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1. FIVE DISTANT GALAXIES DETECTED BY HERSCHEL P 8 A p AIDS THE VIRUS CAN ALSO BE __ TRANSMITTED BY CELLS P international cooperation Tara Oceans A strong hand at the helm High performance computing opening the door to the future EC Innovation Director visits CEA Grenoble EERA launches three new joint research programs Unprecedented cooperation Jannus welcomes participants in IAEA s SMoRE research project Strengthened scientific cooperation between France and Sweden Polish partnership anniversary Evaluation of environmental research Spotlight on aT Prat Aaf p _ D g THE FUTURE OF SEPARATIVE CHEMISTRY WELCOME TO THE ICSM W The Institute aims to become a benchmark ah 1 gt 1 nm an lt Energy M Examples of studies conducted by the Institute and their potential applications W The training role of the Institute 4 j t ge 4 i p 1 a 7 ae 4 Research CEREBRAL IMAGING 1 1 REVEALING ALZHEIMER S DISEASE M The first signs of Alzheimer s disease M NeuroSpin a large cerebral Neuro imaging infrastructure M Neuro imaging techniques of today The International Year of Chemistry is up and running Strengthening scientific and industrial collaboration Scientific insights Five distant galaxies
2. Los Alamos This program will study the pertinence and limits of the method using isotopes of lutetium The stakes are high for this study because it could be extended to measuring neutron reactions on fission fragments However these are so far removed from the stable nuclei that it is impossible to find non radioactive targets for the substitute reactions The idea is to invert the target and the projectile The substitute reaction then occurs between a beam of radioactive ions produced by an accelerator and a hydrogen target As of 2012 the future Spiral 2 project will allow acceleration of fission fragments and enable this type of experiment to be carried out For example the installation will be able to produce and accelerate iodine 134 whose half life is 52 6 minutes By using a target of deuterium and an isotope of hydrogen it will be possible to conduct reactions involving the transfer of a neutron from the target to the incident nucleus The physicist is faced with a further difficulty the very low density of a hydrogen gas target To overcome this the target must be solidified by cooling it to a very low temperature with the frozen object then maintained without a container so that the beam can interact directly with the hydrogen A Russian designed prototype for a target of this type was recently successfully tested on the 4 MV accelerator This is a world s first A collaborative venture headed by the will
3. Biomedical imaging institute comprising SHFJ NeuroSpin and MIRCen Alzheimer Plan This plan was launched on 1 February 2008 by Nicolas Sarkozy for the period 2008 2012 and has been granted specific resources It focuses on the sick person and his or her family and its objective is to make an unprecedented effort on research to promote earlier diagnosis and to provide better care for patients and their helpers Whole body image of a patient during a PET examination in the SHFJ CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 13 NEUROSPIN A LARGE CEREBRAL NEURO IMAGING INFRASTRUCTURE iomedical imaging is today faced by a number of technical constraints severely restricting its potential With NeuroSpin CEA has a large biological instrument that should enable it to push the exploration envelope by means of imaging tools of unprecedented power The physical technique chosen is intense field nuclear magnetic resonance Better understanding of the human brain how it grows how it works is one of the major challenges of the 21 century with enormous stakes for society Over and above the benefits in the health and neurosciences fields progress in neuro surgery neurology and psychiatry and so on understanding the brain gives a clearer idea of how individuals interact with each other and with their environment opening the door to progress in the fields of communication education ergonomics etc NeuroSpin is a large researc
4. 2010 SUPERCONDUCTOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY L45 Po a s A N163 mF gt L ns _ This crystallographic structure shows how a derivative of ellipticine green inhibits protein kinase CK2 blue The plane structure of this chemical molecule enables it to insert itself into the catalytic site and thus take the place of the enzyme s substrate HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS is anew magnetic order the origin of the phenomenon A little of the mystery surrounding high critical temperature superconductor materials has been lifted the researchers at the L on Brillouin Laboratory CEA CNRS working with scientists from the University of Minnesota USA have managed to experimentally validate the theory whereby an ordered state of matter exists within these materials with unprecedented magnetic properties and which would seem to precede the superconducting phase Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 and is the state in which the material is characterized by an absence of electrical resistance and disappearance of the magnetic field Superconductor materials are thus able to conduct electric current with no energy losses To become superconducting these materials usually have to be taken to extremely low temperatures varying between 1 and 20 K or between 272 and 253 C but in any case close to absolute zero However since 1987 superconductivity has no longer been confined to these extreme tem
5. CATI has just been launched as part of the national NFAT ET and its aim is to achieve tangible technology transfer to the hospital world In concrete terms CATI is working in two key areas on the one hand to centralize the evaluation of the quality and analysis of the PET and MRI images acquired by a network of partner radiology and nuclear medicine centers on the other to enable the pharmaceutical industry to access Clearly identified patients In order to check the effects of a drug on Alzheimer s disease the patients testing it must actually be suffering from this pathology and not from another one with similar symptoms Beforehand however pre clinical tests are essential if a treatment is to be validated This is a highly selective step during which one in three candidate drugs fail MIRCen chose imaging so that the same techniques for evaluating their effects can be used on both animals and man thus leading to time efficiency and money savings and advances in ethical terms with respect to the protocols The main difficulty is to find signatures in animals that are equivalent to those that can be seen in man MRI protocols were thus established to visualize atrophy of the hippocampus in the Lemur MIRCen s expertise makes it the ideal choice for running the last pre clinical tests preceding the clinical trials phase It is therefore currently evaluating four treatments Depending on the results the molecules will be tested on huma
6. Resonance a ELA spectroscopy Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy focuses on fundamental molecules other than water and involved in metabolism neurotransmission or the expression of genes 16 CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 FE Fear Se ue ERUH REX ste et ay gana ts A CU Merde dt Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a non traumatic functional investigative imaging method It uses the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance a spectroscopy technique discovered in 1946 MRI is based on the use of the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei It behaves in the same way aS magnetized needles which when an electromagnetic wave of appropriate frequency is applied change orientation and then emit signals when they return to their original position By measuring the very low level of magnetization of the tissues it then becomes possible to visualize the anatomy of deep and opaque organs but also and above all the activity of the brain s circuits This technique produces virtual cross sections showing the details of the cerebral structures grey matter white matter with millimeter precision This anatomical imaging is used by radiologists to detect and locate brain lesions Anatomical MRI By observing the resonance of hydrogen nuclei which are abundantly present in water and the fats of biological tissues under the effect of an intense magnetic field it is po
7. The Atalante facility at Marcoule contains the highly specialized laboratories needed for the work being done on improving spent fuel processing It was adapted for the performance of studies on the management of high level long lived waste design and experimentation of extractant molecules and study of advanced separation processes design and manufacture of irradiation targets for transmutation studies of the long term behavior of waste storage and disposal CEA is also developing processes in the facility for reorocessing and recycling fuels for the future 4 generation fast neutron power generating systems Actinides All actinides are radioactive elements and take their name from actinium Z 89 a heavy metal because they have similar chemical properties Uranium and thorium which are relatively abundant in their natural form owing to the very long half life of their most stable isotopes are actinides The actinides include artificial or transuranic elements which are heavier than uranium these are created by neutron capture not followed by fission Shielded Process Chain in Atalante CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 Spotlight on Energy EXAMPLES OF STUDIES CONDUCTED BY THE INSTITUTE AND THEIR POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS Surface studies of new materials The use of significantly higher temperatures and pressures is being envisaged for the 4 generation systems The search for new materials for use
