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The grand challenge of thermonuclear ignition

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Scientists often refer to formidable scientific and technological hurdles with far-reaching consequences as grand challenges. One of the enduring grand challenges is achieving nuclear fusion--the power source of the Sun and stars and the physical process at the core of Livermore's national security mission--in a laboratory environment.

Office of Science Director Orbach outlines bright future for SLAC

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Raymond Orbach, director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy, lavished praise on SLAC's past accomplishments and promising future during a special address Thursday on the Lab's Green.

Bad cholesterol: Genes make the difference

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

No matter what people's lifestyles, genes play an overriding role in cholesterol response, according to a new study of identical male twins -- one of each pair a long distance runner, the other a comparative couch potato -- conducted by researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Children's Hospital Oakland (California) Research Institute.

Journal: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Funder: Dairy Management Incorporated, National Institutes of Health

Cancer comes full circle

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers in the Life Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered a key molecular pathway by which MMP-3, an enzyme that normally helps remodel tissues, initiates the pathway to breast cancer. MMP-3 causes normal cells to express a protein, Rac1b, previously found only in cancers. Rac1b stimulates the production of highly reactive oxygen molecules, which promote cancer in two ways -- by leading to tissue disorganization and by damaging genomic DNA.

Journal: Nature
Funder: Department of Defence, American Cancer Society, DOE/US Department of Energy, NIH/National Cancer Institute, California Breast Cancer Research Program

A sharper focus for soft x-rays

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new pattern-overlay method allows researchers in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Center for X-Ray Optics (CXRO) to achieve better than 15-nanometer resolution with the XM-1 x-ray microscope at the Advanced Light Source. The XM-1 focuses x-rays with zone plates, disks of concentric rings of metal; the smaller the gap between the rings, the tighter the focus, and the higher the resolution. CXRO's Nanowriter has produced the closest zone spacing yet achieved.

Journal: Nature
Funder: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy's Office of Science

Livermore supercomputers boost scientific progress

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and elsewhere increasingly are turning to sophisticated, three-dimensional supercomputer simulations to suggest and verify their theories and to design, complement and sometimes replace experiments.

The making and breaking of microtubules

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have used cryo-electron microscopy to construct the first high-resolution images at the molecular level of the peculiar forms taken by transitional structures of tubulin during the assembly and disassembly of microtubules in the cell.

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Researchers track down cause of a disfiguring bone disorder

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have tracked down the biological trigger that gives rise to Van Buchem disease, a hereditary, disfiguring bone disorder that can cause blindness and deafness. The findings provide insight into long-range gene regulation and could lead to new treatments for osteoporosis and other crippling bone disorders.

Journal: Genome Research
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Office of Science, National Institutes of Health

A new model of quantum dots: Rethinking the electronics

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Nanocrystalline quantum dots sparkle with promise for uses ranging from medicine to national security, but one of their most important electronic properties has long been misunderstood. Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, using supercomputers at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), recalculated the dielectric function of quantum dots atom by atom and found it is virtually the same as that of the bulk material, except near a dot's surface.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

New technique helps identify multiple DNA regulatory sites

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists in the United States and Sweden have developed a new bioinformatics technique for systematically analyzing key regions in DNA that help control gene activity.

Journal: Genome Biology
Funder: Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program