By Lynn Yarris
Berkeley Lab scientists have identified the cause of a rare but tragic birth defect as a deficiency in a protein that has also been linked to the ability of cells to respond to severe DNA damage.
Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (NBS) is a genetic disorder in which babies who appear normal at birth fail to develop normal size skulls (microcephaly). In addition to having abnormally small heads, victims also suffer from low IQs, variable immune deficiencies, and an extremely high incidence of cancer.
James Carney and Bill Morgan, both of whom hold joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division and UC San Francisco, led a team of researchers who showed that the absence of a protein called "p95" is the cause of NBS. P95 is a member of a protein complex called "hMre11/hRad50," which is known to be involved in processing double-strand breaks in DNA.
Collaborating with Carney and Morgan on this research were John Petrini, Richard Maser and Heidi Olivares of the University of Wisconsin, Elizabeth Davis and Michelle LeBeau of the University of Chicago, and John Yates and Lara Hays of the University of Washington.
When Carney, Morgan and their colleagues isolated the gene that encodes for p95, they found it was identical to NBS1, a defective gene recently linked to the NBS disease. Because cells from NBS patients are susceptible to double-strand DNA breakage, this finding indicates that the role of p95 is to detect damaged DNA and signal for repairs.
"Without the presence of the p95 protein, damaged cells keep replicating as if they were undamaged," says Carney. "The result is NBS and possibly other problems as well."
The role played by p95's absence could be singled out, Carney explains, because the absence of any of the other proteins in the hMre11/ hRad50 complex is fatal to a cell.
Double-strand breakage of DNA's double helix is much more rare than the breakage of a single helical strand, but much more serious. Double-strand breakages lead to genomic instabilities, such as the chromosomal rearrangements or changes in chromosome numbers, which result in a cell's predisposition to malig-nancy.
Says Carney, "The implication of p95 and the hMre11/hRad50 protein complex in NBS constitutes an important link between DNA repair deficiencies and genomic instabilities associated with a predisposition to malignancy."
The next step, Carney says, will be to produce a 3-D image of p95. This will be accomplished, he says, through a combination of x-ray and electron-based protein crystallography at the Advanced Light Source and the National Center for Electron Microscopy, respectively.
Photo:Life Sciences Division researchers Bill Morgan (left) and James Carney have identified a protein deficiency as the cause of Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome, a rare but tragic birth defect. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt (XBD9811-03001)
By Ron Kolb
A recent Berkeley Lab ñ City of Berkeley traffic study on one of the city's busiest corridors has found that drivers going to and from the Laboratory represent a significantly smaller proportion of the traffic flow than had previously been assumed.
According to the "origin-destination" study, conducted on Sept. 22, Laboratory-related trips accounted for less than seven percent of all traffic passing along the Warring Street corridor at the southeast corner of the Berkeley campus. Some city officials and neighborhoods had been assuming that as much as 30 percent of the traffic was attributable to Laboratory business.
"This is good news," said Rich McClure, facilities planner at the Laboratory. "It reflects the Laboratory's commitment to and success in developing transportation alternatives which support our environmental stewardship, as well as our positive relations with our neighbors."
Added McClure, "The BART-bus shuttle combination, plus increased car pooling incentives, improved bicycle accommodations, expanded pedestrian access, and the installation of a card-key scanner at the Grizzly Gate are contributors to a reduced Laboratory impact on the Warring corridor."
The Belrose/Derby/Warring corridor is busy most of the day, as it provides direct access between central and northern Berkeley and points south, including the Claremont/Ashby junction and the access roads to Highways 13 and 24.
An estimated 20,000 cars pass through the corridor on any given day. Even though that represents about 5,000 fewer cars than the average counted 11 years ago, the busiest times of the day still tend to clog traffic due to winding streets and stop signs.
During a 12-hour period on one typical Wednesday in September, driversósix at a timeówere asked to divert briefly into queues, set up both northbound and southbound, and answer 45-second questionnaires about their trips. A total of 1,342 surveys were conducted in the northbound direction, and 1,415 in the southbound direction.
At the end of the day, Berkeley Lab accounted for 6.8 percent of the northbound traffic and 4.1 percent of the southbound traffic. During the peak morning commute (8 to 9 a.m.), the Laboratory was the destination of 12 percent of all northbound drivers; for the peak evening commute (4:45 to 5:45 p.m.), it was the origin of 6.9 percent of the southbound drivers.
By contrast, the Berkeley campus was the destination point for 37 percent of the northbound drivers and the origin point of 27 percent of the southbound drivers. During peak commute times, proportions of the traffic going to or coming from Cal accounted for 79 percent in the morning and 54 percent in the evening.
