Events and E-News

Newsletter

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CLS E-News                           Vol. 8 No. 7
www.lightsource.ca           June 29, 2011
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  1. SyLMAND Accepting Letters of Intent
  2. 2010 CLS Research Report Now Available
  3. Accepting Nominations for Users' Advisory Committee (UAC) - Deadline July 4, 2011
  4. Voting for Users' Advisory Committee Members Starts July 11
  5. New Chair of Users' Advisory Committee
  6. Users Meeting Award Winners
  7. Research Highlight: Impact of Brca1 Brct Domain Missense Substitutions.
  8. Research Highlight: Ca3n2 and Mg3n2: Unpredicted High-Pressure Behavior.
  9. Increase Your Impact Factor: Talk About your CLS Science and Win an iPod
  10. New Staff & Now Hiring

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1. SyLMAND ACCEPTING LETTERS OF INTENT
Contact: clsuo@lightsource.ca

The Synchrotron Laboratory for Micro and Nano Devices (SyLMAND) facility (05B2-1 SyLMAND) is now accepting Letters of Intent proposals for high aspect ratio polymer microstructure fabrication using X-ray lithography.

Letters of Intent provide the opportunity to perform some initial experiments while the beamline ramps up operations. Research must be discussed with the appropriate CLSI 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/uso/beamline_status.php#SyLMAND

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our office at
clsuo@lightsource.ca or 306-657-3700.
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2. 2010 CLS RESEARCH REPORT NOW AVAILABLE
Contact: matthew.dalzell@lightsource.ca

The inaugural edition of the CLS Research Report was officially launched at the Annual Users' Meeting. Both the entire report and individual articles can be downloaded from http://www.lightsource.ca/science/activity_reports.php. Hardcopies can be requested through cls@lightsource.ca.

Thanks to all of the contributors for making this report a success.
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3. ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS FOR USERS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE (UAC) - DEADLINE JULY 4, 2011
Contact: serge.desgreniers@uottawa.ca

The Users' Advisory Committee (UAC) is seeking nominations from the CLS user community for the election of three (3) new members for the September 2011 to August 2014 term.

The UAC is currently composed of 12 members from various locations, disciplines, scientific sectors, and techniques. The committee would like to achieve a balanced representation of the user community. This year, three members are leaving the Committee, and we would especially like to encourage diversity in terms of broader national representation. We would also like to encourage nominees from government or industrial sectors, as well as environmental and earth sciences communities, from across Canada. To view current membership demographics, please go to http://www.lightsource.ca/uac/election/

Details on current UAC membership, terms of reference, elections, past meeting minutes and meetings are available at http://www.lightsource.ca/uac/

Nominations will be accepted until Monday, July 4th, 2011. Please forward your nominations to Derek Peak, UAC Vice-Chair (derek.peak@usask.ca) or clsuac@lightsource.ca.

We look forward to hearing from you!
Users' Advisory Committee
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4. VOTING FOR USERS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS STARTS JULY 11
Contact: serge.desgreniers@uottawa.ca or
clsuac@lightsource.ca

A request for you to participate in the online election will be distributed on Monday, July 11, 2011. If you do not receive a request to vote by email, please contact cls@lightsource.ca.

Please visit http://www.lightsource.ca/uac/election/ for details.
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5. NEW CHAIR OF USERS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Contact: derek.peak@usask.ca

The new Chair and Vice Chair for the Users' Advisory Committee for 2011-2012 are, respectively, Derek Peak, derek.peak@usask.ca and Kirk Michaelian, kirk.michaelian@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca. Both terms begin in September 2011.
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6. USERS MEETING AWARD WINNERS

Awards presented at the Annual Users' Meeting banquet included:

Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation (CISR) 2011 Poster Prize Winners included:

The Students-on-the-Beamline Poster Prize was awarded to La Loche CommunitySchool students, for a poster entitled "La Loche Investigates Jack Pine, Soil and monk's Hood Lichen."

The Summer School Poster Prize was awarded to Courtney Kosty, University of Saskatchewan, for a poster entitled "Advances in the Reactivity of Metals in Aqueous Environments: a Copper L-Edge XANES Spectroscopic Study Employing a Liquid Cell and a Silicon Drift Detector."
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7. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT: IMPACT OF BRCA1 BRCT DOMAIN MISSENSE SUBSTITUTIONS ON PHOSPHOPEPTIDE RECOGNITION
Contact: mark.glover@ualberta.ca

The BRCA1 BRCT domain binds pSer-x-x-Phe motifs in partner proteins to regulate the cellular response to DNA damage. Approximately 120 distinct missense variants have been identified in the BRCA1 BRCT through breast cancer screening, and several of these have been linked to an increased cancer risk. Here we probe the structures and peptide-binding activities of variants that affect the BRCA1 BRCT phosphopeptide-binding groove. The results obtained from the G1656D and T1700A variants illustrate the role of Ser1655 in pSer recognition. Mutations at Arg1699 (R1699W and R1699Q) significantly reduce peptide binding through loss of contacts to the main chain of the Phe(+3) residue and, in the case of R1699W, to a destabilization of the BRCT fold. The R1835P and E1836K variants do not dramatically reduce peptide binding, in spite of the fact that these mutations significantly alter the structure of the walls of the Phe(+3) pocket.

