published as a Special Issue of the journal Nuclear Instruments and Methods-A (NIM-A), and will be available both as a bound volume and an online issue. Please see the SRI2010 website http://sri2010.aps.anl.gov for details on conference registration, abstract submission, travel, accommodations, vendor exhibition, and much more. Be sure to check back periodically for the latest news and updates. We look forward to seeing you in September! With warm regards, =============================================== Last modified: 2010-04-28 14:04:22 |
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