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A naturally occurring antibiotic called kanglemycin A is effective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, even in drug-resistant strains, according to an international team of researchers who used chemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, and X-ray crystallography to show how the compound maintains its activity.

Using two-color valence-to-core x-ray emission spectroscopy, researchers from Penn State and CHESS uncover new details about enzyme mechanism.

Grace King, a rising Junior, majoring in Physics at Vassar College and studying Engineering at Dartmouth College, participated in the REU program at Cornell this summer, and her research project is quite timely, as CHESS and CESR are currently undergoing their biggest upgrade in decades.

The construction portion of the CHESS-U upgrade is nearing completion as teams work to assemble the last of the experimental hutches. While there is still plenty of work to be done, the preparation for becoming a true 3^rd-generation lightsource is paying off.  

Singlet fission is a form of unconventional energy conversion that multiplies excitations. It can be used to harvest spectrally broad light, such as the sun, more efficiently. The incorporation of this process into optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, would significantly boost efficiencies and reduce cost.

CHESS, a power-house of x-ray and accelerator physics and technology, requires the cultivation of local talent, specific skills, and a highly-trained workforce to build and maintain needed beamline and accelerator components.

"A team of CHESS scientists cracked the problem for one of technologically important types of materials, chemically vapor-deposited (CVD) diamond crystals."

Additive manufacturing or ‘3-D Printing’ of metallic alloys promises to revolutionize manufacturing with its ability to eliminate waste, enable the production of parts with complex shapes previously not possible, allow replacement parts to be built in remote environments (e.g. at sea or in space), and reduce the costs of creating replacement parts for legacy equipment.