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Andrei Matlashov Andrei and his Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices

Andrei Matlashov of DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory's Applied Modern Physics group recently was honored with the James Zimmerman Prize for significant contributions to novel superconducting quantum interference (SQUID) devices, new generations of sensor developments and applications in the field of Biomagnetism. The International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) cited Matlashov for “important contributions to the development of innovative application of SQUID sensing technology.”

Matlashov’s SQUID career began in 1982, when he tested his first SQUID sensors at the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics (Moscow). As the first and only member of a newly created Biomagnetism team, he used SQUID co-inventor James Zimmerman’s  papers to understand SQUIDs. At first, it seemed impossible to imagine that SQUIDs could ever be useful for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, Matlashov and collaborators recorded the first ever ultra-low field MRI of the brain at LANL using SQUIDs in 2008. The researchers overcame many technical obstacles to demonstrate the first combined measurement of magnetoencephalography and MRI. Matlashov’s scientific contributions have changed the understanding about SQUID instrumentation and have increased the role of SQUID sensors in modern and future high-resolution instrumentation technologies.

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Researchers at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are collaborating to build computational codes for predicting the structure and function of materials.Solving the chemistry challenges with high performance computing

When many people think about scientific research, the mental picture is of a scientist in a laboratory, painstakingly mixing chemicals, writing down observations in a notebook, and then doing it all again – and again and again – using seemingly endless combinations to eventually achieve a desired result.

But research practices have come a long way. Scientists now tap into the power of mathematical modeling on sophisticated computers to predict the outcomes from chemical reactions, avoiding large numbers of tedious, dangerous or expensive experiments.

Researchers at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are collaborating to build computational codes with the goal of developing unique capabilities for predicting material properties using some of the world’s largest computing systems.

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See also…

DOE Pulse
  • Number 373  |
  • October 8, 2012
  • Abracadabra: Sound levitates pharmaceutical droplets

    These drops of solution remain suspended for a long period of time, thanks to the vibrational force of sound waves that keep them stationary in an air column. (Photo by Dan Harris) It’s not a magic trick and it’s not sleight of hand – scientists really are using levitation to improve the drug development process, eventually yielding more effective pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects.

    Scientists at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a way to use sound waves to levitate individual droplets of solutions containing different pharmaceuticals. While the connection between levitation and drug development may not be immediately apparent, a special relationship emerges at the molecular level.

    At the molecular level, pharmaceutical structures fall into one of two categories: amorphous or crystalline. Amorphous drugs typically are more efficiently taken up by the body than their crystalline cousins; this is because amorphous drugs are both more highly soluble and have a higher bioavailability, suggesting that a lower dose can produce the desired effect.

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  • Yearlong MAGIC climate study launches

    Ernie Lewis A Horizon Lines container ship outfitted with meteorological and atmospheric instruments installed by DOE scientists from Argonne and Brookhaven national laboratories has begun taking data for a yearlong mission aimed at improving the representation of clouds in climate models. The study, a collaborative effort between DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program Climate Research Facility and Horizon Lines, marks the first official marine deployment of the second ARM Mobile Facility, AMF2, and is likely the most elaborate climate study ever mounted aboard a commercial vessel. The study—dubbed MAGIC, for the Marine ARM GPCI Investigation of Clouds, where GPCI is a project comparing results from the major climate models—will take place through September 2013.

    The Horizon Spirit makes a roundtrip journey from Los Angeles to Honolulu every two weeks, which allows for repeated measurements over the same transect at different seasons.

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  • New software tool helps utilities monitor for network security

    INL's Sophia tool visualizes network communications to help detect anomalies.

    The name Sophia may conjure memories of the silver screen siren, but the Sophia tool developed at DOE's Idaho National Laboratory has a different type of allure. The software sentry offers an easy, elegant way to help network operators detect intruders and other anomalies. Developers named the software using the Greek word for wisdom because that's what it provides to SCADA control system network administrators watching for cybersecurity threats.

    Sophia passively monitors communication pathways in a static computer network and flags new types of conversations so operators can decide if a threat is present. The tool was popular with initial users — a handful of utilities and the vendors that sell utility control systems. A second stage of testing involved dozens of companies, and INL is now evaluating deployment of the technology to industry.

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  • Crews complete first block of 14,000-ton neutrino detector

    Technicians use this gigantic pivoter machine to position the 28 blocks of the 14,000-ton NOvA particle detector.

    Technicians have begun the assembly of the 14,000-ton particle detector that will be part of the largest, most advanced neutrino experiment in North America. The NOvA experiment, managed by DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will explore the properties of neutrinos, such as their masses. Scientists will investigate whether neutrinos helped give matter an edge over antimatter after both were created in equal amounts in the big bang.

    The NOvA experiment will study a beam of neutrinos streaming about 500 miles straight through the earth from Fermilab near Chicago to the new particle detector in Ash River, Minnesota. The neutrinos, generated in what will be the most powerful neutrino beam in the world, will make the trip in less than three milliseconds.

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