Drivers going to and from North Berkeley and downtown Berkeley accounted for the largest percentage of non-University traffic traversing the corridor during the day.
Other general findings reported in the survey include:
McClure said the survey information will be used by the city in its transportation planning activities. The effort was conducted by Fehr and Peers Associates of Lafayette.
It was the first of its kind at that location in 20 years and had the support of the City of Berkeley Planning and Police departments. The city Transportation Commission was also consulted.
Photo: Photo courtesy of the City of Berkeley.
Spinoffs from the Supernova Cosmology Project, named last month as a co-winner of Science magazine's 1998 Breakthrough of the Year, continued to make news last week at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held in Austin, Texas. Key collaboration member Gerson Goldhaber, a Berkeley Lab physicist, made the case that observations of a stretching of the light curves of distant exploding stars (the more distant the star the greater the stretching) provide direct evidence for an expanding universe.
Goldhaber also demonstrated how a "time-dilation" factor related to the expansion of the universe serves to refute alternative proposals as an explanation of the high redshifts seen in distant type Ia supernovae.
The Supernova Cosmology Project is an international collaboration headed by Berkeley Lab astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter. This collaboration shared the Science award with another international collaboration, the High-z Supernova Search Team led by Brian Schmidt of Australia's Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, for the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. The discovery was made through the observation of type Ia supernovae.
Because all type Ia supernovae have the same intrinsic light curves (a measurement of the rise and fall of their light output), they can act as clocks over cosmological distances. Having traveled a longer time to get here, light from more distant supernovae shows a higher redshift (a shift in spectral lines to longer wavelengths) than light from relatively nearby supernovae.
Redshifts in the spectral lines of distant stars were first observed in 1926 by Edwin Hubble, who attributed the phenomenon to an expansion of the universe. Since then, rival theories have been submitted to explain redshifts without the need for an expanding universe.
In 1995 Goldhaber showed that for a few type Ia supernovae the observation of a time-dilation factor could serve as a direct test of cosmological expansion. Since then, he and his colleagues have measured the light curves of 35 high-redshift supernovae from the more than 80 discovered by the Supernova Cosmology Project collaboration. The data for each of these 35 supernovae were shown to share more than 1400 experimental points along a common light curve when a cosmological expansion factor was taken into account.
"In an expanding universe, the light curve spread should behave the same as the redshift of spectral features," says Goldhaber. "We have concluded that our data are in agreement with this behavior."
Without factoring in cosmological expansion, the light curves of the individual supernovae could not be combined. Goldhaber calls this a "strong argument" against the "tired light" theory, in which the observed redshift in Type Ia supernovae is attributed to the loss of energy by photons as they travel across the universe.
"A mechanism that degrades photon energy, such as tired light, would not affect the spacing between light emitted at different epochs of the light curve, and hence would not affect its shape," Goldhaber says. "Our findings can only be explained by the expansion of the universe."
Photo: Gerson Goldhaber of the Supernova Cosmology Project.
Photo: Cover of the Dec. 18 issue of Science announcing its "Breakthrough of the Year."
In its viability assessment report, DOE estimated the total future cost of building a repository, transporting waste and closing the facility in 2116 would be $36.6 billion in 1998 dollars. DOE already has spent about $2.4 billion at Yucca Mountain. DOE also concluded that the current 1-mill-per-kilowatt-hour fee charged on generation of nuclear power is adequate to cover the costs of the waste program, and recommended no change in the amount.
A related report, the Total System Performance Assessment, made the case for the repository's safety. For the next 300,000 years, there should be little or no increase in radiation exposure near Yucca Mountain, the report states. After that time, anyone living about 20 kilometers south of the site might receive additional radiation comparable to present-day doses from natural background radiation.
"The viability assessment reveals that no show stoppers have been identified to date at Yucca Mountain and that scientific and technical work should proceed to support a decision in 2001 whether to recommend the site to the President for development as a geologic repository," Secretary Richardson said.
Copies of the assessment and supporting documents are available on the web at http://www.ymp.gov.
The SEAB subcommittees are expected to supplement the input from DOE's Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee. While the makeup of FESAC consists mainly of fusion scientists, SEAB members have a much broader range of professional backgrounds.
FESAC Chairman John Sheffield of Oak Ridge National Laboratory welcomes the proposed the SEAB panel. "SEAB will be able to look at fusion research in a much broader way than we ever could." --Lynn Yarris
Photo: James Lee of NERSC gave representatives from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) a tour of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). The OSHA group visited Berkeley Lab over the past two weeks to conduct a pilot study on external regulation. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt (XBD9901-00106-04)
The California Policy Seminar has been renamed the California Policy Research Center on Jan. 11 in recognition of its greatly expanded scope of activities, according to Robert N. Shelton, UC vice provost for research.
