The Earth is a complex ecosystem, and our place in it depends on many different factors. From soil health to air quality to the behavior of plants and microorganisms, understanding our natural world and its other inhabitants is critical to our own survival. As the climate continues to change, studying the environment and its diverse life forms will only become more important.
In October 2023, the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a user facility within the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, will officially launch a new program to expand biological and environmental research and analysis capabilities at the world’s leading laboratories. X-ray field. A company called eBERlight recently received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program. The goal is to connect researchers conducting experiments on the BER mission with APS’s world-leading X-ray science resources. By expanding access to the diverse capabilities of APS, eBERlight thinkers hope to discover new scientific methods and attract new interdisciplinary teams of researchers to explore new perspectives on the world in which we live.
“This is an opportunity to create something new that hasn’t existed in APS before,” said Argonne National Laboratory protein crystallogist Caroline Michalska, who is leading the work on eBERlight. â�<“我们正在扩大准入范围，以适应更多的生物和环境研究，并且由于该计划是如此新，因此将使用该设施的科学家正在帮助我们开发它。” â�<“我们正在扩大准入范围，以适应更多的生物和环境研究，并且由于该计划是如此新，因” “We are expanding access to enable more biological and environmental research, and because the program is so new, the scientists who will use the facility are helping us develop it.”
Since its founding in the 1990s, APS has been a leader in the field of “macromolecular crystallography” in biological research. Scientists are using this technology to learn more about infectious diseases and viruses to lay the groundwork for vaccines and treatments. APS now aims to extend its success to other areas of life and environmental science.
One problem with this expansion is that many biological and environmental scientists are unaware of the APS’ capabilities to help them advance their research and are unfamiliar with the process of producing bright X-rays of an object. Likewise, many scientists do not know which of the many APS experimental stations, called beamlines, is the best choice for their experiments, since each station is optimized for a specific science and technology.
Michalska said this is where eBERlight comes into play. She described it as a virtual ecosystem designed to connect scientists with the right technologies on the right APS path. Researchers will present proposals to eBERlight staff who will help align the experimental design with the correct channel to conduct the proposed study. She said the diversity of APS’s capabilities meant eBERlight could have an impact across multiple areas of biology and environmental science.
“We’re looking at what BER researchers are studying and how we can complement that research,” she said. â�<“其中一些研究人员从未使用过APS 等同步加速器。 â�<“其中一些研究人员从未使用过APS 等同步加速器。 “Some of these researchers have never used a synchrotron like APS. They learn what tools are available and what scientific questions can be addressed at APS that cannot be done elsewhere. ”
“This is an opportunity to build something new that hasn’t existed in APS before. We are expanding the scope of biological and environmental research, and because this is new research, the scientists who will use the facility are helping us develop the project. — Caroline Michalska, Argonne National Laboratory
As for the specific science that eBERlight will promote, Michalska said it will include everything from soil research to growing plants, cloud formation and biofuels. Stefan Vogt, deputy director of the APS X-ray Science Division, added the water cycle to the list, noting that this information is critical to better understanding changing climate conditions.
“We are studying questions related to climate science, and we need to continue to study them,” Vogt said. â�<“我们需要了解如何应对气候变化对环境的深远影响。” â�<“我们需要了解如何应对气候变化对环境的深远影响。” “We need to understand how to combat the profound ecological consequences of climate change.”
While eBERlight officially launched in October, APS will remain on a year-long hiatus as part of a comprehensive facility upgrade. During this time, the team will work to research and develop a biological and environmental sampling system, develop databases, and conduct outreach for the program.
When APS comes online again in 2024, its capabilities will be significantly expanded. The eBERlight team will enter into long-term agreements with 13 APS channels representing a wide range of technologies. Scientists working through eBERlight will also have access to Argonne resources, such as the Argonne Computing Facility, where the DOE Office of Science Office of Science supercomputers and laboratory supercomputers are located, and the Center for Advanced Protein Characterization, where proteins are crystallized and prepared for analysis.