8. appears to be close but these observations have to be further validated on other compounds Press release November 2010 Hidden magnetic excitation in the pseudogap phase of a model cuprate superconductor Yuan Li V Bal dent G Yu N BariSic K Hradil R A Mole Y Sidis P Steffens X Zhao P Bourges M Greven Nature 468 283 285 10 November 2010 THE SECRET LIVES OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS Under the eye of the field effect scanning electron microscope nuclear materials reveal their secret side The interactions between uranium and concrete look like magical Christmas trees niobium carbide a component in nuclear fuel cladding looks like a football These two photos taken by the CEA fuel cycle technology department won awards at the scientific photography competition at the 2010 Microscopy amp Microanalysis Meeting in Portland USA This picture of sea urchins littering the sea floor is in fact rust that has formed on steel Les D fis du CEA n 155 November 2010 Apricot i a The Biocollona team from the microelectronic technologies laboratory LTM has just won the Photo Grand Prize at the 36 International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineering in Genoa This prize was for the best electron microscopy photograph from the nanotech community The international jury selected the LTM work from among seventy proposals from nanoscience experts The work entitled March of the Penguins repre
9. governance of the consortium This document has the merit of clearly identifying the rights and duties of all parties It recalls that Tara Oceans is founded on one inviolable principle release to the entire international community and the public of all the data collected during this expedition the goal of which is to study biodiversity and the relationship between the climate and the oceans The Genoscope is closely involved in this adventure as it is responsible for sequencing all the samples taken from all the world s oceans http oceans taraexpeditions org SOLEIL is a very large research infrastructure created on October 2001 by the CNRS and CEA with the support of the le de France Region the General Council of the Essonne and the Centre Region SOLEIL is both a source and a laboratory for use of French synchrotron light and is one of the world s most powerful synchrotrons for exploring matter its fundamental mechanisms its structures and its evolution in disciplines such as physics biology chemistry and so on PIGES Industrial partners in the large scientific instruments The aim of this association founded in April 2010 by a group of 11 industrial companies is to meet the technology requirements of the national and international research organizations concerned by the very large research instruments and infrastructures The founder companies and members of the PIGES Association Board are Air Liq
10. A large number of laboratories specializing in materials treatment are attempting to find a way of depositing molecules on surfaces in order to change their properties for example The problem is that in order to attach these molecules CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 by chemical bonds the scientists often have no choice but to modify them slightly with the ever present risk of altering them This is particularly problematical when dealing with extremely fragile proteins or DNA Hence the idea of developing a universal coating onto which any molecule could be attached without modification This is what the researchers at CEA have actually managed to achieve They discovered a diazonium salt precursor which behaves like double sided adhesive tape When it is applied to a surface this amine reagent chemically adheres to the substrate Then following appropriate treatment it can attach a large number of complex molecules without degrading their active functions nanotubes graphene sheets biological materials This universal bonding ability has resulted in the filing of several patents It could also be extremely useful for certain highly specialized tasks such as immobilizing DNA strands in bio chips or connecting nanometer scale circuits Vah Ter Minassian Les D fis du CEA n 156 December 2010 lramis Saclay Institute of Matter and Radiation NUCLEAR SCIENCE UPCOMING EXPERIMENTS on Spiral 2 New experiments
11. Clefs CEA N 58 autumn 2009 Unraveling the secrets of the Universe 8 Microelectronics An English version is available on line and on CD Rom 14 Radioactive waste 16 Numerical simulation 18 The nanoworld ON This collection will shortly be available online e N 58 Dans les see i de Univers o a Uftraveling the secrets of the Universe HUMAN RESOURCES THE LIST OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURSES SCHEDULED FOR 2011 Organized by the National Institute for Nuclear Science and technology INSTN amp the European Nuclear Education Network Association ENEN at CEA Saclay France FS Principles and operation of nuclear reactors 14 03 2011 25 03 2011 28 02 2011 D Spm sec enen cea fr Nuclear materials for PWR new Thermal hydraulics of light water reactors Basic Thermal hydraulics of light water reactors Advanced course Neutronics for light water reactors Generation IV Nuclear reactor systems for the future Nuclear fuel cycle Nuclear waste management Dismantling experience of nuclear facilities www enen assoc org CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 What s on Personal fulfilment 31 CEA EMBASSY COUNSELOR NETWORK HELSINKI Claude SAINTE CATHERINE claude sainte catherine cea fr C BERLIN y LP molNiD e Jo l GUIDEZ BUDAPEST N Jean Marc CAPDEVILA Joel AIO G rard COGNET jean marc capdevila diplomatie gouv fr gerard cognet cea fr AS Wala N N v Q
12. International Symposium on Biomanufacturing at Genopole and reviewed 30 years of production of hormones enzymes monoclonal antibodies vaccines and so on The first part of the symposium was devoted to presenting industrial biopharmaceutical achievements new technological avenues and the latest generations of therapeutic biomolecules This was followed by sessions on alternative expression systems plants micro algae etc on technological support for pharmaceutical biomanufacturing and on biosimilars The various approaches to and the latest advances in synthetic biology were presented by eighteen internationally acclaimed speakers during the Synthetic Biology international conference attended by 180 participants www genopole fr Home html CEA NEWS amp SPRING 2011 29 50 HANNOVER MESSE 2011 4 to 8 April Under the banner of Smart Efficiency the companies exhibiting at the 13 international flagship fairs during HANNOVER MESSE 2011 will be presenting key technologies used in industry around the world Exhibiting companies will be presenting intelligent solutions aimed at cutting costs optimizing process efficiency and conserving resources at every stage of the production chain The special events also embrace the core elements of Smart Efficiency during lectures congresses and forums as well as seminars and workshops France will be the official Partne
13. The neural code must therefore incorporate this two fold ability to respond to a genetic heritage genetic code and react to the environment Neuro imaging techniques These techniques are used for both research and diagnosis and aim in particular to Provide increasingly accurate maps of the brain areas in which the cognitive functions take place They can distinguish between assemblies of neurons and the mental processes involved in language memory calculation preparation for action learning to read and even consciousness Understand the pathways and the mode of processing information in the brain by visualizing the order to activate regions of the brain for processing information and by showing the bundles of connections and the connection hubs that allow transmission of the activation between the different cerebral regions Elucidate the neural code in other words find out how information is coded and processed in the brain In the same way as the genetic code this coding relies on assemblies of atoms making up the DNA and must be hidden in a highly structured spatial organization of neurons At the same time this organization must be highly flexible so that it can adapt to the environment and to learning during the development stage and indeed the entire lifetime of the person Understand psychiatric cerebral pathologies schizophrenia autism addictions etc neurological diseases multiple sclerosi
14. are being prepared on EEE at the in Caen They should provide nuclear data on hitherto inaccessible fission fragments Nuclear data evaluations require measurements that are increasingly exhaustive unstable nuclei excited nuclei etc more precise and cover a broader energy range They are carried out using models that are based on measurements or which need to be validated by them Of the nuclear data evaluated the nuclear reaction in which gamma radiation follows capture of a neutron by a nucleus called the radiative capture reaction is the hardest to predict because it varies considerably from one isotope to another In this process the nucleus formed after capture of a neutron called the compound nucleus is de excited by the emission of gamma rays If the neutron flux increases significantly successive captures create a multitude of nuclei some of which will be radioactive Studying these reactions experimentally consists of reproducing them by projecting neutrons onto a target For some radioactive isotopes produced for example during the fission of uranium it is impossible to produce a target life too short and or excessive radioactivity A substitute method must then be adopted Substitute method This consists in forming the same compound nucleus by involving a stable target non radioactive and a projectile other than a neutron The nuclear data being looked for can be obtained by measuring the pr
