Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact at CHESS
June 1, 2021
As of June 1, 2021, Cornell users (with a valid Cornell ID) are allowed into the lab to collect data in person. Training and lab safety tours will be provided prior to the start of the experiment.
March 15, 2021
Covid travel restrictions are still in place; however, remote access has been very successful and has proven to be rewarding for both users and staff scientists. CHESS will be in remote operations mode for the 2021-2 (April-June) run. We will return to “normal” operations as soon as regulations allow.
January 15, 2021
We expect that user experiments will need to continue to run remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beamline capabilities for the different access modes can be found on the beamline web sites.
December 15, 2020
2020 was an extraordinary year. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted everyone’s lives in ways we could not have foreseen. The pandemic has changed how we interact, learn, teach, work and pursue science. Overall, social distancing has led to a more virtual existence. During the recently concluded CHESS experimental run, the storage ring was operated remotely by the accelerator team and all CHESS beamlines successfully supported users in remote, mail-in, and “joint-venture” modes. A combination of communicating via email, Zoom, Slack channels and the new REACH CHESS online systems allowed us to operate the facility; plan, troubleshoot and conduct experiments; hold the CHESS Users Meeting as well as several workshops; mentor students through summer programs and internships; develop new funding proposals; recruit new staff and much more. The CHESS community meet incredible challenges with creativity, hard work and – whenever possible – good humor.
COVID-19 will continue to impact our lives in 2021 and for now experiments, workshops and meetings will be conducted remotely to ensure the safety of CHESS staff and users.
October 15, 2020
At this time, we are planning to continue operating all beamlines remotely during the January to March 2021 run cycle. We are now accepting beamtime proposals and beamtime requests (BTR) for this upcoming run at beamlines that are part of the Center for High Energy X-ray Sciences (CHEXS) at CHESS and MacCHESS. The deadline for new beamtime proposals is October 28th and beamtime requests (BTRs) are accepted until November 18th. Proposals can be submitted through the online CHESS User Portal.
The CHESS response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the facility’s nimbleness and ability to innovate under challenging conditions. The facility staff and user community were asked to meet incredible challenges under extraordinarily difficult circumstances and they delivered.
September 15, 2020
At Cornell, the fall semester began on September 2nd with a hybrid approach to teaching (with in-person and online), robust virus testing, and modifications to the academic calendar. Cornell provides information on its web site on the of the status Cornell Ithaca campus.
At CHESS, the accelerator start up began on September 9th after the facility was shut down for approximately 10 weeks for its scheduled summer maintenance period. This week beamline commissioning will start to test newly installed beamline upgrades and optimize beamline performance for the upcoming experimental run. Starting Sept. 23rd, CHESS users will be able to take data remotely at CHESS beamlines. Cornell University is significantly restricting visits to campus by individuals not part of the residential Cornell community through the fall semester. Therefore, out-of-town users will not be allowed to visit CHESS but will be supported via remote and mail-in capabilities. Remote operation is a new mode for the majority of the CHESS beamlines. Detailed planning and testing went into preparing for this new access mode during the summer shut down. The new “Remote Access User Guide”will be available online.
While we will not be able to recreate the experience of doing in person experiments at CHESS in the new remote access mode, we will provide access to the unique experimental capabilities at the facility and support the research program of our scientific community. CHESS users and staff will gain important experience in performing experiments remotely which will allow us improving and expanding remote operations and remote capabilities for future experimental runs.
On Thursday, September 17th, at 1pm (EDT), CHESS will hold an online CHESS town hall to introduce and demonstrate the new remote access capabilities. The Zoom link will be shared prior to the meeting/is here.
July 23, 2020
The current Cornell “COVID-19 travel and visitor policy” can be found here.
July 16, 2020
Dear Colleague,
Nearly four months ago, CHESS suspended user operations abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost immediately, we started preparing to restart user operations under appropriate conditions, and on April 29 th, Cornell University gave CHESS the green light to restart operation for (university approved) COVID-19 research. Several weeks later, the definition of essential research expanded to include all NIH and DoD funded research. On June 10 th – coincidentally during the CHESS Users’ Meeting – user experiments resumed at CHESS and continued through June 29 th, when CHESS shut down for the scheduled summer maintenance period.
The research efforts in June focused on room temperature serial crystallography at the macromolecular crystallography beamline FlexX. A collaboration between CHEXS , MacCHESS and MacCHESS PI Prof. Richard Cerione’s (Cornell) research group studied a family of drugs that target enzymes (Glutaminase). These enzymes play an essential role in the metabolism of cancer cells – and, as it turns out, viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Room temperature is important as the potency of these drug candidates varies by a factor of 50 but their (cryogenic) crystallographic structures are indistinguishable. The room temperature crystallographic studies were complemented by biological small angle scattering (SAXS) measurements at the BioSAXS beamline. Conformations and oligomeric states might be affected in ways that cannot be seen in macromolecular crystallography studies and SAXS in solution can serve as a rapid and easy screening technique to identify possible structural changes induced by candidate drugs.