The Center, which began in 1977 as a small, experimental research program addressing California policy issues, has evolved into a major university policy center, known for fostering interaction among faculty, government officials and others interested in bringing independent academic research into the public policy process.
"As policy makers in our ever more populous, diverse and complex state face extraordinary challenges in the decade ahead, the California Policy Research Center is well-positioned to help UC address California's policy concerns far into the future," said UC President Richard C. Atkinson.
In 1998, two new broad-ranging research and technical assistance programs have been added to the center. The Welfare Policy Research Project supports research on the implementation of welfare reform; develops a clearinghouse for work on welfare policy; and supports the creation of the California Census Research Data Center to provide researchers access to U.S. Census Bureau data.
The California Program on Access to Care addresses issues related to health care for the state's working poor in light of recent welfare and immigrant policy reforms.
CPRC is also working closely with schools, departments and research centers at UC, California State University, and private universities to plan a series of briefings for legislators, senior staff and executive branch officials which will draw on the research expertise available in California's institutions of higher education.
More information about the California Policy Research Center is available on its website at http://www. ucop.edu/cprc.
A prototype of a new integrated lighting system, developed by Berkeley Lab researchers, will be installed at the Rodeo Post Office branch in Berkeley next Thursday, Jan. 21. The new system of fluorescent lamps is designed to improve the lighting at the mail sorting station and reduce lighting energy costs by 30 percent.
In a second phase of the project, Lab scientists will install the system in larger postal facilities, following an initial study which will measure the energy savings and the employees' satisfaction with the new lighting. Within two to three years the Postal Service plans to install the system nationwide.
The system was developed by Michael Siminovitch of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, who will demonstrate it next Thursday during a ceremony at the post office, to be attended by Lab Director Charles Shank and U.S. Postal Service representatives.
DOE Pulse, the bimonthly online publication that highlights research at the national laboratories, is reporting in its newest issue that the non-profit R&D consortium SEMATECH favors the extreme ultraviolet lithography approach to making faster, next-generation computer chips.
This approach is being developed by Berkeley, Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories in collaboration with Intel, Motorola and AMD.
The SEMATECH evaluation followed a December workshop in Colorado. SEMATECH plans to conduct further technology reviews in 1999 leading in 2000 to a single recommendation for next-generation chip-making.
EDITOR: Monica Friedlander, X2248 (495-2248 from outside), msfriedlander@lbl.gov
STAFF WRITERS: Jeffery Kahn, X4019; Paul Preuss, X6249; Lynn Yarris, X5375
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Jon Bashor, X5849; Allan Chen, X4210
FLEA MARKET / CALENDAR: Jacqueline Noble, X5771
fleamarket@lbl.gov /
currents_calendar@lbl.gov
Public Information Department, Berkeley Lab, MS 65A
One Cyclotron Road,
Berkeley CA 94720
Tel: 510/486-5771 Fax: 510/486-6641
Berkeley Lab is managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy.
By Lynn Yarris
Berkeley Lab proposals took four of this year's Office of Science/Laboratory Technology Research Awards (formerly known as the ER-LTR Awards). The pending multi-year CRADAs (Cooperative Research and Development Agreements) for these proposals will be worth a total of $6.17 million.
The SC-LTR program is sponsored by DOE's Office of Science (SC) and funded through a combination of federal and private industry dollars. It is intended to stimulate partnerships between private industry and SC's national labs that will take on challenging scientific problems whose solutions have promising commercial potential.
Chris Kniel of the Technology Transfer Department manages the Lab's LTR partnership program. He says, "One of the things we did new this time was to get our industry partners to agree to a pre-CRADA commercial acceptance upfront in the proposal stage. The idea is to expedite the process and have all four of these CRADAs in place by March."
The principal investigators for this year's winning proposals are Bill Saphir of NERSC, William Moses and Ruth Lupu of the Life Sciences Division, and Joel Ager and Gabor Somorjai of the Materials Sciences Division.
Saphir will collaborate with the Intel Corporation and researchers at Argonne National Laboratory as part of a $1.6 million CRADA to develop Virtual Interface Architecture (VIA), a combination of hardware and software that yields high performance clusters for scientific computing. Clustered systems based on VIA technology have the potential to reducing computing costs by an order of magnitude.