15. cells such as astrocytes What then are the consequences of the expression of the mutated protein in the astrocytes Thanks to a new MATIERE the researchers were able to express the protein only in these cells in adult mice They observed abnormal activation of the astrocytes and alteration of the ability to transport glutamate a property essential to the survival of neurons These results found in patients as of the pre symptomatic stage make astrocytes new potential targets for development of therapeutic strategies Bio actif n 5 September 2010 MIRCen Pre clinical imaging platform dedicated to the study of neurodegenerative cardiac hepatic and infectious diseases resulting from an association between CEA and the Inserm Photo of Alexandrium minutum under a scanning electron microscope Lentiviral vector Modified and inactivated virus derived from HIV enabling DNA to be transferred to the cells Faideau M et al Hum Mol Genet August 2010 Preparation of a flow cytometry examination NEUROSCIENCES to learn to read What is the impact of acquiring the ability to read on the working of the brain Writing is too recent an invention to have influenced human genetic evolution and learning how to do it can only involve recycling of existing cerebral regions initially dedicated to other functions To obtain a clearer understanding of this process researchers launched a vast s
16. detected by Herschel Diamonds get under your skin Data storage Nanotape it really sticks Upcoming experiments on Spiral 2 Alhyance Innovation act 2 Virtual tactile textures When batteries are connected to the grid World first RYB and CEA Leti unveil ELIOT Nanopollution Catalytic Converters Captaucom three industrial prototypes delivered A new start up at the Liten Inauguration of the MANON laboratory Lactose cure Tackling the gene problem backwards Micro algae but maxi toxicity Astrocytes a therapeutic target for Huntington s disease Never too old to learn to read AIDS the virus can also be transmitted by cells A new target for anti cancer treatments High temperature superconductors is anew magnetic order the origin of the phenomenon 29 What s on The secret lives of nuclear materials The Grand Prize for best photo goes to Grenoble Biomanufacturing Symposium reviews 30 years of production Visiatome 100 000 visitor Hannover messe 2011 The 9 China International Exhibition on Nuclear Power Industry 2011 Nicolas Sarkozy visits the Megajoule Laser Atomexpo 2011 The scientific brochure collection A new Clefs CEA Personal fulfilment _ The list of the international courses scheduled for 2011 CEA News is edited by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission Communication Division Headquarters 91191 Gif sur Yvette cedex France www c
17. du CEA n 154 November 2010 IBEB The CEA Institute of Environmental Biology and Biotechnology focuses on nuclear toxicology plant biology and microbiology Bacterial growth in an incubator CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 ights ific ins Scient 25 26 BIOLOGY MICRO ALGAE but maxl toxicity Alexandrium minutum it is possible that you have never heard this name but for shellfish and oyster farmers it is all too familiar It is the most toxic species of phytoplankton affecting the coasts of Brittany and the Mediterranean The toxins it produces contaminate the mollusks and expose the human consumer to dangerous sometimes even fatal paralysis Surveillance of these micro algae today involves microscope analysis of water samples The team run by Fabienne Gas at CEA IBEB in collaboration with MEN is working on producing new tests and has developed antibodies that specifically recognize Alexandrium minutum The antibody development led to a test called Elisa being developed on a microplate the water samples to be analyzed are distributed around the microplate wells containing the antibody If an antibody toxic algae complex forms this then leads to a yellow stain One need then simply measure the intensity of the color to deduce the quantity of the complex formed and thus the GENETIC THERAPEUTIC RESEARCH ASTROCYTES concentrationofmicro algaeinthesample This four hour test gives resu
18. find an answer the researchers used a model of macaque infection by the simian immunodeficiency virus They thus revealed the important role of cells present in the sperm in the sexual transmission of the virus The involvement of infected cells in HIV transmission now has to be confirmed in humans Understanding how the virus is transmitted by the vaginal mucous membrane is essential in designing new means When learning to read it is the visual cortex that partly reorganizes itself through competition between the new reading activity and the older face and object recognition activities These effects are visible in individuals who were schooled in childhood as well as in those who followed literacy classes when adults even if these latter only rarely achieve the same reading performance With these results the researchers are suggesting that this difference could simply be due to their relative lack of training and that there is no critical age for learning Bio actif n 6 December 2010 Magnetic resonance imaging used to determine the brain activity of an individual performing a task transmitted by cells of protection In order to circumscribe the Aids epidemic hope is today being placed on methods other than the condom and which can be more easily controlled by women If this study is confirmed in humans these methods should be capable of stopping the virus in all its forms Bio actif n 5 September 2010 CEA Ins
19. occurred off the coast of Sendai on 11 March 2011 The North Eastern shores of Japan were devastated by the tsunami triggered by the earthquake The reactor cooling systems and spent fuel storage pools at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were unable to resist More than two weeks later the accident is still ongoing We do not yet know whether our Japanese colleagues will manage to control it and prevent the serious dispersal of radioactivity into the environment or human irradiation above authorised limits At this stage it is hard for CEA to express an opinion on this major accident Our sincerest hope is that no more victims will be IN FRANCE THE POPU LATION added to the already terrible toll caused by the THE NUCLEAR STAKEHOLDERS earthquake and the tsunami THE EXPERTS AND THE STAFF In France the population the nuclear stakeholders AT CEA ARE AS ONE IN THEIR the experts and the staff at CEA are as one in SOLIDARITY AND ADMIRATION their solidarity and admiration of the Japanese people who are facing this disaster with such OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE courage and dignity As soon as news of the events was received the President of the Republic of France sent a message of solidarity and offered the Japanese authorities technical help and manpower in particular in the field of radiation protection and nuclear safety which therefore involved CEA Fire fighters along with specialists in nuclear radiological biological and
20. of the art technologies and analysis of global trends Fuelled by continuous rapid development of the nuclear industry advances in size and scope of exhibits can be observed Nicolas Sarkozy visits the Megajoule Laser French President Nicolas Sarkozy accompanied by the Minister for Higher Education and Research Val rie P cresse visited the Megajoule Laser LMJ on the CEA Cesta site on October 14 2010 He was welcomed to the site by the CEA Chairman Bernard Bigot the Director of military applications Daniel Verwaerde the Deputy Director of military applications Dominique Monvoisin and the Director of The PETAL will be build in the LMJ The PETAL PETawatt Aquitaine Laser project was launched in 2003 by the Aquitaine Region together with the Ministry responsible for Research and the European Union It consists in building a multi petawatt ultra short pulses of a few picoseconds laser chain coupled with a high energy laser long pulses of a few nanoseconds The considerable potential of the LMJ allied with the synergy between the the Site Jean Pierre Giannini After a brief presentation of the Simulation program the French leader officially opened the building and visited the laser hall in which the Petawatt beam see PETAL box is to be installed and then the hall where physics experiments will be conducted as of 2014 He talked about the potential of the LMJ for research innovation and economic deve
21. phases of the Polish instructors training program set up by the AFNI France International Nuclear Agency at the end of 2009 and 2010 and the importance of the transfer of the computer codes a key element if Poland is to acquire its own expertise in dealing with safety issues CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 ENERGY Nuclear Energy Advanced sorting ki THE FUTURE OF SEPARATIVE CHEMIST matana Innovating materials and process TO THEICSM Chemicalseparation is a key step and a factorin the efficiency of a large number Y of industrial processes It can for example be used to carry out extremely advanced sorting at an atomic and molecular level for recycling of elements considered to be reusable and for isolating and thereby minimizing elements of no value waste Mastering the finer points of separation also makes it possible to develop highly innovative chemical substances capable of being used in hostile environments Delphine Nicolas Press feature June 2009 Web site http icsm fr amp a ps he purpose of the Institute of Separative Chemistry a combined CEA CNRS UM2 ENSCM research unit is the nanometer level study of interfaces in extreme conditions LU designed so that we can understand the mechanisms governing separation phenomena that occur in nuclear complex fluids and materials against a backdrop of sustainable development f The Institute aims to be