As the program evolves, it will leverage connections with other DOE Office of Science user facilities, such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory and the Joint Genome Institute at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
“It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes an even bigger village to solve a scientific problem,” said Argonne physicist Zou Finfrock, a member of the eBERlight team. â�<“我喜欢eBERlight 的多面性，因为它致力于建立一个综合平台，促进跨生物、地球和环境系统的科学探索。 â�<“我喜欢eBERlight 的多面性，因为它致力于建立一个综合平台，促进跨生物、地球和环境系统的科学探索。 “I love the multi-faceted nature of eBERlight as it strives to create an integrated platform that advances scientific research into biological, terrestrial and ecological systems. It sounds simple, but the scale and potential impact is enormous. ”
The idea for eBERlight has been years in the making, according to Ken Kemner, a senior physicist and group leader at Argonne National Laboratory. Kemner worked at APS for the laboratory’s 27 years, much of which he spent connecting environmental researchers to the institution’s resources. Now eBERlight will continue this work on a larger scale, he said. He looks forward to seeing what new breakthroughs will be made through research on greenhouse gases, wetland ecosystems, and the interactions of plants and microorganisms with soil and sediment.
The key to eBERlight’s success, according to Kemner, is the training of synchrotron scientists, as well as biological and environmental scientists.
“You have to train radiologists to better understand environmental science problems and adapt technology to better solve environmental research problems,” he said. â�<“您还必须教育环境科学家了解光源设施对于解决这些问题有多么出色。 â�<“您还必须教育环境科学家了解光源设施对于解决这些问题有多么出色。 “You also need to educate environmental scientists about how good light sources are at solving these problems. This is done in order to reduce the barriers to attracting them. ”
Laurent Chapon, deputy director of the Photon Science Laboratory and director of APS, said the new plan means democratizing access to APS and its capabilities.
“This plan sends an important message that APS is a critical resource for the nation, capable of developing programs that help solve pressing problems, in this case environmental and biological problems,” Chapon said. â�<“eBERlight将为寻求解决具有现实世界影响的自然科学的科学家提供端到端解决方案。” â�<“eBERlight将为寻求解决具有现实世界影响的自然科学的科学家提供端到端解决方案。” “eBERlight will provide a comprehensive solution for scientists seeking to solve life science problems of practical relevance.”
“I hope that no matter what great challenges scientists face, APS can help them,” she said. â�<“这些挑战影响着我们每个人。” â�<“这些挑战影响着我们每个人。” “These issues affect all of us.”
The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides the scientific and engineering community with supercomputing capabilities to advance fundamental discovery and understanding across a wide range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, ALCF is one of two leading DOE computing centers dedicated to open science.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the most productive X-ray sources in the world. APS provides high-brightness X-rays to a diverse group of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, life and environmental sciences, and applied research. These X-rays are ideal for studying materials and biological structures; distribution of elements; chemical, magnetic and electronic states; as well as a range of technologically important engineering systems, from batteries to injection nozzles, that are fundamental to our nation’s economic, technological and economic development. and The basis of material well-being. Each year, more than 5,000 researchers use APS to produce more than 2,000 publications, detailing important discoveries and solving more important biological protein structures than any other user of X-ray research facilities. The innovative technologies of APS scientists and engineers underlie the development of accelerators and light sources. These include input devices that produce the extremely bright X-rays prized by researchers, lenses that focus X-rays down to a few nanometers, instruments that maximize the interaction of X-rays with the sample under study, and devices that collect and assemble X-ray software. Manage large volumes of data from APS studies.
This research used resources from the Advanced Photon Source, a DOE Office of Science user facility managed by the DOE Office of Science’s Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.
Argonne National Laboratory is committed to solving pressing national science and technology problems. Argonne National Laboratory, the first national laboratory in the United States, conducts cutting-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne National Laboratory researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve specific problems, advance U.S. scientific leadership, and build a better future for the nation. Argonne has employees of more than 60 nationalities and is managed by Argonne LLC in Chicago, part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the largest funder of physical science research in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energygy.gov/science.
Post time: Nov-06-2023