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Newsletter=========================================================== CLS E-News Vol. 4 No. 7 January 30, 2007 www.lightsource.ca University of Saskatchewan, Canada ====================================================================
*************************************************************************** 1. Bill’s Bulletin: Looking Back, Moving Forward 2006 was an extremely eventful and productive year for the CLS. The announcement of $25.8 million in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for three Phase III facilities, very positive results from our granting council mid-term review and the first publications by users using data obtained at the CLS will undoubtedly be the most recalled memories of the past year. These highlights would not have been possible without the tireless dedication of the CLS staff. Thanks to their hard work, all of our Phase I beamlines are now running and producing original science and hosting outside users. Outstanding progress was also made on moving ahead with our Phase II beamlines, with four front ends installed during the October shutdown and hutches taking shape on the experimental floor. This spring will the see the installation of the remaining Phase II front ends, as well as the completion of the BMIT building expansion. First light in some of the Phase II facilities is anticipated by this fall. The machine also continues to surpass original performance goals. The first tests of top-up mode were successful and CLS is looking forward to operations for users in top-up mode later in 2007. Regular operations at 250 mA, along with improvements in single bunch, multi bunch and top-up modes will provide enhanced opportunities to our users on all of our Phase I beamlines. In addition to facility milestones in 2007, CLSI will be working with our partners to secure renewed operating funding for our next five year cycle, starting in 2009. These efforts are vital to ensuring that Canada’s synchrotron and Canadian synchrotron science will continue to flourish. Finally, I would like to thank the members of our user community and our many stakeholders for their support throughout 2006 and I look forward to continued success in the year to come. 2. First Publication from CMCF Data The first publication resulting from experiments performed at the CMCF 08ID-1 beamline was recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Volume 281, Number 51, December 22, 2006). In the article, titled “Calcium Stiffens Archaeal Rad51 Recombinase from Methanococcus voltae for Homologous Recombination,” authors Xinguo Qian, Yujiong He, Xinfeng Ma and Yu Luo, of the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Biochemistry, and Pawel Grochulski and Michel Fodje, both staff scientists at CLS, report that the DNA strand exchange activity but not the ATPase activity of an archaeal RadA/Rad51 recombinase from Methanococcus voltae (MvRadA) is also subject to calcium stimulation. Crystallized MvRadA filaments in the presence of CaCl2 resemble that of the recently reported ATPase active form in the presence of an activating dose of KCl. These archaeal and homologous eukaryal and bacterial recombinases play a key role in DNA repair by forming helical nucleo-protein filaments in which a hallmark strand exchange reaction between homologous DNA substrate occurs. Data published in the paper suggests a unified stimulation mechanism by potassium and calcium because of the existence of a conserved ATPase center promiscuous in binding cations. The full publication is available online at: http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/281/51/39380 3. CLS Activity Report 2005-2006 Preparations for the third instalment of the CLS Activity Report are now well underway. The primary objective of the report is to communicate the research and development of Canada’s national synchrotron facility to the wider scientific community. This year’s report will summarize the progress made at the CLS in the areas of research, facility development and operations from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2006. The key to a successful report is input from our user community. The deadline for article submission is Wednesday, February 28. Articles will be published in the following areas: Chemical and Materials Science, Life Science, Earth and Environmental Science, and Industrial and Applied Science. Further information, including a detailed submission guide and a MS Word template are available at: http://www.lightsource.ca/uso/activity_report.php. 4. Photon Beam Brilliance Improvements In early January an electron current of 300 mA was accumulated in the storage ring. The beam lifetime (1/e) at this current was over 10 hours. Some distortion in the vertical beam size was observed but this was remedied with a small increase in the vertical chromaticity. A current of 300 mA is close to the upper limit that can be achieved with a single superconducting RF cavity. Radiation surveys were carried out with a stored current of 275 mA and higher current operations were deemed safe. The operating current for ‘normal’ operations is now set to a maximum value of 250 mA. Previously the maximum current was 200 mA. The storage ring now routinely operates with the vertical transverse coupling adjusted to 0.2%. (Vertical coupling of less than 0.1% has been achieved.) A coupling of 0.2% results in a vertical beam size (1 σ) in the straights of 10 microns. Previously the beam size was 18 microns. Depending on the source and photon energy the above improvements result in an increase in photon beam brilliance of a factor of 2 to 4. 5. Enhanced Terahertz Radiation Produced at CLS On January 23, short intense bunches of electrons were used to produce coherent terahertz radiation. Short bunches (1 σ < 20ps) were produced by tuning the storage ring to have a negative dispersion in the straights, thereby making the path length the same for all electron energies (zero momentum compaction). Bunch lengths were monitored using the OSR diagnostic beamline. An electron current of 12 mA was stored in a single bunch. A liquid-helium cooled bolometer was used at the Far-IR beamline to measure coherent bursts of radiation at the terahertz frequencies with intensities up to 10,000 times that seen from non-coherent radiation in the 1175 µm (8.5 cm -1, 0.25 THz, 1.2 meV) wavelength region. This is a new source of intense radiation for IR users. 6. Industrial Science Update With Phase I beamlines coming into full operations, the industrial science/business development group is becoming increasingly active. Within the last few months, the CLS has signed eight new contracts on projects ranging from macromolecular crystallography to air particulate emissions from smelters. A number of these are new customers, and a significant portion are repeat clients who see having access to a synchrotron a part of their core business. CVRD INCO Ltd., for example, one of the world's premier mining and metals companies and the world's second largest producer of nickel, has seen the synchrotron as so potentially important to its operations that they are considering investing in a dedicated CLS scientist to work on their projects. On a sad note, the industrial science group is losing Dr. Colleen Christensen. She has accepted a position at the Feeds Innovation Institute at the University of Saskatchewan and her presence will be missed. In the next few months the CLS will be launching an industrial science advisory committee composed of both scientists and business representatives to help identify strategic directions for our group. We look forward to building capacity in our business development activities and industrial science program. Stay tuned. 7. New Staff & now hiring The Controls and Instrumentation Development group is pleased to welcome Margaret Smith, the newest member of the team of Controls Systems Analysts. Margaret has an extensive career as a software engineer, having worked in Australia and the U.K. Most recently, Margaret had been working at SED Systems in Saskatoon as a Systems Analyst, focusing on software development for satellite communications. For future job openings please check: http://www.lightsource.ca/careers/ ================================================ To unsubscribe please go to http://www.lightsource.ca/enews/signup.php. We welcome suggestions for topics and content. Contact us at clsi@lightsource.ca Last modified: 2008-07-29 14:07:29 |
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