Moses will collaborate with a New Jersey company called Capintec in a $1.75 million CRADA to develop a new line of compact medical imaging devices. These devices will incorporate arrays of scintillation crystals and photodiodes which will be coupled and controlled through customized integrated circuit technologies. Potential applications include pre-surgical evaluation of breast cancer and nodal metastases, thyroid disease detection, and inter-operative detection of radionuclides to assist in cancer surgery.
Lupu will be collaborating with a Palo Alto company called Coulter Pharmaceutical, Inc., in a $1.37 million CRADA to design novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of carcinomas which develop from an over-expression of the oncogene erbB-2. These deadly cancers include those of the breast, prostate, ovary, and lung. Ager and Somorjai will be collaborating with another local firm, Catalytica, Inc., of Mountain View in a $1.44 million CRADA to study zeolites. These catalysts are used in petroleum-cracking reactions for the production of high-octane gasoline. The SC-LTR proposal calls for the development of ultraviolet Raman spectroscopy in order to determine the precise mechanism by which a zeolite can become deactivated during catalysis. Deactivation limits the useful lifetime, and therefore the value of, an industrial catalyst.
The SC-LTR program is headed for DOE by SC's Walt Polansky in Washington, with assistance from Sam Barish. Proposal ideas are solicited by Kniel and his counterparts at the other national labs in late June. From these nominations a short-list for full proposals is selected. These full proposals are then submitted to Washington in September. Berkeley Lab submitted a total of 15 proposals for this year's awards.
Kniel and his colleagues in the Tech Transfer Department (TTD) and the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) are now in process of putting the final CRADAs together for signatures by the respective partners and DOE-OAK. Berkeley Lab's TTD is headed by Cheryl Fragiadakis, and SPO is headed by Jeff Weiner.
By Jon bashor
Within a couple of years, a robotic kitten controlled by an artificial brain should be cavorting across a laboratory floor and hopefully capturing the imagination of the public, according to computer scientist Hugo de Garis of Advanced Telecommunications Research, a research laboratory in Kyoto, Japan. De Garis was a visiting guest in the Lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Division this month.
If all goes according to plan, de Garis says, this brain will be composed of 40 million artificial neurons, consisting of up to 32,000 neural net modules. The kitten robotó"Robokoneko"ówill be controlled by an on-body radio link to the artificial brain of some 1.25 Gigabytes of RAM. By updating the whole brain 300 times a second, researchers hope to achieve real-time control of the robot.
Remarkably, the circuits of neurons making up the brain will be "grown" by a specially designed machine called the CAM (cellular automata) Brain Machine, or CBM. The first CBM is expected to be completed in about two months, according to de Garis.
His work caught the attention of Lab computing scientists when he spoke at an annual DOE meeting on computing last April.
"When we present the machine, the project will move from science fiction to science fact," he said.
The machine, currently being built by a team in Colorado, is expected to be the world's first significant example of evolvable hardware, an idea de Garis had in 1992.
"If it works, it will blow away the traditional approach to neural networks of essentially using a single net with tens of neurons."
Not only will the brain machine randomly grow the neural networks on computer chips, but it will also test the performance of each network. "Then it will select those that perform well and get rid of the rest," de Garis says. "It's really survival of the fittest in electronics."
Copies will be made of the "keeper" circuits and mutated slightly by the brain machine, with the offspring then tested again. While most of these mutant networks will not perform as well, perhaps one percent will be better and will survive the machine's culling. "After hundreds of generations, we should end up with circuits which do quite well," de Garis says, adding that the brain machine will take about a second to evolve a functional neural network. He calls the entire process "evolutionary engineering."
Once enough of these "elite" networks have been created, they will be downloaded into a huge block of RAM as modules. The brain for the robo-kitten will contain 32,000 such modules. "My task for this year is to come up with the brain architectures, starting with one module, then 10, 50 and up to 32,000."
The true test, de Garis says, will come with the behavior of the kitten. "We want to make it as kitten-like as possibleócute and playful," he says. "If the kitten can keep an average person amused for half an hour, I'll have succeeded."
Currently, research into "brain building" is relatively small and hardly mainstream, said de Garis, adding, "The lab I'm working in is a bit fringey." But if the ideas prove successful, he predicts the field will take off and could eventually take on the momentum of other efforts conducted at national laboratories or at NASA. This could then lead to such new job titles as "brain architect" and "evolutionary engineer."
"It's getting close enough so that people will begin to take it seriously," he said.
More information can be found on de Garis' web site at http:// www.hip.atr.co.jp/~degaris/.
Photo: Powered by a "CAM Brain Machine," de Garis' robo-kitten could become reality within two years.
In order to consolidate a wide range of off-site administrative functions at one location, a number of Lab groups and departments will move to a new building in downtown Berkeley starting this springópossible as early as March. The Berkeley Tower (soon to be Bldg. 937) is located as 2120 University Avenue at the corner with Shattuck.
