This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Develop NSLS-II beamlines for macromolecular crystallography Investigators: Berman, Schneider, and Sweet Objectives ?The objectives stated in the recent renewal proposal are these: create a draft plan for the final build out of NSLS-II for life sciences, create a conceptual design for a Phase-1 buildup of macromolecular crystallography beamlines at NSLS-II, establish advisory committees, specify details, of floor layouts for two or three adjacent sectors, plan the timing of the move of NSLS beamline components to the three-pole wigglers at NSLS-II, and specify a Lab and Office Building to serve a Biology Village on the NSLS-II floor. Although these objectives were warmly endorsed by the review panel, we were not directly funded to pursue any of these objectives. Nevertheless, with limited resources available to us, we commenced effort to address a subset of these objectives and report them here because of their importance to the integrated project. Results -- This is a concise, complete report on the state of affairs regarding the attempt to create MX beamlines for NSLS-II. Some of the links below are on a password-protected site: user/pass = mxbat/nsls2. 2000 The subject of upgrades to NSLS or a new light source was raised by Jack Marburger during his tenure as lab director, which ran 1998-2001. 2000-2002 A set of meetings and discussions to explore """"""""upgrades"""""""" to the NSLS occurred, initiated by a formal workshop that occurred in Oct. 2000, at which various options were described. See www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/773951-FGKPIK/webviewable/773951.PDF 2003 The name NSLS-II appeared in early 2003. You probably can find other history here: www.bnl.gov/nsls2/. Look under the Project and Workshop pages. 17-18 Jul 2007 BNL held the first User Workshop to describe the progress made on development of NSLS-II. www.bnl.gov/nsls2/workshops/UserWorkshop.asp Many members of the life-science community attended, as did several representatives of NIH and one from the DOE's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. About 125 of the 400 registrants had life-science addresses. 17 Aug 2007 BNL received a message from NIH that they intend to initiate planning for NSLS-II. 15-16 Jan 2008 As part of a workshop intended for strategic planning for life sciences at NSLS and NSLS-II ?www.nsls.bnl.gov/newsroom/events/workshops/2008/lsdp/ls/ ? several of us laid plans to create a Letter of Interest to respond to a call from NSLS-II to proposal specific beamlines or suites of beamlines. 1 Apr 2008 We submitted our Letter of Interest: www.px.nsls.bnl.gov/for_mxbat/MX_LOI_16.pdf In it we proposed to create two undulator and three three-pole wiggler beamlines that would be prepared to operate the very moment NSLS-II was running. 28 Apr 2008 Several from BNL, including R. Sweet, and others from the community, including W. Hendrickson, R. MacKinnon, and M. Chance, responded to an invitation to visit with officials from NCRR (Amy Swain) and NIGMS (Ward Smith) and an advisory panel they had summoned. 13 Aug 2008 The report from the 28 Apr 2008 panel states, """"""""... if the NIH decides not to invest in infrastructure at NSLS II for macromolecular crystallography, it will be analogous to tearing down bridges on the Interstate highway system."""""""" That report is here: www.ncrr.nih.gov/publications/biomedical_technology/NSLS-II.pdf. 11-12 Sep 2008 A second panel similar to the April '08 one discussed spectroscopy and imaging. Here is their report: www.px.nsls.bnl.gov/for_mxbat/BER_imaging_wkshp_sep08_FinalReport.pdf 31 Oct 2008 We received a letter from the NSLS-II Experimental Facilities Advisory Committee with a critique of our LOI, approving of the plan, but without any promises. www.px.nsls.bnl.gov/for_mxbat/EFAC_May08v3_MX_31oct08.doc . Feb 2009 Wayne Hendrickson was appointed Associate Project Director for Life Sciences, with Lisa Miller as his deputy. 4-5 June 2009 NIH held another workshop to address directly how an eventual $45M in NIH funds might be used immediately to create beamlines for MX, SAXS, and imaging. The official report from this workshop appears here www.ncrr.nih.gov/publications/biomedical_technology/NCRR_NIGMS_NSLS-II_Workshop_June_2009_Final_Report.pdf 23-24 Jul 2009 We held a workshop, MX Frontiers at the One Micron Scale: www.nsls.bnl.gov/newsroom/events/workshops/2009/mx/ . A comprehensive report will appear soon. 1 Oct 2009 R.Sweet attended the Synchrotron Radiation International conference and presented what were our current plans for NIH-funded beamlines: www.px.nsls.bnl.gov/for_mxbat/SRI09_Poster_6.pdf 12 Jan 2010 The life- and environmental-science communities at NSLS collaborated to create a scientific case for several NSLS-II beamlines, and submitted a proposal to BER/DOE The justification for this investment addressed specific BER mission objectives. A high-priority item in the request is an undulator beamline for Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) with Coordinated Optical Spectroscopy. 1 Feb 2010 The summary of the President's FY 2011 budget includes, at the bottom of page 3, confirmation that the NIH $45M will be allocated, $12M now available in 2010 funds, and the balance $33M will be requested in FY 2011. http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY11/Summary%20of%20the%20FY%202011%20Presidents%20Budget.pdf 25 Feb 2010 S. Dierker called for letters of intent for April, in which one can state an intention to ask for NSLS-II floor space. In June they would like proposals that will be equivalent to the LOI that we submitted on 1 Apr 08. These would be reviewed soon after and the result would be announced in summer of this year. Plans ?We are part of a group, which has met regularly over the last two years, working to design especially undulator beamlines. There were only a few members at the beginning, but during the last six months the group has grown. A nearly complete roster includes: Lonny Berman, NSLS and NSLS-II;Robert Sweet, Dieter Schneider, Howard Robinson, Allen Orville, Alexei Soares, Annie Heroux, Deborah Stoner-Ma, BNL Biology;Mark Chance, Michael Sullivan, Wuxian Shi, Case Western Reserve;Wayne Hendrickson, Columbia University and NSLS-II;Marc Allaire, Vivian Stojanoff, Jean Jakoncic, Kun Qian, NSLS;Qun Liu, John Schwanof, Randy Abramowitz;Columbia Univ. We are working now with this group to produce the letters of intent mentioned in the last box above, and will produce the proposals for the late June submission. On 25 May we will hold a workshop on automation for synchrotron crystallography. www.nsls.bnl.gov/users/meeting/workshops/workshop.aspx?id=13 We will meet for a few hours after this meeting to discuss plans. We have a list of nearly 20 outside users who are willing to help with this process;we will incorporate their ideas and research programs into the beamline plans. Significance ?Our longstanding efforts to create a life-science presence at NSLS-II are bearing fruit. The new facilities there will be the best in the world for all x-ray-based studies of biomolecular structure.
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