22. research fields can be identified as being both new and pertinent in line with the requirements expressed by CEA and its partners and have been chosen as the fundamental building blocks of the Institute s activities chemistry and physical chemistry of actinides ions at the interfaces in corrosive media ionic selectivity using self assembled molecular systems sonochemistry in complex fluids self repairing nanomaterials interfaces of evolving materials analytical isotopic chemistry These topics which are handled in the Institute s seven laboratories are supplemented by another three which are more cross disciplinary in nature theoretical and environmental chemistry microscopy diffusion diffraction theoretical chemistry modeling The highly innovative nature of this research in which the chemical phenomena are examined at the nanometric level means that the advances expected can be put to use in a number of non nuclear fields new technologies for energy information and communication technologies biotechnologies etc Natural uranium Natural uranium is made up 99 3 of uranium 238 and 0 7 of uranium 235 Supercritical fluids We talk of a supercritical fluid when a fluid is heated above its critical temperature and when it is compressed above its critical pressure Its physical properties density viscosity diffusivity are then between those of a liquid and those of a gas A
23. situation within CEA which brings the highest level methodologists and neurobiologists together in one place This magnet is currently being built by the CEA physicists who also built the magnets for the LHC at the CERN in Geneva as well as the magnets for ITER hi View of the NeuroSpin Galeria CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 The researchers at NeuroSpin the neuro imaging unit located in CEA s Saclay Center have been waiting for this moment for a long time the world s most powerful magnetic resonance magnet 17 2 teslas was successfully tested in November 2010 It is intended for the study of the brains of rodents Journal de Saclay n 49 December 2010 To meet today s cerebral imaging challenges permanent dialogue between those who develop and those who use these instruments is essential It is precisely this combination of different yet complementary know how and skills of public and private researchers engineers doctors and technicians that underpins the basis and the originality of NeuroSpin This infrastructure opened in 2007 is one of the rare institutions in Europe if not the world able to bring these experts together in the same place whether from organizations CEA Inserm INRIA CNRS universities or engineering colleges private industrial laboratories or other foreign institutions in Europe the USA or Asia to design build and use magnets of a power hitherto unprecedented At the crossr
24. there are three objectives to make possible to carry out and to maintain the separation phenomena This will be done in particular by exploiting the conceptual and practical potential of nano chemistry The Institute s research topics are intentionally defined in order to complement and create synergy with the chemistry of MIS a topic already extensively developed at Marcoule For more than 15 years following the Bataille Act of 30 December 1991 and the 28 June 2006 Act on the sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste the teams at CEA have been among the world leaders in the separation sciences for reprocessing recycling of spent nuclear fuels and for optimizing the production of ultimate waste in particular by means of feasibility demonstrations performed in the Atalante facility See CEA News n 2 special report on Solutions for radioactive waste downloadable from the site The Institute s fields of research can be divided into 3 main areas Complex fluids that occur in the production of nuclear materials emulsions clays extractants complexants and biological fluids for nuclear toxicology Multiscale materials for which the first scale is nanometric hence the term nano materials Solid solution interface between the often corrosive fluids and the above mentioned materials in extreme conditions For each of these three cross disciplinary areas involving nanosciences seven
25. 500 m below the surface of the sea On December 21 2010 the CNRS CEA and signed a scientific and industrial collaboration agreement with the less Association CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 This agreement has two primary objectives Enhance the partnership between academic research and companies and increase the number of joint R amp D projects on the large research instruments in particular in nuclear and high energy physics using very large radiation centers such as synchrotrons Strengthen exchanges between industry and laboratories to improve understanding of the needs tools and services of each technological obstacles to be overcome respective roadmaps and corresponding technological choices to be made This type of scientific cooperation already exists in the United States Asia and other European countries In close liaison with the very large research instruments and infrastructures Committee at the CNRS the aim is for this specific collaboration between academic research and industry in France to be extended to other organizations and industrial partners thus helping to strengthen Europe s position on the international competitive stage Tara Oceans A strong hand at the helm As the Tara Oceans expedition begins its second year which will take it from the Cape to Auckland via Buenos Aires Ushuaia Clipperton or Papeete the 15 partners in this unique research project have signed a global agreement on the
26. CEA has made a major commitment to the event and proposes celebrating this discipline through its key areas of research batteries fuel cycle and design of new medication Bernard Bigot will present CEA s programs at the Chemistry for the nuclear energy of the future Symposium on 5 April 2011 at the Palais des Congr s in Montpellier This event will mark the International Year of Chemistry and the centenary of the Nobel Prize awarded to Marie Skodowska Curie Colloque le 5 avril 2011 a m Yoo on com 4 v L ee i hemi ycleate wn Very large research instruments and infrastructures Strengthening scientific and industrial collaboration From research ship to satellite from telescope to LHC collider at the CERN very large research instruments and infrastructures play a vital role in fundamental research in a large number of disciplines The field of high energy physics which explores both the infinitely small and the infinitely large is one of the most demanding in terms of instrumentation Design studies first prototypes and fine tuning of these precise technological choices right up to the actual construction of the instruments themselves is a process that may well consist of thousands of subassemblies and sensors and requiring extreme accuracy in environments that can be both hostile and highly technical such as in an ultra vacuum at just a few degrees Kelvin in space in deserts or even 2
27. RIALS Sensitive reactive and biocompatible the diamond is an ideal material for a range of devices with numerous functions This is the case with electrochemical bio sensors comprising an electronic substrate the surface of which is covered with diamond onto which bio receivers enzymes antibodies DNA are fixed and transmit a signal as soon as they detect a target molecule However to ensure optimum operation the bio receivers must be firmly attached to the substrate while at the same time remaining active A solution was found at CEA wel ram A ten billion year journey The astronomers were then able to detect the galaxies in the foreground but above all prove that in each line of sight there were two perfectly aligned galaxies at different distances The distance of each of these galaxies was measured using spectral shift towards the MiMiMeTEMFaRGe of a line emitted by Wavelength of 60 to 500 microns French laboratories Paris astrophysics institute CNRS UPMC Space astrophysics institute CNRS Universit Paris Sud 11 Millimeter radioastronomy institute CNRS MPG IGN Marseille astrophysics laboratory CNRS Universit de Provence Astrophysics instrumentation and modeling laboratory CEA Irfu CNRS Universit Paris Diderot Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey is the largest key program for Open Time satellite observations It was granted 600 hours of Herschel observing time for obser
28. RO Le LE MOSCOV Patrice BERNARD Le 6 patrice bernard diplomatie gouv fr ASIN CON x N Jacques FIGUET nuclear counselor ambafrance us org NEW DELHI DA Sunil FELIX sunil felix cea fr use TV Bernard SALANON bernard salanon cea fr PARIS CEA Headquarters ceanews contact cea fr BEIJING Alain TOURNYOL du CLOS service servnuc com Pierre Yves CORDIER ROME pierre yves cordier cea fr Jean Claude BOUCHTER VIENNA IAEA jean claude bouchter diplomatie gouv fr St phane BAUDE stephane baude cea fr SEOUL Jean Yves DOYEN jeanyvesdoyen kornet net You can look up past issues of CEA News at www cea fr www cea fr english_portal library cea_news energie atomique energies alternatives More information ceanews contact cea fr