Employees affected will be those in CFO, Budget, Travel, Property, Management, Accounts Payable, and Internal Audit Services, all of whom currently occupy the Hinks Building downtown; Procurement employees in Bldg. 69; and the current occupants of the Promenade Building: Information Systems and Services, Human Resources, and Work Force Diversity.
"The co-locating of these functions will increase the effectiveness of operations and reduce costs by eliminating the duplication of common support services," says Dick Dicely of the Facilities Planning Group. "The building is highly visible, more secure, and of better quality."
Parking spaces have been secured in downtown garages to provide parking on the same ratio as that on the Hill. The Lab shuttle bus will also modify its route slightly to accommodate the new needs of on- and off-site employees.
More information about the move will be published in a future issue of Currents.
By Monica Friedlander
Gazing at the moon will never be quite the same for a group of 40 students from Martin Luther King Middle School who visited Berkeley Lab last month as part of a new education collaboration between the Lab and the Lawrence Hall of Science. The project, which is supported by the Laboratory, provides outreach programs to eighth-grade students in the Berkeley Unified School District.
By combining hands-on science and mathematics workshops with professional science demonstrations, the program brings abstract notions to life. Students get to scan the skies, mold lunar landscapes out of clay, surf the net, focus in on atomic structure, play detective with DNA samples, and learn about real-life laser applications. Program coordinators hope the new insights the students will gain will encourage them to further study science and even consider future career options.
"I am elated to see the spark on a student's face when he or she comprehends a concept for the first time," says Marva Wilkins, Berkeley Lab's education outreach coordinator. "Most of the children are highly inquisitive, with middle school students ranking especially high in curiosity. They also have a high capacity for learning new concepts. It is therefore significant for us to provide access and expose them to the scientific community."
The project started in mid-December with a session on Hands-On Universe and the moon as a means of introducing image-processing in astronomy.
Alan Gould, director of the Planetarium at the Lawrence Hall of Science, worked with the students using tools such as Hands-On Universe software to create colorized versions of the lunar landscape. He also used a lunar globe to demonstrate how sunlight hits the moon and how to find craters most likely to harbor lunar ice.
Meanwhile the students got a real touchy-feely sense of their subject matter by molding lunar craters out of clay.
"The program makes a nice connection between the community and the school," says Carla Basom, an ESL resource teacher who accompanied the children on their trip. "It is important for the kids to see science in action. They had no idea about what goes on in such a setting."
Other participating schools are Willard Middle School and Longfellow Arts and Technology School, both in Berkeley.
Further sessions are planned for February, March, April, and May. About 300 students are expected to participate, one school group at a time. The students spend the morning in two hands-on science and math workshops taught by Hall of Science staff. In future sessions students will go on real or virtual tours of Lab facilities and witness demonstrations by Lab scientists.
Sessions over the next four months are tentatively scheduled to include the following topics:
These sessions are being designed around common themes that illustrate the connection between basic research and real world applications.
"They expose children to the type of interesting careers they may have in science," Wilkins added.
Photo: Alan Gould, an instructor from the Lawrence Hall of Science, demonstrated Hands-On Universe image processing software to middle-school students from Martin Luther King Jr. School in Berkeley. (XBD9812-03260)
The future of the Science Exploration Camp was the focus of discussions during a Nov. 19 meeting of its board of directors. For the past three summers, the camp has organized and operated a six-week summer science camp for children of Lab employees and guests.
Since its inception, the Science Exploration Camp (SEC) has been administered by a volunteer board of directors. Two board members have resigned recently, leaving six continuing members. As a result, SEC has an immediate need to recruit two to four new board members to organize the camp for this summer.
"Unless we are able to recruit new board members who are willing to play an active role, the camp will not operate this summer," says Jil Geller, one of the founders of the camp. "As parents, we know too well the demands working parents face and have come to recognize that if SEC is to continue, we need to operate with a model that would demand less time from board members."
SEC is in healthy financial shape, Geller says, and has had very positive reviews from families whose children attended last summer's sessions.
Thirty children in grades 2-6 took part during each of the six weeks last summer. Sessions were held at Berkeley Lab and the Lawrence Hall of Science, with field trips organized at places such as Strawberry Canyon, Tilden Park, UC Botanical Gardens, and the Berkeley Marina.
Other options considered at the Nov. 19 meeting included hiring an administrator for the camp or working in cooperation with UC's Child Care Services, the Lawrence Hall of Science, or an outside contractor.
Another meeting to discuss SEC's future will be held on Jan. 21 from noon to 1:15 p.m. in Bldg. 90-2063. Interested employees are encouraged to attend and join SEC's board of directors.
