[phenixbb] First-Science Discussions for Life-Science Beamlines at NSLS-II: April 21-22, 2015

[Robert Sweet]

We will hold a "First Science at the ABBIX Beamlines" meeting on Tuesday - 
Wednesday, April 21-22, 2015, pertaining to the National Institutes of 
Health (NIH)-sponsored "Advanced Beamlines for Biological Investigations 
with X-rays" (ABBIX) Project. These three state-of-the-art beamlines are 
now under construction at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS)-II 
facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Two of the beamlines are 
for macromolecular crystallography (MX), and the third is for life 
sciences applications of x-ray scattering.

Visit this web site for further information and registration materials: 
http://workshops.ps.bnl.gov/?w=ABBIXApr2015

Briefly, the MX beamline called FMX - Frontier MX - is optimized to 
address microbeam applications, and the other called AMX - Highly 
Automated MX - is optimized for highly automated throughput. The 
scattering beamline called LIX - High Brightness X-Ray Scattering for 
Life Sciences - will offer multiple modes of study. The MX beamlines view 
canted undulator sources, and the scattering beamline views a single 
undulator, providing world-leading brightness.

Current plans are to conclude construction by the end of 2015 and start 
commissioning then. During the commissioning period, opportunities will 
arise to perform early experiments before the general user programs of the 
beamlines commence in 2016, and it is the upcoming meeting's purpose to 
explore and discuss scientific areas and opportunities on which early 
operation of the beamlines could capitalize.

Note: Registration is required.  There is no registration fee.  Visit this 
site to register: http://workshops.ps.bnl.gov/?w=ABBIXApr2015

Those who registered for the original meeting planned for January must 
re-register for the new occurrence in April. Contributed presentations 
describing experiments that exploit the capabilities of the ABBIX 
beamlines will be selected from submitted abstracts.

The meeting will consist of both plenary and parallel sessions. The 
plenary session will begin with presentations on science topics in 
research fields that the beamlines are designed to address, followed by 
facility presentations to update the community about the early scientific 
capabilities at the suite of ABBIX beamlines and, in addition, of the Life 
Science and Biomedical Technology Research Resource (LSBR), sponsored by 
the NIH and the Department of Energy Office of Biological and 
Environmental Research (DOE BER).

Two parallel sessions on Tuesday afternoon will focus on MX and x-ray 
scattering, consisting mainly of presentations that will address specific 
opportunities in these areas. These will be followed by two more parallel 
sessions on Wednesday morning, also focusing on MX and x-ray scattering, 
which will include contributions. If you wish to give a contributed 
presentation during one of the parallel sessions, please submit an 
abstract here: 
http://workshops.ps.bnl.gov/abstracts/default.aspx?w=ABBIXApr2015

The parallel sessions are designed to provide forums to facilitate more 
detailed discussions about potential first experiments at specific 
beamlines and the formation of the experiment teams. Specifically, each 
parallel session group will be charged to accomplish these goals:

1. Identify key research projects and the associated first experiments
    that may be performed at the suite of ABBIX beamlines, emphasizing
    those projects that will take advantage of NSLS-II properties and ABBIX
    beamline capabilities.

2. Facilitate the formation of research teams to generate first
    experiment proposals for submission.

3. Identify key additional team members in such areas as theory and
    analysis, ancillary measurements, and specimen preparation, needed to
    achieve the research goals.

Confirmed invited speakers:  Karen Allen (Boston Univ), Martin Caffrey 
(Trinity College Dublin), Seth Darst (Rockefeller Univ), Richard Gillilan 
(Cornell Univ), Wayne Hendrickson (Columbia Univ), AndrHoelz (California 
Inst Tech), Huey Huang (Rice Univ), Shenping Liu (Pfizer), Lee Makowski 
(Northeastern Univ), David Ostrov (Univ of Florida), Rebecca Page (Brown 
Univ), Anna Marie Pyle (Yale Univ), Christian Riekel (ESRF), Thomas 
Schneider (EMBL-Hamburg), John Tainer (Scripps Research Inst).

We would like two outcomes from this meeting: (a) a concise meeting report 
outlining how ABBIX beamlines will help to address outstanding problems in 
life sciences, and (b) a list of potential first experiments along with 
the corresponding research teams. For more information on the meeting, 
please contact Sonya Kiss, at skiss at bnl.gov.

Note: Registration deadline is Tuesday, April 14, 2015.

Organizers:

Lonny Berman
ABBIX Project Manager
National Synchrotron Light Source II
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Sean McSweeney
Structural Biology Program Manager
Photon Sciences Division Deputy Director
National Synchrotron Light Source II