29. ach to the development of these key technologies of the future EERA launches three new joint research programs On November 15 and 16 2010 in Brussels the European Energy Research Alliance EERA officially launched three new joint energy research programs CO capture and storage New materials for the nuclear industry and Bioenergies Following the launch of the first four joint research programs in June of last year EERA is continuing to enhance collaboration by the Member States of the European Union for research in the field of energy technologies Since EERA was created in 2008 it has aimed to strengthen expand and optimize European research capacity in the energy sector through joint pan European research programs as set out in the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan for the period 2013 2020 The seven programs launched will involve more than 1 000 researchers from nearly 70 public research institutes throughout Europe Almost 100 million will be invested by the organizations involved The European Strategic Energy Technology Plan was launched by the European Commission in 2007 to boost the cost effective develooment and implementation of low carbon technologies CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 Leti Fraunhofer IISB institute Fraunhofer lISB institute Jannus welcomes participants in IAEA s SMoRE research project The mid term meeting for IAEA s coordinated research pro
30. age to incorporate a gene from another organism into the bacterium so that it could break down lactic acid and lactose The scientists therefore placed the bacteria in a culture solution containing whey plus mineral salts to improve the conditions for photosynthesis When exposed to incandescent lamps the brightness of which corresponds to that of the Inra research programs PROTEOGENOMICS Tackling the GENE PROBLEM BACKWARDS Sequencing genomes has almost become too easy the data are building up but annotation is lagging behind observes Jean Armengaud researcher at CEA EIA The explanation decoding the order of succession of the bases making up the DNA is not enough and the portions with a meaning in other words the genes have to be located in this vastness Whenever possible the proteins for which they code must also be identified along with their function Given the current rate of production of sequences this annotation can no longer be carried out by hand Computer programs are dealing with this although the downside is a very high error rate Jean Armengaud s team opted to approach the problem in the opposite direction starting from the proteome all the proteins secreted by an organism and working back to the genes This has the advantage of identifying all the genes but also their product the proteins and therefore frequently their function This original approach was applied to Thermococc
31. arge specific surface area in order to obtain controlled reactivity The reactivity and evolution of these nanostructured materials over time will also need to be characterized and modeled It will be possible to apply these skills to the production of self repairing hybrid nanomaterials The goal in particular is to deposit adaptive coats to the surface of materials comprising clearly defined nanostructures and which react to changes in the environment by repairing themselves For radioactive waste matrices this consists in synthesizing and characterizing new self organized organic precursors capable of mineralizing in the presence of the charged species emitted by the solid subjected to irradiation THE TRAINING ROLE OF THE INSTITUTE The presence of three public higher education establishments within the Institute University of Montpellier 2 the Montpellier Ecole Nationale Sup rieure de Chimie and the National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology INSTN will ensure that fundamental research training through research young doctoral or post doctoral researchers and higher education including research Master s and professional degrees in chemistry from the Montpellier chemistry hub are closely intertwined Through the close involvement of its many researchers and engineers the Institute is an active participant in setting up and providing teaching on subjects of interest to the nuclear industry separative
32. build a target called Chymene French acronym for thin hydrogen target for the study of exotic nuclei which is to be incorporated into the Spiral 2 installations and be used to run an ambitious and totally unique physics program Vincent M ot Interactif n 55 October 2010 Spiral 2 2 generation on line radioactive ions production system efti Large national heavy ions accelerator Irfu Institute of research into the fundamental laws of the Universe Turning out a liner after a reactive rotational moulding cycle CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 ights ific ins Scient 21 22 HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES Virtual TACTILE TEXTURES Le Prototype electromechanical device In 2007 the French national research agency launched the Reactive project devoted to virtual environments designed to re educate stroke victims The CEA Institute focused on the tactile part of the project The research teams first of all met with patients and doctors and then observed the importance of texture recognition in motor function re education For this we today only have a few extremely basic games such as dominos whose surface offers different levels of roughness We therefore looked for a system which was able to reproduce textures in more realistic virtual environments at the market in the home etc explained Michael Wiertlewski Existing systems based on force feedback re educate the patient s motor fun
33. chemical risks were immediately sent out For many years Japan has been a close partner of France Many French engineers and researchers are working there on long term assignments while we at the same time welcome Japanese scientists This understanding of the Japanese nuclear situation gives our French experts a full role to play within the assistance organisation set up with British American and Russian specialists In the aftermath of the disaster it will be essential for the decision makers researchers industry and the public at large to analyse the feedback from this major nuclear accident That will take time In the upcoming issues of CEA News together with our experts we will attempt to understand the accident and identify possible reactions and responses in terms of safety and energy policy in general The Editor CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 In the words of International cooperation ER The International Year of Chemistry IS up and running The international year of chemistry was officially launched by the UN on January 27 and 28 at the Unesco headquarters in Paris Among those attending these events was Bernard Bigot CEA Chairman Under the banner Chemistry our life our future this international year aims to promote awareness and understanding by the general public of how chemistry can address mankind s global needs It also aims to attract young people into this field
34. chemistry radiochemistry physical chemistry of actinides materials chemistry Every year the INSTN branch in Marcoule receives 2 000 people for continuing professional education classes in the following fields radiation protection safety Work in a nuclear environment decommissioning and chemistry The INSTN also takes part in training students through joint diplomas or via special agreements with universities in order to propose higher education curricula tailored to the new nuclear issues CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 11 RESEARCH Alzheimer diagnosis and treatment NeuroSpin Neuro imaging techniques Research Cerebral imaging REVEALING oo Spotlight on TE ALZHEIMER S DISEA Cerebral imaging is the only non invasive means of examining the brain and is essential in studying Alzheimer s disease As a tool for early diagnosis evaluation and treatment monitoring this technology is at the heart of the research being done to further improve its reliability and sensitivity Bio actif n 6 December 2010 Press January 2010 T A 3T MRI dedicated to clinical studies and examinations in humans at NeuroSpin CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 THE FIRST SIGNS OF ALZHEIMER S DISEASE etween 10 and 20 years That seems to be the time during which there is slow degeneration of the brain associated with Alzheimer s disease even before the appearance of the first signs of d
35. come a benchmark firstly at a European level and then globally The aim of sustainable nuclear power In close liaison with the technological research activities of the CEA centre in Marcoule near Avignon the Institute s priority mission is to develop innovative processes and materials for the fuel cycle of tomorrow s nuclear reactors These 4 generation reactors will be entering service in about 2040 and are expected to produce fifty to a hundred times more electricity than current reactors while consuming 50 to 70 ELE AME ira ranium as opposed to today s reactors that consume 1 because they only produce energy from the fission of nuclei of uranium 235 the only fissile isotope of natural uranium The future reactors should be able to burn up by fission not only the 235 isotope of uranium but also uranium 238 by converting it into plutonium 239 which is also fissile Uranium 238 could thus be consumed in the reactor to generate electricity This technology would multiply by a factor of 100 the CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 THE INSTITUTE AIMS TO BECOME A BENCHMARK availability of global primary fissile resources Initially it would also use the uranium 238 obtained from reprocessing of current spent fuel and depleted uranium an enrichment by product made up 99 7 of uranium 238 Use of the 4 generation reactors will also through transmutation of the minor actinides shorten to a few centuries t
