DOE WEEKLY REPORT

OCTOBER 5, 2009

OFFICE OF BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

 

 

I.          This Week’s Accomplishments

 

Advances in High Performance Computing Improve Simulation of Extreme Precipitation Events in a Global Atmosphere Model.  Recent results generated by DOE-sponsored researcher Michael Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory demonstrate that simulations of precipitation generated from high resolution Atmospheric General Circulation Models and enabled by contemporary supercomputers produce values of comparable magnitude to high quality observations.  However, at the resolutions typical of the coupled general circulation models used in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the precipitation return values are severely underestimated.  This study is an important demonstration of how advances at the DOE computing facilities are leading to dramatic improvements in vital aspects of climate change.

Reference: Wehner, M.F., Smith, R. L, Bala, G., Duffy, P.D. (2009) The effect of horizontal resolution on simulation of very extreme US precipitation events in a global atmosphere model, Climate Dynamics, DOI 10.1007/s00382-009-0656-y, in press. (accepted 24 August 2009)

http://www.springerlink.com/content/n40w752334jq4770/

                                                     

Advanced Light Source (ALS) Beamlines Shed New Light on DNA Damage Repair. 

Double-strand breaks in DNA are particularly serious because they can lead to damage ranging from cell death in yeasts to cancer in humans.  How these breaks get repaired is thus of great significance for cell biology and its practical applications.  New research using small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and x-ray diffraction stations at the ALS has just been published that helps explain how a key repair protein, Nbs1, guides the cellular response to double strand breaks and helps regulate the highly complex repair mechanism.  A research team led by DOE scientist John Tainer of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used diffraction experiments to obtain structures of variants of Nbs1. SAXS experiments then were carried out that identified the shapes of  three-protein complexes involving Nbs1 that carry out many of the steps in identifying and repairing double-strand DNA breaks.  The research is published in the October 2 issue of Cell, with a preview article explaining its significance.

Reference: R. Scott Williams, et al., “Nbs1 Flexibly Tethers Ctp1 and Mre11-Rad50 to Coordinate DNA Double-Strand Break Processing and Repair”, Cell, Volume 139, pages 87–99 (October 2, 2009).

Karl-Peter Hopfner, “Preview: DNA Double-Strand Breaks Come into Focus”, Cell, Volume 139, pages 25–27 (October 2, 2009).

 

II.                Program Focus for the Week Ahead, includes Major Projects and Initiatives                                                                                                                                   

 

III.             Public Events/Meetings

 

IV.             Recovery Plan

 

The ARM Climate Research Facility project at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has received and completed the technical reviews for all of the major planned instrumentation, awarded one MIE and is finalizing the review of the final six MIEs.  Siting discussions with the vendors are being scheduled for October.  The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory project at PNNL has cost approximately 1/10th of its Recovery Act funding.  The newly assigned project manager for the Integrated Assessment (IA) project at PNNL is planning a visit to the University of Maryland Computer and Space Sciences Complex in College Park, MD, the week of October 12th to assess facility modification and connectivity needs to allow completion of a detailed schedule for delivery of the computer and data systems.  Specifications and Requests for Quotes have been completed for all first phase instrumentation to be purchased for the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) project at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).  The Kbase project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has established a Scientific Advisory Committee and initiated three pilot research efforts at ANL and LBNL in collaborations with ASCR’s Magellan ARRA project.  The Joint Bioenergy Research Institute (JBEI) at LBNL has a contract in place for an FTIR confocal microscope.  The Bioenergy Science Center (BESC) at ORNL has contracted for the confocal Raman microscope.  The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) at the University of Wisconsin has received all of their Recovery Act funding, received the Laboratory Information Management System, and is evaluating vendor proposals for a high resolution magic angle spinning NMR.

 

V.                Reform-Based Actions

 

VI.             Meetings/Events

 

VII.          Potential or Expected Press Stories

 

VIII.       Legislative Activity

 

IX.             Senior Personnel Announcements

 

X.                Issues for Attention