Frontiers in Neutron Structural Biology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Spallation Neutron Source April 16-18, 2013 This meeting will bring together scientists to discuss new opportunities for biomedical research at the two advanced neutron user facilities (SNS and HFIR) at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Users now have access to some of the world's most intense neutron beamlines for studying the structure, function, and dynamics of complex biological systems. ORNL plans to establish and operate a biomedical neutron technology research center (BNTRC) that will integrate and develop neutron scattering technologies with high performance supercomputing and biomolecular synthesis and deuterium-labeling. Participants will identify new scientific challenges and lines of biomedical inquiry that will drive the development and integration of these leading-edge technologies. An important function of the BNTRC will be to provide training, access, and expert assistance in these technologies to biomedical researchers.
In a satellite meeting, the developers of the comprehensive software suite Phenix (http://www.phenix-online.org/)<http://www.phenix-online.org/> for macromolecular structure determination will give a one-day workshop on the use of the software for macromolecular neutron crystallography (MNC). Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop for the afternoon tutorial session. MNC is in a period of expansion at the moment; in North America the number of beamlines suitable for MNC is expected to quadruple over the next year. This workshop will introduce current and future MNC users to the new experimental beamlines at ORNL and provide a tutorial for structure refinement using PHENIX and nCNS. New developments will be described that greatly enhance structure refinement. Participants will be given real X-ray and neutron (XN) data and will be taken through joint XN structure refinement of proteins. Scholarships for attendance are available from: * Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences<http://jins.tennessee.edu/> for those attendees from EPSCOR states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands). For details, please visit http://jins.tennessee.edu/epscor/index.html for the application form and contact Hope Moore at hmoo...@utk.edu<mailto:hmoo...@utk.edu>. * The ORAU Travel Grants Program<http://www.orau.org/university-partnerships/faculty-student-programs/default.aspx> provides up to $800 to facilitate travel by a faculty member from an ORAU Sponsoring or Associate Institution or Branch Campus. Visits can be to collaborate with researchers at ORNL, Y-12, ORAU laboratories or work sites, or another ORAU institution. To apply, visit the ORAU Members Universities page<http://www.orau.org/university-partnerships/members.aspx>, find your school, and contact your member councilor, who can submit a proposal for travel funding to the ORAU University Partnerships Office through the Members Only<http://www.orau.org/university-partnerships/members-only.aspx> section of that site. More information can be found at this link https://neutrons.ornl.gov/conf/frontier2013.