The synchrotron data described in this paper were collected at CMCF beamline 08ID-1, with the exception of one data set taken at ALS beamline 12.3.1.

Nicolas Coquelle, Ruth Green, J.N. Mark Glover, Impact of BRCA BRCT Domain Missense Substitutions of Phospopeptide Recognition. Biochemistry 2011, 50, 4579-4589. DOI: 10.1021/bi2003795
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8. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT: Ca3N2 AND Mg3N2: UNPREDICTED HIGH-PRESSURE BEHAVIOR OF BINARY NITRIDES
Contact: alex.moewes@usask.ca

The newly synthesized high-pressure phase of calcium nitride, gamma-Ca3N2, is a binary nitride with unprecedented coordination numbers (6-fold Nitrogen, 8-fold Calcium) in comparison to one of its low-pressure phases, alpha-Ca3N2 (4-fold N, 6-fold Ca). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) measurements suggest that there are N site vacancies (93% site occupation), and while the structure of this material has been solved, it is crucial to confirm if there are vacant N sites and how they affect the electronic properties. In order to determine whether nitrogen vacancies are present, we indirectly determine the local bonding environment by probing the local electronic structure using a combination of X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES), X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. Interestingly, gamma-Ca3N2 forms N2 gas during X-ray irradiation, which is clearly visible in subsequent N 1s XANES measurements. While the XES measurements are not conclusive as to which model, gamm-Ca3N2 (vacancies) or gamma-Ca4N3 (no vacancies), reproduces the experimental measurements, they confirm the presence of N2 gas. However, careful comparisons of the simulated N 1s absorption spectra to the measured spectrum suggest that the appropriate model is gamma-Ca3N2, confirming that there are vacant N sites in the structure. Not only have we confirmed that gamma-Ca3N2 contains inherent N site vacancies, but we have illustrated a viable method to compensate for the structural characterization shortcomings of XRD, namely an effective way to probe the local bonding environment light non-metal elements.

The reported work was performed at the SGM beamline by researchers from the University of Saskatchewan's Department of Physics and Engineering Physics with help from the CLS SGM beamline staff.

Cordula Braun, Saskia L. Börger, Teak D. Boyko, Gerhard Miehe, Helmut Ehrenberg, Peter Höhn, Alexander Moewes, Wolfgang Schnick, Ca3N2 and Mg3N2: Unpredicted High-Pressure Behavior of Binary Nitrides, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011 133 (12), 4307-4315. DOI: 10.1021/ja106459e
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9. INCREASE YOUR IMPACT FACTOR: TALK ABOUT YOUR CLS SCIENCE AND WIN AN iPOD
Contact: matthew.dalzell@lightsource.ca

We are always on the look-out for exciting scientific results obtained with CLS data that can be featured in a news release or science highlight. In order to maximize how we can spread the word, it is ideal if we can be made aware of a significant article as early as possible - usually as soon as a paper has been accepted for publication.

Starting July 1, send us a tip regarding your upcoming publication and be entered to win an iPod Nano. The winner will be announced in January, 2012. For more information or to submit your tip please contact Matt Dalzell, CLS Communications Coordinator and Staff Science Writer.
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10. NEW STAFF & NOW HIRING
Contact: jobs@lightsource.ca

We are pleased to welcome the following new employees:

Xiaoyu Cui, Photoemission Staff Scientist: Xiaoyu recently relocated to Saskatoon from Switzerland where he was a Postdoc at the Surface/Interface Spectroscopy Beamline at the Swiss Light Source.

Ronny Sutarto, REIXS Research Associate: Ronny has spent the last year working with Dr. George Sawatzky at the University of British Columbia as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and has spent time at various beamlines including REIXS and SGM at CLS and UE56/2-PGM-1 at BESSY.

Adam Webb. BMIT Science Associate: Adam received his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta and spent time working as a postdoc with Dr. Ron Cavell. Most recently, Adam was working at DESY as Beamline Scientist.

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
To unsubscribe please go to http://www.lightsource.ca/enews/signup.php . We welcome suggestions for topics and content. Contact us at cls@lightsource.ca
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Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:08