Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), who secured an extension of CHESS’s funding from the National Science Foundation 10 years ago amid concerns that it wouldn’t be renewed, was on hand to celebrate. He also announced that $8.5 million from the 2022 omnibus appropriations bill will go towards operating the Materials Solutions Network at CHESS (MSN-C).

The dedicated High Magnetic Field (HMF) X-ray Beamline at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) will be a world-class high-energy X-ray beam- line. It will feature a custom low-temperature superconducting (LTS) magnet generating continuous fields as high as 20 Tesla. The beamline will be designed to accommodate even higher fields from future magnets, which will become feasible as high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet technology matures.

Workshop Overview and Goals

What is the discovery?

Sodium-ion batteries are a promising technology for electric vehicles, the energy grid and other applications because they are made from abundant materials that are energy dense, nonflammable and operate well in colder temperatures. But engineers have yet to perfect the chemistry. While the lithium-ion batteries found in modern electronics can recharge thousands of times, most variations of sodium-ion batteries can only cycle a small fraction of that.

What is the discovery?

Cancer cells often overexpress glutaminase enzymes, in particular glutaminase C (GAC), which resides in the mitochondria and catalyzes the hydrolysis of glutamine to glutamate.  High levels of GAC have been observed in aggressive cancers and the inhibition of its enzymatic activity has been shown to reduce their growth and survival, both in vitro and in mouse models.  Numerous GAC inhibitors have been reported, with the most heavily investigated being a class of compounds derived from the small molecule BPTES (bis-2-(5-phenylacetamido-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)ethyl sulfide).

What did the scientists do?

What is the discovery?