Also in June, defense related research became possible again and was performed at CHESS’ structural materials beamline, SMB, which is part of AFRL-funded MSN-C. Moreover, other CHESS beamlines developed and tested remote measurement capabilities in preparation for the fall 2020 experimental run. The research efforts in June at CHESS involved Cornell and CHESS scientific, operations and technical staff working remotely or if on-site practicing strict distancing protocols and other measures to ensure safe execution of the experiments.
On June 30 th, Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack announced that Cornell plans to welcome undergraduate students back to its Ithaca campus for the fall semester, combining in-person and on-line instruction, emphasizing that this decision best serves public health. In order to minimize transmission, Cornell University is strongly discouraging and significantly restricting visits to campus by individuals not part of the residential Cornell community, at least through the fall semester. Therefore, out-of-town users will not be allowed to visit CHESS during the September to November experimental run. Out-of-town users will be supported via remote and mail-in capabilities. A limited number of challenging experiments will be supported in “joint venture mode”:
- Joint venture mode: User groups working from their home institutions and CHESS scientists working at the beamline plan and execute experiments in close collaboration.
- Mail-in mode: User groups send samples to CHESS and CHESS scientists collect data based on the experimental plan provided by the user group.
- Remote mode: User groups send samples to CHESS and perform the experiments remotely from their home institution by logging on to the CHESS station computer.
When allocating beamtime for the upcoming run, we will carefully take into account the feasibility of the proposed experiments to ensure that we continue to do exceptional science under the current circumstances, train students in synchrotron methods, and develop new and unique experimental capabilities.
We will provide updates on CHESS operations and solicit your feedback under what we expect to be changing pandemic conditions. Please be aware that deteriorating conditions may force Cornell to modify its reopening strategy in the coming weeks and as the semester progresses.
Detailed information on CHESS operations will be posted on the CHESS website.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to us, to the CHESS scientists, or to the CHESS user office if you have questions or comments.
Joel Brock
Director, CHESS
Elke Arenholz
Associate Director, CHESS
June 5, 2020
CHESS is restarting operations. For CHESS staff returning to CHESS, please see here for Requirements for Returning to Campus (Internal only).
May 14, 2020
After almost two months, the CHESS will partially restart operations in June to conduct research related to treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Details can be found here.
March 16, 2020
Dear CHESS Community,
To implement Cornell policy regarding “COVID-19 Update: Conduct of Research”, CHESS user operation will end noon today, Monday, March 16th, 2020. User experiments scheduled for March 2020 will not take place.
Beamtime allocations for the May/June 2020 cycle have not been made yet and will be delayed until the resumption of user operations has been clarified.
We will continue to provide additional information about CHESS user operations on this page, please check back for updates.
Kind regards,
Joel Brock
Director, CHESS
Elke Arenholz
Associate Director, CHESS
March 11, 2020
Dear CHESS Community,
In response to recently revised Cornell University policies related to the Coronavirus, CHESS can no longer “bring outside guests to campus”. Only users who are members of the Cornell community (students, postdocs, staff, faculty with valid Cornell ID) are allowed in the laboratory until further notice.
If you have questions, please contact the CHESS User Office CHESSUserOffice@cornell.edu or CHESS staff scientists.
Cornell University has set up a resource page here where information about the Coronavirus can be found. The page is updated as new or relevant information emerges.
We will provide additional information about the impact on CHESS operations on this page, please check back for updates.
Kind regards,
Joel Brock
Director, CHESS
Elke Arenholz
Associate Director, CHESS
March 3, 2020
Dear CHESS Community,
As you are aware, guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) related to the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is evolving rapidly.
Cornell officials are proactively working with local and state public health organizations to monitor this concern and to protect the health and well-being of the Cornell community.
Cornell University has set up a resource page here where information about the Coronavirus can be found. The page is updated as new or relevant information emerges.
At this time (March 3rd, 2020), CHESS is recommending that users who have been in CDC Level 3 areas (currently mainland China, South Korea, Italy and Iran) or Japan in the past 14 days postpone their beamtime. In accordance with Cornell policy, CHESS requires any individual – including CHESS staff, users and visitors – who has been in a CDC Level 3 affected area or Japan to quarantine for at least 14 days before entering the laboratory.
CHESS users scheduled for beamtime at CHESS in March should contact the CHESS User Office CHESSUserOffice@cornell.edu and CHESS staff scientists to evaluate options to conduct experiments remotely.
We will provide additional information about the impact on CHESS operations on this page, please check back for updates.
Kind regards,
Joel Brock
Director, CHESS
Elke Arenholz
Associate Director, CHESS