Research
Highlights...
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| Number 116 |
September 30, 2002 |
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Protons are round, right?
A recent experiment at DOE's Jefferson
Lab suggests that the humble proton might not be round. A
debate is underway over data collected that shows that quarks,
the building blocks of protons, are moving at relativistic speeds
and thus elongating as they move around. Tiny quarks could be
moving at nearly light speed and thus stretching the proton like
a rubber band might stretch. The results of this experiment will
be tested in future experiments at Jefferson Lab that will either
put this observation on the map or have scientists searching even
further for the answers.
[Linda Ware, 757/269-7689,
ware@jlab.org]
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New compound may immobilize
AIDs virus, radionuclides
Niobium
heteropolyanions (HPAs), which could immobilize the AIDS virus
or extract radionuclides from nuclear wastes, has been developed
by researcher May Nyman at DOE's Sandia
National Laboratories. Niobium HPAs are basic rather than
acidic, which means they can survive longer in the generally basic
or neutral environments of radioactive wastes and blood. Preliminary
work with Savannah River Site indicates that the new compounds
selectively remove certain radionuclides from waste solutions.
Also, research has shown that HPAs with small amounts of niobium
have an especially strong binding effect with viruses, and since
Nyman's HPAs are completely niobium and can survive in blood,
they could inhibit the AIDS virus's ability to enter cells and
damage them.
[Howard Kercheval, 505/844-7842,
hckerch@sandia.gov]
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PNNL gathers most complete
protein map of tough microbe
Scientists at DOE's Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory have obtained the most complete protein
coverage of any organism to date with the study of a radiation-resistant
microbe known to survive extreme environments called Deinococcus
radiodurans. Using a new, powerful mass spectrometry technique
developed at PNNL, scientists observed a 61 percent coverage of
the microbe's proteome. This is the most complete proteome reporting
to date of any organism. D. radiodurans is of interest
because of its ability to withstand high levels of radiation and
its impressive DNA repair capabilities. To identify proteins involved
in various functions, PNNL researchers exposed D. radiodurans
to several stresses and environments, including heat shock and
exposure to ionizing radiation.
[Staci Maloof, 509/372-6313,
staci.maloof@pnl.gov]
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SSRL provides fertile
clues
The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at DOE's Stanford
Linear Accelerator Center enabled a Caltech research group
to "see" their way, at a resolution of 1.16 Å, to understanding
a key biological process important to world-wide food production.
About half the world's supply of nitrogen needed for growing plants
is produced chemically at extreme temperature and pressure. In
contrast, a remarkable enzyme called nitrogenase
found in bacteria catalyzes the production of ammonia from dinitrogen
and produces about half of the world's bio-nitrogen available
for agriculture. The SSRL-enabled recognition of extremely fine
and unexpected atomic details at the catalytic site of nitrogenase
may help chemists design a more efficient method for producing
ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen, saving global resources and
ultimately increasing agricultural productivity.
[Tom
Mead, 650-926-5133,
tmead@SLAC.Stanford.EDU
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Sequencing
Wizard: Susan Lucas
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Susan
Lucas
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Biologist Susan Lucas, associate director of DOE's Joint
Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek, California, has seen
gene-sequencing technology come a long way in a big hurry.
When Susan graduated from the University of Oregon and joined
the bioscience staff at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in 1997, new sequencing
techniques and technologies were just being introduced that
opened the door to automated, "high-throughput" sequencing—faster,
cheaper, and more accurate—enabling an international
team of researchers to complete the draft sequence of the
human
genome in 2001, four years ahead of schedule.
Today, Susan manages one of the world's fastest and most
productive genome sequencing operations, sequencing more than
one billion base pairs (Gb) of DNA—the equivalent of
one-third of the human genome—every month. Her goal is
to hit two Gb by January 2003.
The JGI, a consortium of the three DOE laboratories managed
by the University of California—Lawrence Livermore, Lawrence
Berkeley, and Los Alamos—was
responsible for sequencing chromosomes 5, 16, and 19, DOE's
contribution to the Human Genome Project.
It wasn't just technology that made it possible for the
milestone achievement of the Human Genome Project to be reached
so quickly. It also took careful planning, dedication, and
concentrated effort by people like Susan and her colleagues—spurred
on by the desire to ensure that the "Book of Life" detailing
the human genetic makeup would be freely available to researchers
and the public.
"We worked really hard, because we wanted to see the public
effort succeed," Susan says. "The whole staff had a can-do
attitude—we all wanted to make it happen."
In fact, working for the public sector is one of the things
Susan likes most about her job. "Nothing we do is proprietary—all
of our techniques and results are public—so we can have
great collaborations with industry and with other sequencing
centers. We're helping make sure university researchers have
the data they need—and we also get to learn a lot ourselves."
Submitted by DOE's Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory
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