- Number 416 |
- June 23, 2014
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Reaching for the stars
Earlier this year, engineering technical associate Pam Danforth of DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory applied 30 years of laser experience to an out-of-this-world problem – bringing new life to the University of California's Lick Observatory Laser Guide Star.
The Lick Observatory's Laser Guide Star is vital to astronomers because a natural guide star isn't always near an object they want to observe. By training the guide star beam into the sky near such an object, an artificial guide star of glowing atmospheric sodium ions is created, allowing the laser guide star to function like a natural guide star and provide correct focus for the object they want to observe. -
Details of calcium 'safety-valve' in cells could lead to new cancer-fighting drugs
Sometimes a cell has to die—when it's done with its job or inflicted with an injury that could otherwise harm an organism. Conversely, cells that refuse to die when expected can lead to cancer. So scientists interested in fighting cancer have been keenly interested in learning the details of "programmed cell death." They want to understand what happens when this process goes awry and identify new targets for anticancer drugs.
The details of one such target have just been identified by a group of scientists from DOE's Brookhaven Lab, Columbia University, New York University, Baylor College of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, and the New York Structural Biology Center. The group, known as the New York Consortium on Membrane Protein Structure (NYCOMPS), used x-rays at Brookhaven Lab's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) to decipher the atomic level structure of a protein that regulates the level of calcium in cells. -
Supercomputer exposes enzyme's secrets
Thanks to newer and faster supercomputers, today's computer simulations are opening hidden vistas to researchers in all areas of science. These powerful machines are used for everything from understanding how proteins work to answering questions about how galaxies began. Sometimes the data they create manage to surprise the very researchers staring back at the computer screen—that's what recently happened to a researcher at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
"What I saw was completely unexpected," NREL engineer Gregg Beckham said.
What startled Beckham was a computer simulation of an enzyme from the fungus Trichoderma reesei (Cel7A). The simulation showed that a part of an enzyme, the linker, may play a necessary role in breaking down biomass into the sugars used to make alternative transportation fuels. -
Eucalyptus expands candidate biomass feedstock genomic library
For the Department of Energy, eucalyptus trees rank among the principal candidate biomass energy crops because of their extremely fast growth rate, energy-rich cellulosic biomass, and their ability to grow in 100 countries across six continents. Genome sequencing is an essential diagnostic tool for understanding the basis of its superior growth properties, attributes that can be propagated to other candidate biofuel feedstock species. As reported in the June 19, 2014 issue of the journal Nature, the international effort to sequence and analyze the 640-million base pair genome of Eucalyptus grandis involved more than 80 researchers from 30 institutions, representing 18 countries. The project was led by Alexander Myburg of the University of Pretoria (South Africa); Dario Grattapaglia of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) and Catholic University of Brasilia; Gerald Tuskan of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the BioEnergy Science Center and U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI); Dan Rokhsar of the DOE JGI and Jeremy Schmutz of the DOE JGI and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.
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Novel CO2 capture process patented
U.S. Patent # 8,617,499 was issued to scientists at DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory for a CO2 capture process that minimizes steam required for regeneration while enhancing the water-gas shift reaction to produce H2 from synthesis gas from precombustion gas streams.
The water-gas shift (WGS) reaction is a chemical reaction in which carbon monoxide (CO) reacts with water vapor (H2O) to form carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2). The water-gas shift reaction is a highly significant industrial reaction and is used in conjunction with reforming of methane and other hydrocarbons for the production of high purity hydrogen, among other applications.