For more information send e-mail to: ScienceCamp@lbl.gov.
Photo: XBD9808-02025-01
Do you have an interesting story or anecdote to tell? Did you or one of your colleagues accomplish something that you think others would like to hear about? Are you working on some interesting research? Do you have a picture you would like published in Currents? If so, please send your suggestions to msfriedlander@ lbl.gov. We cannot publish every item submitted, but we will consider all your suggestions.
A comprehensive employee resource with information related to child care and elder/adult dependent care is now available online on the Lab's Human Resources website at http://www.lbl. gov/Workplace/HumanResources/balance_work.
The guide was developed by the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Dependent Care, and was adapted (with the Committee's permission) by the Human Resources Department for use by Lab employees.
Topics covered in the guide include:
The Facilities Department is providing the Lab with rush courier service with pick-up and delivery both on- and off-site. Transportation can deliver up to 2,000 pounds anywhere in the Bay Area or in central or northern California. On-site materials will be delivered within one hour. For off-site service, a driver is available during normal business hours for same-day pick up and delivery, with rush service depending on destination.
To request a pick up, call Peggy Patterson at X5404.
Rush service is also available from IDS Courier, which operates 24 hours a day and provides pick-up and delivery service anywhere in the Bay Area and in portions of northern and central California. For information call Linda Wright at 548-3263.
The full text and photographs of each edition of Currents are published online at http://www. lbl.gov/Publications/Currents/. You may find a link to Currents on the Lab's home page under the heading "Publications." The site allows users to do searches of past articles going back to 1994.
To set up your computer to access the web, call the Mac and PC Support Group at X4357.
Photo: Berkeley Lab employees gathered in the cafeteria last month for the Lab's annual Holiday Party. The tasty hors d'oeuvres were provided by the cafeteria staff, and musical entertainment was offered by members of the Lab's Music Club. Lab Director Charles Shank also addressed the gathering. Photo by Don Fike. (XBD9812-03258)
The Lab has renewed its contract with AIM (Application Integration Methods) to provide onsite computer training for Laboratory employees. Several new classes have been added, including:
While Lab employees enjoyed some fun-filled holiday shopping at last month's Craft Fair, the event also served a worthy cause. More than $350 was raised through a silent auction at the fair, which was held on Dec. 10 at the cafeteria. The money will be donated to UC Berkeley's Break the Cycle, a program that provides tutors and mentors to elementary students who need help catching up.
The annual Berkeley Lab Craft Fair featured items made by Lab crafters and artists, including holiday ornaments, handmade clothing, jewelry, pottery, and baked goods. Crafters also donated items for a free drawing.
Photo: (XBD9812-03256)
You can play a vital role in helping hospitals maintain an adequate supply of blood by participating in the next blood drive at Berkeley Lab, to be held on Thursday, Jan. 21 (7 a.m. to 1 p.m) in Bldg. 70A-3377.
Employees are encouraged to make an appointment by calling X4009 or sending e-mail to mhcarpenter@lbl.gov. Additional blood drives are tentatively planned for May, July and November.
Applications for the Management Skills Assessment Program (May 2-7) and the Professional Skill Assessment Program (March 21-26) must be received before the Jan. 22 deadline. For more information contact program coordinator Delia Clark or look up the program website at http://www.ucop. edu/humres/msappsap2.html.
The "Berkeley Lab Overview" slide presentation on the Lab's home page has been updated and may be viewed at http://www.lbl.gov/image-gallery/ overview/index.htm. The PowerPoint slides provide institutional background, Lab history, and an overview of research programs. You may view the presentation on the web or download individual slides.
The cafeteria menu is now available on the web at http://www.lbl.gov/ Workplace/cafeteria/. The menus are being updated on a weekly basis.
Volunteers are sought to serve as judges for the West Contra Costa Science Fair, to be held at the Contra Costa College on Feb. 10. The winners from this competition go on to compete in the San Francisco Bay Area Science fair in March.
For more information or to volunteer call 223-3634 before January 25.
The Berkeley Lab Calendar is published biweekly here on the World Wide Web and in Currents by the Public Information Department. Employees can list a meeting, class, or event in the Calendar by using this submission form. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on Monday in the week that Currents is published.In addition to the events listed below, Berkeley Lab's Washington, D.C. Projects office is hosting a Science and Technology Seminars series.
Scientific Conferences
January 15 - 29, 1999
SHOEMOBILE
7:30 - 3:30, cafeteria parking lot
SCIENCE EXPLORATION CAMP PLANNING MEETING
Noon - 1:15, Bldg. 90-2063
Items for the calendars may be sent via e-mail to currents_calendar@ lbl.gov, faxed to X6641 or mailed to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the Jan. 29 issue is 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25.
