Newsletter
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CLS E-News Vol. 8 No. 3
www.lightsource.ca February 28, 2011
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- Call for Proposals Deadline is Tuesday March 1, 2011
- First Annual CLS MX Data Collection School - Application Deadline March 18
- Canadian Synchrotron Summer School, June 19 - 23, 2011, Saskatoon
- Research Highlight: Genetic Selection Designed to Stabilize Proteins Uncovers a Chaperone.
- First Remote Users at the Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography Facility (CMCF)
- CLS Represents in Journal Top 25 Lists
- New Peer Review Committee Members
- New Staff and Now Hiring
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1. CALL FOR PROPOSALS DEADLINE IS TUESDAY MARCH 1, 2011
Contact: mailto:clsuo@lightsource.ca
The call for proposals closes Tuesday, March 1 at 23:59 CST for scheduling of beam time for the July-December, 2011 period. The schedule can be viewed at http://www.lightsource.ca/operations/schedule.php
GENERAL USER PROPOSALS received for operational beamlines are reviewed for safety and technical feasibility, and then scored for scientific merit by an external review committee. Research time obtained through this competitive peer review process takes place twice per year. General User research should result in the publication of scientific results.
You have the option of submitting a NEW proposal or a Beam Time Request against an Active Proposal. Allocation of shifts for July-December, 2011 will be based on the highest ranked proposals (both new and active). The evaluation criteria include quality of science, suitability of CLS resources and quality and capability of the researchers. To view evaluation criteria used in reviewing and rating proposals see http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/peer_reviews.php; to compare your score to others on the same beamline, please visit http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/results_of_call.php
View participating beamlines at http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/beamline_status.php
In addition to normal mode operations at 250 mA, shifts are available for Single Bunch Mode and Coherent Synchrotron Radiation studies. These shifts must be applied for through the General User program.
For more information, please visit our website: http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/call_proposals.php
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2. FIRST ANNUAL CLS MACROMOLECULAR CRYSTALLOGRAPHY DATA COLLECTION SCHOOL- APPLICATION DEADLINE MARCH 18
Contact: mailto:pawel.grochulski@lightsource.ca
The Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography Facility (CMCF) is pleased to introduce an intensive five-day hands-on data collection school.
The School will take place May 16 - 20, 2011 at the Canadian Light Source. Participants will attend a series of lectures and be engaged in macromolecular crystallography (MX) data collection at CMCF beamlines. Completing the school will be an essential step to making use of the beamlines remotely and will better equip participants to effectively collect diffraction data on-site. Additionally, this year's special topic will be an in-depth look at the use of PHENIX for data analysis and structure solution with invited speaker Dr. Paul Adams. Participants should have a basic grounding in crystallography prior to attending the course.
The application deadline is being extended to March 8, 2011. Please visit the CMCF website for more information, and please apply as soon as possible at http://cmcf.lightsource.ca/school
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3. CANADIAN SYNCHROTRON SUMMER SCHOOL, JUNE 19 - 23, 2011, SASKATOON
Contact: mailto:summerschool@lightsource.ca
CS3 is now accepting applications! Held in conjunction with SES V and the AUM, this year's theme is Synchrotron Techniques in Environmental Sciences. Information to be presented through lectures, case studies, as well as practical hands-on experience on beamlines, collecting and analyzing data.
Please visit http://www.lightsource.ca/education/summerschool/ for more information.
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4. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT: GENETIC SELECTION DESIGNED TO STABILIZE PROTEINS UNCOVERS A CHAPERONE CALLED SPY
Contact: James Bardwell at mailto:jbardwel@umich.edu
To optimize the in vivo folding of proteins, the researchers linked protein stability to antibiotic resistance, thereby forcing bacteria to effectively fold and stabilize proteins. When they challenged Escherichia coli to stabilize a very unstable periplasmic protein, it massively overproduced a periplasmic protein called Spy, which increases the steady-state levels of a set of unstable protein mutants up to 700-fold. In vitro studies demonstrate that the Spy protein is an effective ATP-independent chaperone that suppresses protein aggregation and aids protein refolding. The authors' strategy opens up new routes for chaperone discovery and the custom tailoring of the in vivo folding environment. Spy forms thin, apparently flexible cradle-shaped dimers. The structure of Spy is unlike that of any previously solved chaperone, making it the prototypical member of a new class of small chaperones that facilitate protein refolding in the absence of energy cofactors.
This research was conducted on CLS's CMCF beamline 08ID-1 by users from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the departments of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Biological Chemistry, and the Life Sciences Institute of the University of Michigan, McGill University Department of Biochemistry, and the NRC Biotechnology Research Institute. Data was obtained through the CMCF mail-in service and collected by CMCF research associate Shaun Labiuk.