36. ctions but provide only very little tactile information What was needed was a system able to reproduce the sensation of the skin in order to enhance their content When we run our finger over a textured surface it generates a mechanical vibration that is perceptible to the skin The laboratory designed an electromechanical device capable of capturing these vibrations and memorizing them so that they could be reproduced when moving the fingers The first tests with volunteers demonstrated its ability to mimic textures satisfactorily Using this sensor the laboratory is at present assembling a library of vibration profiles or in other words textures These will soon be reproduced with a more compact appliance a simple actuator of about 2 cm Over and above the needs of re education a system such as this could become a computer peripheral for applications such as games or on line sales Patrick Philippon Les D fis du CEA n 155 November 2010 List The research done by the Laboratory for Integration of Systems and Technologies concerns embedded systems interactive systems sensors and signal processing CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 ELECTRICAL STORAGE When batteries ARE CONNECTED TO THE GRID It is one of only six prototypes in the world and is as big as a large shipping container 10 tons 4 50 meters long 2 20 meters wide 2 4 meters high But inside it s just full of energy 100 kWh and a power outpu
37. ctrum The IRAM was founded by the CNRS in France and the Max Planck Gesellschaft in Germany and then joined by the Spanish Instituto Geografico Nacional It comprises a 30 metre diameter radiotelescope at Pico Veleta in Spain and an interferometer consisting of six 15 metre diameter antennas on the Bure plateau in France the diamond at ambient temperature with the solution containing the bio receivers In just a few minutes they attach themselves to the substrate and the sample can be analyzed The other advantage of this extremely quick method is to be able to graft a bank of bio receivers in a single operation thus being able to detect several target molecules simultaneously In addition to medical applications detection of medium for cell networks these materials modified by biological entities could be used in electronics or even in the field of energy bio fuel cells Aude Ganier Les D fis du CEA n 154 October 2010 Jointly with the N el Institute the Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble and a CEA List team in Saclay Nano sciences and cryogenics institute Extremely strong chemical bond resulting from the sharing of electrons by two chemical elements As the substrate functions as an electrode it can detect neurotransmitters and thus interrogate the synapse contact zone between neurons far objects identification of the properties of the dense matter by observing the emission of dust and molec
38. d testing on diameters from 63 mm to 125 mm the RYB company is now moving on to the industrialization phase in order to expand its range from DN20 to DN1000 The next step will be to work with the network managers and operators in order to incorporate this technology into their information systems and according to their own specifications The deployment of trial network infrastructures will also provide interesting feedback for the next phases in the ELIOT project Press release November 2010 French leader in polyethylene pipes and networks and a major European player in the transport of water gas electricity and telecoms Leti Laboratory for Electronics and Information Technology CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 ights ific ins Scient 23 24 Smart electronic sensor COMMUNICATING INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CAPTAUCOM three industrial orototyoes delivered The Captaucom program was launched in 2005 and has achieved its objectives and three independent communicating prototypes have been developed for three industrial players This project focused on developing communicating independent sensors for the Rhone Alps based Seb T fal Somfy and NTN SNR Roulements Two research organizations CEA and 337 two centers of expertise Mind and and technology network Th same were all involved in the project The project has just ended with excellent technical results leading to the production of three protot
39. e technology looked promising on paper and confirmed its potential during tests It is thus possible to store and read two bits instead of one on a dot measuring 140 x 80 nanometers The challenge now is to develop an industrial technology for printing the entire surface of a 3 5 inch hard disk given that the laboratory tests concern very small surfaces Patrick Philippon Les D fis du CEA n 155 November 2010 HET The CFA Institute for nanosciences and cryogenics conducts research into nanosciences condensed matter cryogenics and the develooment of research tools NANOTAPE it really sticks MRAM wafer developed by Spintec Atomic force microscopy images showing three different modes of a graphene sheet immobilized by nanotape On the left the edge of the sheet and significant roughness of the gold substrate In the centre electrical resistance measurement between the substrate and the surface the pink area corresponding to the substrate being extremely isolating On the right boundary between the two graphene zones of different thicknesses It sticks everywhere and can attach almost anything The varnish developed by the researchers at the CEA T TIE not only has the ability to chemically bond with all types of substrates but also to attach a large range of molecules without modifying them This should pave the way for a variety of applications in the biotechnologies and molecular electronics fields
40. ea fr ceanews contact cea fr CEA News is a synthesis of articles and press releases published by CEA Publication Director Xavier Cl ment Contributors to this edition Claire Abou Sophie Aniel Claude Ayache Patrick Cappe de Baillon Xavier Cl ment Pascale Delbourgo Thierry Ethvignot Daniel lracane Florence Klotz Elisabeth de Lavergne Lucia Le Clech Fr d ric Mondoloni Brigitte Raffray Graphic design MAKASSAR Printed on Symbol Freelife paper 40 recycled 60 FSC certified Fse Cover View of the Institute of Separative Chemistry in Marcoule P Stroppa CEA Credits Artechnique p 23 24 bottom P Avavian p 2 19 top 20 31 top J Bastion Fond Tara p 4 C Boulze p 2 12 top A Chezi re p 22 bottom C Dupont p 25 bottom 30 bottom ESA p 18 19 bottom L Godart p 26 bottom GIN CEA University of Caen p 17 middle A Gonin p 6 top 11 PF Grosjean p 12 bottom 13 14 15 16 bottom P Labeguerie p 4 J F Mangin V El Kouby M Perrin Y Cointepas C Poupon p 17 bottom C Morel Our Polar Heritage p 7 bottom D Sarraute p 24 top SHJF CEA p 17 top P Stroppa p 2 5 bottom 7 top 8 9 10 16 top 21 bottom 22 top Special release 25 March 2011 t the time of going to press after shocks are continuing in the wake of the most severe earthquake in Japanese history which
41. ementia which lead to the diagnosis This is why researchers are using every means at their disposal to find the early warning signs of this pathology in the blood the cerebrospinal fluid and the brain itself which can now be observed in detail thanks to cerebral imaging In this disease the degeneration is manifested by two types of lesions identified by Doctor Alois Alzheimer in the early 20 century On the one hand the amyloid plaques abnormal aggregates of a protein called Beta A4 and on the other neurofibrillary tangles an aggregate of the tau protein this time in the neurons preventing them from working before leading to death Given that these lesions are irreversible the pharmaceutical industry is attempting to delay their spread which leads to dementia But for drugs to be effective a diagnosis must be established even before the patient exhibits the first symptoms Improving the diagnosis Positron Emission Tomography PET could be a useful tool in doing this because it is a tool that can both detect and quantify This technique consists of attaching a radioactive molecule to a of the disease and then measuring the radioactivity in order to show where the molecule became attached and in what proportion This radioactive molecule intravenously injected into the patient is called a radioactive tracer Some already exist such as QIX for example to visualize the amyloid plaques At present the Service Hospitalie
42. h infrastructure designed to push back the current limits of cerebral imaging The levels of performance achieved will make it possible to observe the brain and its pathologies even more precisely on a scale more representative of the cellular and molecular phenomena controlling it Non traumatic neuro imaging methods such as MRI do not interfere with brain functions and enable the human brain to be examined in patients and healthy volunteers Yet MRI has come nowhere near reaching its limits by increasing the magnetic field of the magnets one can hope to boost the spatial or temporal precision of the images by a factor of five to ten In this way it would be possible to study the working of the brain at a scale of a few hundred or a few thousand neurons rather than millions as at present an intermediate scale which could hide a neural code in the same way as there is a genetic code A level of power unequalled anywhere in the world While medical MRI scanners generally have a power of 1 5 ERIE T 30 000 times the Earth s magnetic field NeuroSpin is already equipped with two magnets of 3 and 7 T 140 000 times the Earth s magnetic field The second one which is unique in France already offers a level of sensitivity far superior to that of standard MRIs In 2013 NeuroSpin will have an 11 7 T magnet representing a level of power unequalled anywhere in the world This exploit is due to the originality of NeuroSpin s