Results of the Dec. 28 tournament in Bodega Harbour:
First Flight
1. Tom Corbin
2. Mark Campagna
3. John Christman
4. Delbert
Mitchell
5. Ralph Sallee
Second Flight
1. Denny Parra
2. John T. Lee
3. John Crvarich
4. John Bower
5.
Ken Keiser
Third Flight
1. Judy Lee
2. Mark Cushey
3. Eric Van Nieuwburg
4. Robert Ferrero
5. Bruce Hongola
The next tournament will be held on Jan. 23 at the Rooster Run Golf Club in Petaluma.
Please note: The golf club is looking for new members. If interested contact Denny Parra (X4598 or deparra@lbl.gov) or Ron Gervasoni (X5029, HYPERLINK mailto:RLGervasoni@lbl.gov) RLGervasoni@lbl.gov).
Photo: Early morning rush hour seemed to startle some very young Hill inhabitants yesterday. Shouldn't they have the right of way?
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ë90 OLDS, 4 dr Cutless Calais, good cond, Don Davis, 525-3565
ë94 FORD Mustang, silver, auto V6 3.8L, 59,000K mi, new transmission, new tires, fully loaded, ps, pb, pw, pwr seat, CD/cass, anit-lock brakes, air bag, more, $9,500/b.o., Lisa, X5314, (925) 906-9786
ë95 SATURN, 4 dr, SL2, 33K mi, ac, ps, cruise control, airbags, stereo/cass, full warranty (75K mi), immaculate, $9,500, Ruth, Linda, 527-6823
ë96 FORD Aspire, 48K mi, 2 dr, auto, ac, 2 airbags, Blaupunkt stereo/cass, champagne color, $5,700, Henrik, X5279, 243-9909
BERKELEY, studio apt, Warring/Channing Way, Lab shuttle or 5 min drive to LBNL, washer/dryer, walk-in closet, private patio, no smoking, no pets, $555/mo, Vera, X4793, Kurt 549-2777
EL CERRITO hills, furn rm, bay view, household privileges incl use of washer/dryer, kitchen, 15 min from Lab, $600/mo, Larry, X5406, 237-3321
EL SOBRANTE, new house, master bedrm w/ lg bthrm, balc, two lg closets, new Italian furn, guest rm w/ new furn, lg closet, sm rm w/ lg closet, share lg kitchen, dining and living rm, parking, cost negotiable, Larry, 758-9575
ROCKRIDGE, 3 bdrm, 2 bth house, opening for a housemate April 1-Dec. 99 (dates negotiable), room is furn, washer/dryer in house, quiet neighborhood, safe area, ideal for visiting scholar, 10 minute walk to Rockridge shuttle, $605/mo, excl utilities, Nathan, X5137
BIKE RACK, $20; The Club auto security device, $15, Sally, X4372, 528-4252
BIKE, Motobecane sports/road bike, good shape, heavy quality, older model, needs some tuning, $50, picture avail by e-mail upon request, Christa, X7770
BIKE, Mtn, Trek 800 Sport, sz 22.5", blk, bought 1 yr ago (new $250), rarely used, exc shape, $200, Erik, X4555, 528-0484
CD PLAYER, 5-disc Kenwood, 103CD, $85, Steve, X6966, 204-9494
COFFEE TABLE, Redwood burl, glass, unique, $350/b.o.; treadmill, Lifestyle 8.0, runs great, $150, b.o., Lisa, X5314, (925) 906-9786
COMPUTER DESK, wood, assembled, several shelves, for all but tower-type computer, cost $70 unassembled, will sell for $40; phonograph-record turn-table, $25, Marie, X4317, 845-2445
LAWNMOWER, Sears, gas powered w/ Craftsman catcher, as is, $40; fertilizer spreader, free, V.J., (925) 831-9172
MEMORY, 16 MB for Macintosh SE/30, IIci, IIsi, Performa 600, etc., just purchased, brand new unopened box, $38, Oscar, X7917
MOVING SALE, Sunday, 1/24, 9 am-4 pm, 426 McAuley St, Oakland, nr Rockridge BART, must sell, special collectibles, household goods, furniture, appliances: e.g., antique English sideboard, ornate turn-of-the-century cast-iron bedframe, framed art, china and silver, vintage costume jewelry, books, LPs, more ordinary furn, stove, refrig, washer, dryer, patio furniture, Sherrill, X5984, 655-8654
SKI JACKETS, 2 unisex jackets, size 10-12, barely worn, orig $70 ea, asking $25 ea, Ed, X6047, 527-9933
SKI POLES, one set 42", the other 44", can be used by a skier around 5' tall, $5 ea, H. Matis, X5031, 540-6718