Quan Shu, Koldewey, P., Tapley, T., Kirsch, N., Ruane, K.M., Pfizenmaier, J., Shi Rong, Hofmann, S., Foit, L., Ren Guoping, Jakob, U., Xu Zhaohui, Cygler, M.and Bardwell, JCA. Genetic selection designed to stabilize proteins uncovers a chaperone called Spy. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, published on-line 13 February 2011. DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2016.
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5. FIRST REMOTE USERS AT THE CANADIAN MACROMOLECULAR CRYSTALLOGRAPHY FACILITY (CMCF) 08B1-1 BEAMLINE
Contact: mailto:michel.fodje@lightsource.ca
Researchers from the group of Dr Emil Pai, at the Ontario Cancer Institute, were the first to benefit from the remote control capability which recently became available at the CMCF 08B1-1 Beamline, on February 24th 2011. This mode of operation allows researchers to collect data on their samples without leaving their home laboratories as though they were present at the synchrotron, thereby saving travel costs. The researchers shipped their samples in standard containers which were then loaded by beamline staff into the robotic automounter.
Using a freely available software client installed on their home machines, the research team was able connect to the beamline through a secure encrypted channel in order to perform their experiments. All other actions normally required of on-site users, such as securing the enclosures, were performed by beamline staff on their behalf. Remote control is available to users with an active proposal after completing appropriate training. Users wishing to use this capability should contact beamline staff.
For more information, please visit our website: http://cmcf.lightsource.ca
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6. CLS REPRESENTS IN JOURNAL TOP 25 LISTS
Contact: mailto:brant.billinghurst@lightsource.ca, mailto:robert.blyth@lightsource.ca
The Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy Top 25 Hottest Articles from October to December 2010 was recently released, and several of our FarIR users are well-represented in the standings. The review article "High-Resolution infrared spectroscopy with synchrotron sources" (J. Mol. Spect. 260 (2010) pp. 66-71) by long-time CLS user and Far-IR beam team leader, Dr. Robert McKellar, tops the charts at #4 after being #1 from July to September, 2010 and #5 overall for the October 2009 to September 2010 period. Two other papers, "The Microwave and Far Infrared Spectra of Acetaldehyde-d1" (J. Mol. Spect. 263 (2010) 145-149) by Elkeurti et al., and High resolution Fourier transform infrared spectra and analysis of the ν14 , ν15 and ν16 bands of azetidine" (J. Mol. Spect. 264 (2010) 56-59) by Zaprozan et al. were #18 and 21, respectively.
Another interesting note: of six papers that have been published in the Journal of Molecular Physics by users of the Far-IR beamline at the CLS (using CLS data) five of them have been Top 25 Hottest articles. Of those, one has appeared four times (including being in the top 25 for the year), and two have appeared twice. These multiple appearances are very telling as that means that these articles have continued to garner interest even after their initial publication. Congratulations!
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7. NEW PEER REVIEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Contact: mailto:clsuo@lightsource.ca
CLS is pleased to welcome Dr. Daniel Strawn, University of Idaho, to our peer review team.
The PRC evaluates and scores General User proposals for the use of CLS experimental facilities, emphasizing the excellence of science based on the quality of scientific research in the context of the field (merit), the suitability of CLS resources relative to the proposed research (suitability), and the quality and capability of the researchers based on their track record (capability). Each proposal is reviewed and scored by at least three external reviewers and at least one member of the Peer Review Committee.
Details on the Peer Review Committee are available at: http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/peer_reviews.php
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8. NEW STAFF & NOW HIRING
Contact: mailto:jobs@lightsource.ca
We are pleased to announce that Peter Thorpe has accepted the position of Technical Services Manager. Peter has worked at the CLS for the last 4 years as a Mechanical Engineer; his experience and familiarity with the unique requirements of our facility make him an excellent addition to the management team.
We are also pleased to welcome the following new employee who started with us recently:
Heather Smith, User Services Assistant: Heather comes to the CLS from Toronto where she worked as an Action Central Administrative Clerk for Individual Insurance with Desjardins Financial Security.
For a list of current opportunities at the CLS please check our website regularly: http://www.lightsource.ca/careers/
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CLS E-News is an electronic newsletter designed to keep users and stakeholders informed about developments at the Canadian Light Source, the national synchrotron research facility located at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. Current and past issues of CLS E-News are available on the CLS web site: http://www.lightsource.ca/enews/archives.php
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Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:07