43. he time after which the radio toxicity of the waste returns to a level comparable with that of the initial uranium ore Achieving these goals implies taking a completely new look at the fuels for these reactors whether in terms of their composition or their recycling when they are spent and removed from the reactor Among the dozens of chemical species present in the spent fuel this in particular means being able to sort out those that could be recycled in a reactor either because they are reusable or because they are highly toxic This sorting is done using specific molecules and is known as separative chemistry Enhancing Marcoule s fundamental research potential The Institute of Separative Chemistry is enhancing Marcoule s fundamental research potential in the study of the basic phenomena involved for example in the selective separation of radioactive elements in various media of interest ales and organic solutions molten salts and metals SMY ERMES at various scales of observation from the molecular scale to that of macroscopic complexity Theoretical work and experimentation will be carried out in parallel Gas chromatograph coupled with a mass spectrometer in the Self Repairing Nanomaterials Laboratory at the Institute s laboratories and in MAEI on extremely diverse element concentrations from nano concentrations up to highly concentrated media The Institute s fields of research Scientifically
44. in nuclear applications fuels structural materials disposal or storage matrices must comply with these new objectives Consequently the fuel environment in such systems means that the new problems inherent in fuel recycling through complete and or targeted dissolution and the storage and disposal of secondary waste will have to be resolved One of the difficulties lies in predicting the long term behavior of the materials used entailing understanding the physical chemical phenomena occurring at the interface between solids and liquids compounded by the presence of external constraints mechanical thermal chemical irradiation etc The Institute will have to determine and understand the links that exist between the morphology and microstructure of a solid on the one hand plus its solubility or otherwise so that it is possible to predict and or manage the physical chemical parameters liable to accelerate or slow down this dissolution Sonochemistry studies Sonochemistry is based on the chemical reactions caused by ultrasound acoustic energy The purpose of fundamental research is to understand the mechanisms behind these reactions by bringing together theoreticians and experimenters from various disciplines acoustic physicists interface chemical physicists chemists specializing in high temperature and analysis etc Sonochemical reactions produce very little secondary waste and can be considered to be green chemistry pr
45. inical trials Another technique that could be used is Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI which reveals changes in the structure or substance of the brain For example using this technique the CI NAPS team associated a pronounced acceleration of the appearance of lesions in the white matter with symptoms of dementia To reach this conclusion it was necessary to manage the acquisition and processing of data obtained from 10 000 subjects more than 65 years old then develop software to detect this acceleration in the appearance of lesions A promising tool Cerebral imaging of this pathology requires detailed and complex analysis Unlike cancerology for which the objective is to determine whether or not a tumor is present here the goal is to identify very small volume variations in clearly determined areas For example one of the indicators of the disease is a reduction in the volume of the hippocampus an area smaller than a thimble located deep inside the brain and particularly involved in episodic memory lapses For the purposes of an early diagnosis the expertise of the radiologist is now reaching its limits and the analysis requires computer processing Automation however means standardization of acquisition protocols and this is one of the aims of the Image Acquisition and Processing Center CATI a consortium that has set itself the goal of creating a bridge between clinical research and research into image processing algorithms
46. international outreach Os o As a public establishment Os o has three roles to support innovation to guarantee funding assistance from banks and investors and to obtain partnership financing BMBF Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 Spotlight on Research 15 NEURO IMAGING TECHNIQUES OF TODAY PET Positron Emission Tomography Positron Emission Tomography consists in intravenously administering a molecule marked with a radioactive isotope in order to externally monitor the normal or pathological functioning of an organ The radioactive tracers have the same physical chemical properties as their non radioactive counterparts except for the fact that they have the particular property of emitting radiation They are thus a means in conjunction with appropriate detection tools for following the journey of a previously marked molecule through the organism The values thus collected are then analyzed and transformed using a mathematical model so that an image can be recreated on the screen representing the position of the radioactive tracer in the organism PET is today widely used for physiological and physiopathological cognitive and behavioral studies as well as for the study of various pathologies affecting the central nervous system such as epilepsy cerebral ischemia strokes and neurodegenerative diseases 2 f NMR _ Nuclear Magnetic
47. ject entitled Accelerator Simulation and Theoretical Modeling of Radiation Effects or SMoRE was held in 2010 followed by a visit to the TERRE installation on the Saclay site It brought together about twenty participants from fifteen countries Belgium China France India Japan Kazakhstan Netherlands Poland Russia Slovakia South Korea Spain Switzerland Ukraine and the United States During their visit to the Jannus multi beam irradiation platform the participants were able to see for themselves that these two installations are now operational A number of partners expressed interest in submitting requests for beam time on Jannus The three year SmoRE project is contributing to the development testing and improvement of the structural materials used in water cooled or fast neutron nuclear reactors Strengthened scientific cooperation between France and Sweden way TG i irii EEU WWT irrita mE On December 13 2010 in Stockholm CEA CNRS and signed five cooperation agreements with various Swedish research institutes LEE Mee 0074 OL in the fields of neutron physics climate sciences and nuclear energy of the future and the University of Uppsala also signed a declaration of intent These agreements to last from six to seven years strengthen scientific Cooperation between the two countries in parallel with French support for the future European Spallation Source ESS project The ESS will be the wor
48. ld s most powerful neutron source The high intensity of the neutron beams obtained by spallation and the development of new observation CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 methods will enable scientists to analyze and understand physical phenomena at the atomic and molecular levels Construction of the ESS should shortly begin in Lund with the facility being commissioned at the end of the decade Two agreements and the declaration of intent directly concern neutron physics Between CEA the CNRS and the ESS AB company for joint studies on the design and testing of components for linear accelerators Between the L on Brillouin Laboratory and the Swedish research council for neutron physics instrumentation methods Between GANIL and the University of Uppsala for setting up scientific exchanges and research projects on their respective installations The other three agreements concern climate sciences and research into nuclear energy of the future Between the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory CEA CNRS UVSQ and the Swedish research council for research leading to responses to calls for proposals in the field of climate sciences and to work on setting up the European ICOS Integrated Carbon Observation System network to measure greenhouse gas flows One of the objectives of Jannus is to experimentally simulate the ageing of nuclear reactor materials using a bombardment of heavy and light ions Another i
49. lopment He considered that the science program involved is of considerable value for France and will enable it to guarantee the future of its deterrent force for as long as necessary thus consolidating French leadership in the field of very high energy laser research To find out more read the speech in French by Nicolas Sarkozy on the government s Elys e website www elysee fr projects of the two installations led to the proposal that PETAL be built in the LMJ The creation of this very large experimental physics facility will serve research into inertial confinement fusion the study of matter in extreme conditions and particle acceleration It will enable French and foreign scientists to explore new ways of producing clean energy of recreating in the laboratory physical conditions which can for example only be found in stars and to test various medical applications for the physics of laser matter interaction The scientific brochure collection CEA s topical brochures these illustrated brochures destined for the general public aim to provide an initial approach to scientific notions The collection in English currently in paper format is completed with four titles A new Clefs CEA The scientific and technical review Clefs CEA reports on important subjects in research and development studied by the CEA The articles written in part by scientists address the public with a general scientific culture