SKIS, snow, Solomon 9100 198cm (PR7) w/ Marker 54 bindings, never used (new $800), $200/b.o.; Volkel P10 Pro SL 200cm w/ ESS bindings, $200/b.o.; Head Cr X-10 205cm w/ Tyrolia bindings $100/b.o.; Rossignol 185cm w/ Tyrolia bindings used once $150/b.o.; Dynamic slalom DP 200cm w/ Tyrolia bindings, $100/b.o., Steve, X6598, (925) 689-7213
SNOWBOARD & BOOTS, Burton 155 Mid-Air snowboard w/ Burton bindings, exc cond, $200; Burton Freestyle snowboard boots, size 12, exc cond, $75, Rich, X6295, 526-7447
SOFTWARE, Eudora Pro e-mail for Windows 4.0, $20, George, X5389, (925) 932-0855
CARPOOL as passenger only, from Alameda, Edna, X7572
DAYCARE PROVIDERS, reliable, reasonably priced, Berkeley, Albany, or El Cerrito area, seek part-time care (2-1/2 days a week) for 3-mo-old baby girl, start 2/99; jogging stroller, used, in ok shape, need not be top-of-line, Nick, X6314, 525-1223
GUITAR instructor for either group or private lessons, Christa & Harrie, 653-5863
HOUSING for visiting German scholar w/ wife, 2 small children, 2/15 to 3/10/, prefer w/ some kitchen facilities, nr Lab or public transportation, Barbara, bsrulovitz@lbl.gov, X4589, 652-7044
HOUSING, after 26 yrs in Rockridge duplex am desperately seeking new home, responsible, quiet, house-proud, friendly, single, petless, within easy public-transport commute of LBNL, 20 yr lab employee, tips/leads also appreciated, Sherrill, X5984, 655-8654
HOUSING, studio or 1 bdrm, furn apt/in-law for visiting, Finnish researcher, 4/1 to 11/30, walk/bike/bus distance, Kathy, X4931, Antti.Karola@granlund.fi
HOUSING, house or apt, East Bay or SF, July-Aug, visiting family from Italy, 3 adults/2 children, Paolo, X6717, e-mail StefanoPiantoni@iol.it
HOUSING, apt/room to rent, lease for lab employee, prefer long term, 2+ bdrm, Berkeley or neighboring area, single rm okay, starting latest 2/01, Smita, X6724, 526-4695
HOUSING, 2 or 3 bdrm house for LBNL employee & her family, 1 small child, no pets, non-smokers, prefer house w/ yard within 5 mi from LBNL, rent up to $1,400/mo, Ursula, X4338
HOUSING for visiting German couple w/ small child, 2/21 to 4/15, Stefan, X5205, 528-0810, SAFinsterle@lbl.gov
MAC SOFTWARE, OS7.5, from your old Mac, orig disks & manual, $20?, John, X6533, 849-1051
TAHOE KEYS at South Lake Tahoe, 3 bdrm, 2.5 bth house, fenced yard, quiet area, close to skiing & other attractions, great view of water & mtns, call for details, $150/night (2 night min), Bob (925) 376-2211
Found: $2 on roadway between B45 & B37 on 2/17/98, David, X7074
Submissions must include name, affiliation, extension, and home telephone.
Ads must be submitted in writing (fleamarket@lbl. gov, Fax X6641), or delivered/ mailed to Bldg. 65B. No ads will be taken by phone.
Ads will run one issue only unless resubmitted in writing. They will be repeated only as space permits.
The deadline for the Jan. 29 issue is 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22.
Published once a month by the Communications Department for the employees and retirees of Berkeley Lab.
Reid Edwards, Public Affairs Department head
Ron Kolb, Communications Department headEDITOR
Pamela Patterson, 486-4045, pjpatterson@lbl.gov
Associate editor
Lyn Hunter, 486-4698, lhunter@lbl.govSTAFF WRITERS
Dan Krotz, 486-4019
Paul Preuss, 486-6249
Lynn Yarris, 486-5375CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Ucilia Wang, 495-2402
Allan Chen, 486-4210
David Gilbert, (925) 296-5643DESIGN
Caitlin Youngquist, 486-4020
Creative Services OfficeBerkeley Lab
Communications Department
MS 65, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley CA 94720
(510) 486-5771
Fax: (510) 486-6641Berkeley Lab is managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Flea Market is now online at www.lbl.gov/fleamarket
