| Hydrogen storage
in carbon nanotubes
through formation of C–H bonds
Two of the major challenges for humanity
in the next 20 years are the shrinking availability of fossil
fuels and the global warming and potential climate changes
that result from their ever-increasing use. One possible solution
to these problems is to use an energy carrier such as hydrogen,
and ways to produce and store hydrogen in electric power plants
and vehicles is a major research focus for materials scientists
and chemists. To realize hydrogen-powered transport, for example,
it is necessary to find ways to store hydrogen onboard vehicles
efficiently and safely. Nanotechnology in the form of single-walled
carbon nanotubes provides a candidate storage medium. A U.S.,
German, and Swedish collaboration led by researchers from
the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) used
ALS Beamline 11.0.2
and SSRL Beamline 5-1 to investigate the chemical interaction
of hydrogen with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNs). Their
findings demonstrate substantial hydrogen storage is both
feasible and reversible. Full
story.
Publication about this research: A. Nikitin,
H. Ogasawara, D. Mann, R. Denecke, Z. Zhang, H. Dai, K. Cho,
and A. Nilsson, "Hydrogenation of single-walled carbon
nanotubes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 95,
225507 (2005).
Contact: Anton Nikitin, anikitin@stanford.edu
High-order membrane
complexes from
activated G-protein subunits
Many physiological processes initiated
in response to external (extracellular) signals such as hormones,
neurotransmitters, or light are regulated by a complex dance
involving GTP-binding (G) proteins: G-protein-coupled receptors
(GPCRs), proteins integral to the cell membrane, sense the
signal and activate G proteins in the cellular cytoplasm,
but enzymes such as G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2)
inhibit the activity of the G proteins. A joint University
of Michigan–University of Illinois, Chicago, team has
determined the first structure of a particular G-protein–GRK2
complex. The structure in combination with previous structures
of related G-protein complexes shows how Nature has evolved
the G-protein structure to not only propagate activation signals
but at the same time also directly respond to regulatory proteins
that control the duration of the signal. Full
story.
Publication about this research: V.M.
Tesmer, T. Kawano, A. Shankaranarayanan, T, Kozasa, and J.J.G.
Tesmer, "Snapshot of activated G proteins at the membrane:
The Gαq-GRK2-Gβγ complex," Science 310,
1686 (2005).
Contact: John Tesmer, tesmerjj@umich.edu
Future photon
sources on this
month's SAC agenda
The ALS Scientific Advisory Committee
(SAC) convened at Berkeley Lab June 15–16 to comment
and advise ALS management on a number of topics, ranging from
progress on several new beamlines to ideas for a new photon
source. Berkeley Lab Deputy Director Graham Fleming was on
hand to welcome the committee and provide a Labwide perspective.
Acting ALS Director Janos Kirz addressed the challenges of
the past year, primarily regarding safety issues. He reported
that there has been substantial progress toward implementing
the recommendations made by the Lab's Radiation Safety Committee
in the wake of a series of shielding incidents last fall.
He also brought the SAC up to date on various initiatives,
including top-off operation and funding for a user guest house.
ALS Scientific Director Neville Smith described changes to
the user proposal review process, and Jinghua Guo of the Scientific
Support Group (SSG) gave a talk on resonant inelastic soft
x-ray scattering at Beamline 7.0.1.
The committee then visited the experiment floor for progress
reports on the PEEM3,
femtosecond
slicing, and XM-2
beamlines.
SAC members at June meeting in Berkeley.
L-R: Steve Kevan, Carolyn Larabell, Sam Bader, John Parise,
Peter Johnson, Neil Ashcroft, Tony van Buuren, and Wolfgang
Eberhardt.
Zahid Hussain (SSG) began the first of
two sessions on new photon sources by discussing the potential
impact of a soft x-ray beamline for inelastic scattering at
the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) or other new photon
sources based on free-electron lasers (FELs). BESSY Scientific
Director Wolfgang Eberhardt followed with an update on the
construction of the BESSY FEL. The second session on new photon
sources was moderated by Howard Padmore (Experimental Systems
Group) and focused on a possible next Berkeley machine. The
scientific requirements were described by Ali Belkacem (Chemical
Sciences Division) for gas-phase science and by Robert Schoenlein
(Materials Sciences Division) for condensed matter. John Corlett
(Accelerator and Fusion Research Division) closed out the
formal presentations with a vision for a high-repetition-rate,
flexible FEL facility complementary to both the ALS and LCLS
that would involve tunneling through the hill to deliver photons
to an experiment hall located on Berkeley Lab's old Bevatron
site.
Contact: Neville Smith, NVSmith@lbl.gov
Reminder: General
user
proposals due July 5
 The
User Services Office is accepting general user proposals from
scientists who wish to conduct research in the general sciences
at the ALS during the running period from February through
June 2007. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, July
5, 2006. (This deadline does not apply to protein crystallography
proposals, which have a separate process and schedule.) Scientists
wishing to renew an active proposal must fill out the online
ALS Proposal Renewal Form (login ID and password required)
by the July 5 deadline. The following resources are available
for further information:
General
user proposal process
ALS online forms
Login
for ALS Proposal Renewal Form
Beamline
information
Proposal
Study Panel (PSP) scores
Contact: alsproposals@lbl.gov
UEC Corner: Notes
from the Users'
Executive Committee
by Clemens Heske
 The
Users' Executive Committee (UEC) of the ALS is busily preparing
the scientific program of the upcoming ALS Users' Meeting
(October 9–11) and its workshops. Many thanks to all
of you who have already proposed a workshop and have agreed
to organize it. We currently have a very strong program with
15 different workshops, several of which will be held jointly
with the Users' Meeting at SSRL.
In close collaboration with ALS management,
the ALS UEC has also been actively working on a large number
of topics that are of direct interest to the ALS user community,
ranging from educational advocacy efforts, the planning of
the ALS guest house and user support building, and the UEC
charter, to experimental reports and safety aspects at the
ALS. As always, we are very grateful for any input that you
are willing to provide on such topics.
In preparation for the Users' Meeting,
we ask for your nominations for the UEC awards (details to
be announced in an upcoming ALSNews) and recommendations for
new members of the UEC. While the former process will be Web-based,
the latter can be done through a simple email to one of the
members of the UEC's election committee (Corie Ralston, Greg
Denbeaux, Ed Westbrook, Tony van Buuren, and Clemens Heske;
contact
information is available online). Please don't hesitate
to nominate/recommend candidates or to contact us for more
information—as you know, the UEC plays an important
role in representing the impressive group of ALS users, both
toward the ALS and Berkeley Lab management, as well as toward
external persons and groups such as members of the Department
of Energy, committees reviewing the ALS, and elected officials
in Washington and elsewhere.
Contacts: Clemens Heske, heske@unlv.nevada.edu
Publicize or
perish:
Your science highlights needed
 In
these times of increasing competition for finite science dollars,
it is more important than ever to tell the most compelling
stories about the ALS to as wide an audience as possible.
Help us to help you highlight your ALS research by sending
us your published work for consideration as an ALS highlight.
These highlights are presented to a broad, interdisciplinary
audience in several ways: through ALSNews, our Web site, the
Activity Report, and posters. In addition, decision-makers
at the Department of Energy receive ALS highlights in viewgraph
form to facilitate their use in presentations. If you would
like your work to be highlighted, send an email containing
the publication citation and a brief description of the work
to Art Robinson (ALRobinson@lbl.gov)
or Lori Tamura (LSTamura@lbl.gov).
Contact: Art Robinson, ALRobinson@lbl.gov
|
