Research
Highlights...
On the Road...with
PPPL's Robert Budny
See below.
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| Number 42 |
November 1, 1999 |
| Argonne
biochips may help halt tuberculosis epidemic
A new biochip technology developed
by Russian and American scientists may help stem the global resurgence
of tuberculosis. The technology, developed by DOE's Argonne
National Laboratory and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Engelhardt
Institute of Molecular Biology, is expected to help health organizations
deal with the new variety of drug-resistant strains of the disease.
With 3 million deaths each year, tuberculosis kills more youth
and adults than any other infectious disease. The biggest problem
associated with the new tuberculosis epidemic is that several
different bacterial strains can cause the disease, and each is
resistant to different drugs. Finding which strain is affecting
a patient, and knowing which antibiotic is best equipped to combat
that strain, is key to controlling the disease. Researchers will
use the biochip to identify the strain, providing that key information.
[Catherine Foster, 630/252-5580,
cfoster@anl.gov]
Biology: Spinach
and chips . . .
A prototype spinach biochip built
at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory
sets the stage for the development of a new class of video imaging
equipment, ultra-fast switches and potentially efficient and economical
solar power generators. The biomolecular electronic chip, which
uses proteins from spinach, has, in principle, a faster response
time than a silicon photodiode. Because of a special chemical treatment
discovered at ORNL, the spinach proteins orient themselves correctly
on a flat gold surface. When light is shone on the spinach proteins,
they act as a photo battery by generating a voltage of about 1 volt.
In the absence light, the proteins behave like diodes by conducting
an electrical current in one direction and blocking it in the other.
[Ron Walli, 423/576-0226,
wallira@ornl.gov]
Fermilab will
become computing hub for CMS detector at CERN
DOE's Fermilab
will become a regional center for storing and distributing data
to the U.S. collaboration of 35 institution in 19 states on
the Compact Muon Solenoid detector of the Large Hadron Collider
at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory in Geneva,
Switzerland. The project has received approval and initial funding
from the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.
Fermilab, the host laboratory for the U.S. collaboration building
subassemblies of the CMS detector, would also become the collaboration's
host laboratory for software, analysis and computing support.
[Mike Perricone, 630/840-5678 mikep@fnal.gov]
In the long run
A new fuel in development promises to increase
the time nuclear reactors can run between shutdowns while discouraging
the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Researchers from DOE's
Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology plan to add thorium dioxide to the uranium dioxide
that powers commercial reactors. As the uranium-235 in the new
fuel undergoes fission, some of the thorium will be transmuted
into uranium-233, which will also fission to keep the chain
reaction going. The new fuel should make nuclear power plants
more efficient and help them compete with fossil fuel-powered
plants. It should also generate a smaller amount and a poorer
grade plutonium than all-uranium fuel.
[H. Adrian Cho, 208/526-4082, choha@inel.gov]
RHIC achieves top environmental
standard
The new Relativistic
Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at DOE's Brookhaven
National Laboratory is the first facility in the Office
of Science to be registered to the International Standardization
Organization (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management System. This
internationally recognized standard provides a framework for
defining and preventing potential environmental impacts, and
for monitoring, communicating, and constantly improving performance.
RHIC will produce particle collisions expected to allow researchers
laboratory study of states of matter that existed just after
the Big Bang. Environmental groups had concerns about possible
impacts of RHIC operations. Achieving the ISO 14001 standard,
which incorporates community outreach and environmental controls,
monitoring and reviews, demonstrates BNL's total commitment
to environmental security.
[Liz Seubert,
516/344-2346, lseubert@bnl.gov]
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On the Road...with PPPL's
Robert Budny
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Robert Budny
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When European and Asian scientists analyze data from experiments
on tokamak fusion machines, they often call upon American collaborators
for assistance.
One of these collaborators is Robert Budny, a physicist at DOE
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
(PPPL). Budny is presently analyzing data from the Joint European
Torus (JET) in England.
"JET is a very interesting opportunity for us because it is one
of the largest fusion experiments in the world and the researchers
there have done an extensive deuterium-tritium (D-T) campaign.
The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor, which operated at PPPL from 1982
to 1997, is the only other fusion machine to do experiments using
D-T as the fuel, so there is a natural affinity between TFTR and
JET," says Budny, adding that another similarity between JET and
TFTR is both produce high-temperature plasmas. Plasmas are hot,
ionized gases.
Budny, who has collaborated on tokamak research around the globe,
shares his special expertise in code analysis that he has culled
from years of experience on TFTR. "I model tokamak plasmas to
understand what makes them tick. I use a computer code that inputs
many different measurements, and calculates various quantities
that we cannot measure. This allows us to check the consistency
of the data, for instance to see if quantities that physics tells
us must be conserved actually are. If not, this tells us that
there may be a problem with the data, so the measuring system
needs to be checked. Also, the results from the code are used
as a bridge between the experimental data and theories," he explains.
For the past two years, Budny has made six trips to England annually,
spending three weeks at a stretch there. "I go to JET, talk to
people, get data, and bring it back to PPPL, where I run the analysis.
When I get the results, I send them back to England for use in
publications and further analysis," he says.
Budny has also spent considerable time in France analyzing data
from the Tore-Supra tokamak, as well as in Japan working with
researchers on the JT-60U fusion machine, and with scientists
at the TEXTOR tokamak in Jülich, Germany. In addition, while at
PPPL he has worked with various foreign visitors. "I set up operations
for a Chinese researcher to do simulations of the HL-2A tokamak
in China," says Budny, who eventually co-authored a paper with
the visitor.
Budny is one of several collaborators from PPPL. DOE funds the
collaborative efforts.
Submitted by DOE's Princeton
Plasma Physics Laboratory
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