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Newsletter============================================CLS E-News Vol. 5 No. 12 July 29, 2008 www.lightsource.ca University of Saskatchewan, Canada ============================================
********************************************** 1. CLS Board of Directors: New Chair and Vice-Chair One of Canada’s leading innovators has been elected Chair of the Board of Directors of Canadian Light Source Inc. (CLSI), Canada’s national synchrotron research facility. Rafik Loutfy, Director of McMaster University’s Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, assumed his duties on June 24, 2008. Loutfy, who has served as Vice Chair since February 2007, succeeds former national science adviser Arthur Carty as Chair. Mark Sutton, Ernest Rutherford Professor of Physics at McGill University, was elected Vice Chair. Professor Mark Sutton has over 25 years of experience as a synchrotron researcher, using X-rays to probe changes in the structure of matter over time, at nanometer length scales and with time resolutions of fractions of a second. He has been involved in the design and construction of experimental facilities at synchrotrons in the United States, and has served on the CLSI Board of Directors since 2004. See the full press release at: http://www.lightsource.ca/media/media_release_20080709.php For more information on current Board membership, please visit our website: http://www.lightsource.ca/aboutus/board.php 2. CLS Activity Report 2007 Released Covering the period from January to December 2007, this edition includes research highlights and progress reports documenting the advancements made at Canada’s synchrotron. The Activity Report may be downloaded from the CLS website in its entirety at: Hardcopies may be requested by contacting mailto:cls@lightsource.ca 3. Annual Report 2007-2008 Available The CLS Annual Report for the 2007-2008 fiscal year is now available. This is the formal report to the Member (the University of Saskatchewan) and stakeholders of Canadian Light Source, Inc., and includes our financial statements as well as highlights of some of the scientific achievements of CLS users and staff during the reporting period. The report is available from our website: http://www.lightsource.ca/aboutus/annual_reports.php 4. Election Results – Users’ Advisory Committee It is my pleasure to inform you of the results of the Canadian Light Source Users' Advisory Committee (UAC) election held July 7-14, 2008. Congratulations to the following Regular Members, who were elected for a three-year term, commencing September 2008:
Congratulations also to the Student Member, Brian Bewer, University of Saskatchewan, who was elected for a two-year term commencing September 2008. On behalf of the UAC, I would like to thank all candidates for volunteering in this election. We look forward to working with the new members of our committee. We would also like to thank retiring members - Andrea Damascelli, David Klymyshyn, Tom Kotzer, John Neville, Regan Wilks and Ingrid Pickering (Past Chair) - for their valuable contributions to the committee. If you have any questions or suggestions, the members of the UAC welcome your input. Further information about the UAC can be found at http://www.lightsource.ca/uac Sincerely, 5. Science Highlight: X-ray Photoelectron Emission Microscopy and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Ultrathin Fluoropolymer Coatings for Stent Applications Fluoropolymer plasma coatings have been investigated for application as stent coatings due to their chemical stability, conformability, and hydrophobic properties. The challenge resides in the capacity for these coatings to remain adherent, stable, and cohesive after the in vivo stent expansion, which can generate local plastic deformation of up to 25%. Plasma-coated samples have been prepared by a multistep process on 316L stainless steel substrates, and some coated samples were plastically deformed to mimic a stent expansion. Analyses were then performed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray photoelectron emission microscopy (X-PEEM), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) to determine the chemical and physical effects of such a deformation on both the coating and the interfacial region. While XPS analyses always showed a continuous coating with no significant effect of the deformation, TOF-SIMS and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (derived from X-PEEM) data indicated the presence of a certain density of porosity and pinholes in all coatings as well as sparse fissures and molecular fragmentation in the deformed ones. The smallness of the area fraction affected by the defects and the subtlety of the chemical changes could only be evidenced through the higher chemical sensitivity of these latter techniques. Hale et al. (2008). X-ray Photoelectron Emission Microscopy and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Ultrathin Fluoropolymer Coatings for Stent Applications. Langmuir (In press DOI 10.1021/la8002788). Published on Web 07/11/2008: http://pubs.acs.org/journals/langd5/index.html 6. CLS Summer School III - August 18 – 22 – Last Chance to Sign-Up! Designed for students and researchers interested in adding synchrotron techniques to their research skill set, the CLS Summer School program aims to take participants from the basics of synchrotron operation and techniques, through to cutting-edge scientific talks, so that attendees are then equipped to obtain and use synchrotron beamtime. For more information, please visit: http://www.lightsource.ca/education/summerschool/ 7. Now Hiring We are currently accepting applications for the following positions:
For the full position descriptions please go to: http://www.lightsource.ca/careers =============================================== Last modified: 2008-08-05 14:08:51 |
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