50. lts similar to the usual surveillance method remarks Fabienne Gas The team also used its antibodies to develop a strip test employing the same principle as quick pregnancy tests The micro algae can then be detected in barely 15 minutes and the test can be carried out directly on site Its sensitivity needs to be further improved before the test can become quantitative but once this is optimized oyster farmers could use it Ifremer CEA collaboration should eventually lead to an in situ buoy type system for detecting toxic micro algae species Anne Orliac Les D fis du CEA n 156 October 2010 Institut fran ais de recherche pour l exploitation de la mer French research institute for exploration of the sea a therapeutic target for Huntington s disease Huntington s disease is a neurodegenerative genetic disorder which is still incurable today Researchers at the and their American partners have recently identified new possibilities for developing a treatment by demonstrating that astrocytes cells that are vital to neuron survival play a key role in this disease Astrocytes activated in the brain of patients with Huntington s disease CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 In those suffering from this disease the huntingtine protein that mutated at the beginning of the cerebral damage is expressed in all the cells of the body However it leads to selective loss of neurons in the striatum but not of other
51. nal instrument are scientific clinical industrial and economic The technological obstacles overcome with these new magnets will be able to modify current concepts and help develop clinical MRI scanners The algorithms and computing resources developed will benefit a network of neuro imaging sites distributed around the country Mock up of the 11 Tesla MRI The development of new tracers and contrast media appropriate for such field powers is already under way lseult project These will be able to highlight pathologies at a very early stage Alzheimer s strokes brain cancers and target the treatment more precisely molecular imaging The models and tools developed will first of all benefit health care systems and thus patients with the spin offs they may have for diagnostic or therapeutic imaging protocols It should be remembered that about ten years is often needed between the first scientific publication of an innovative idea or industrial patent and its routine clinical use One of the goals of NeuroSpin is precisely to speed up this translational neurological research so that the patients can benefit from the innovation faster by involving industry at all levels A European infrastructure with an international dimension Functional imagery is a rapidly expanding discipline Research in this field is growing and becoming increasingly varied New methods are regularly appearing and its use in hospitals is expanding and i
52. ng mathematical physical physiological etc of brain functions demands cooperation by a range of skills and considerable computing power in order to handle process model and archive very large volumes of data concerning thousands of patients Specific software has to be produced to extract pertinent information from these data allowing improved individual detection of anomalies so that an early or even preventive diagnosis can be made or to allow real time monitoring of the effects of a treatment Validation and applications The NeuroSpin platform comprises two sectors clinical and pre clinical A medicalized area with beds and medical personnel can receive hospitalized patients in close collaboration with the hospitals The pre clinical area is used to study transgenic mouse lines to establish how assemblies of neurons develop and become organized according to the environment and the expression of genes or pathologies such as Alzheimer s disease or brain tumors This step is essential before these models can be used to understand human cognitive processes their pathologies and their therapies It must therefore be possible to study the entire continuum from the mouse model to man in parallel and with the same imaging methods One of the objectives of NeuroSpin is to better understand the respective roles of our genes and of the environment in the anatomical and functional development of our brain both normal and pathological
53. ns and evaluated using the same imaging protocol APPLICATIONS A Franco Swiss license CEA has just awarded an evaluation license to the Swiss company PMOD the largest independent company in the field of software for analysis of images obtained by Positron Emission Tomography PMOD will therefore be evaluating the commercial potential of two new software programs developed by the researchers at the SHFJ This software will determine the radioactive concentration of the tracer in the regions of interest with a precision of about five per cent The potential reward is enhanced discrimination of tumors This agreement could eventually become a commercial license Spotlight on Research Result of an MRI examination at NeuroSpin Biological marke Measurable physiological change signaling the appearance of a pathology or of a certain stage in this pathology This marker should ideally be specific to the disease being studied PIB The radioactive tracers used in research are generally designated by their code name given by the laboratory which developed them SHFJ Service Hospitalier Fr d ric Joliot dependent on the CEA and located in the Orsay Hospital near Paris CI NAPS Centre d Imagerie Neurosciences et d Applications aux Pathologies Pre clinical research center for neurodegenerative cardiac hepatic and infectious diseases Its purpose is to design validate and evaluate new therapeutic strategies BM
54. ntensifying As a large biomedical research instrument NeuroSpin is a prime candidate for collaborative programs both national SHFJ and MIRCen at CEA Inserm IFR 49 Groupe Hospitalier Piti Salp tri re AP HP AFM CIERM H pital Bic tre Inria Institut Pasteur the G nopole in Evry and so on and international Europe Japan USA Structures are in place to receive international delegations The national and international scientific community has already expressed its interest in such an installation and about fifteen international teams are hoping to reserve time of from a few weeks to a few months Highly active discussions and collaborative ventures are in progress for example the University of Fribourg and the Julich site in Germany the University of Leuven in Belgium the universities of Kyoto and Tokyo in Japan the National University of Taipei the University of Minnesota the National Institutes for Health and the Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States or the CNRC in Canada The physicists at CEA also have the highest level of expertise and benefit from international recognition in the design and construction of superconducting and microwave magnets The Tesla is the unit of magnetic field The Earth s magnetic field in Paris is of 0 00005 T ESFRI The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures is a strategic instrument to develop the scientific integration of Europe and to strengthen its
55. oads of scientific and technological knowledge and know how NeuroSpin the Service Hospitalier Fr d ric Joliot SHFJ at CEA Orsay and MIRCen the pre clinical imaging center set up at CEA Fontenay aux Roses constitute a pooling of biomedical imaging resources and expertise that is unique in the world today At a European level NeuroSpin is a founder member and the French representative of EATRIS the European infrastructure network within the framework of ESA and is able to host teams from around the world for brain imaging studies NeuroSpin is also the cornerstone of a highly ambitious Franco German R amp D program called Iseult piloted by industry Guerbet in France Siemens in Germany and funded 50 by industry and 50 by 0J in France and the in Germany This project concerns the development of very strong magnetic field MRI molecular imaging for early diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of patients suffering from Alzheimer s disease cerebral infarctions or brain tumors The NeuroSpin concept This is organized around three complementary interconnected approaches Instrumentation In addition to the 3 T and 7 T MRI scanners and the future 11 7 T magnet NeuroSpin has since 2010 had a 17 tesla MRI system at its disposal for studies on small animals NeuroSpin is also equipped with a magnetoencephalography MEG system for recording the infinitely small magnetic fields naturally produced by the brain Modeling Modeli
56. obability of emission of a compound nucleus de excitation channel together with calculation of the formation of the compound nucleus This technique was developed in the 1970s to measure fission probabilities on actinides Its validity which has been proven for fission has not yet been demonstrated however for radiative captures Acquiring new neutron data In collaboration with the University of Bordeaux and the Los Alamos and Livermore laboratories CEA s nuclear states excitation laboratory began testing of this substitute method on isotopes of lutetium A series of experiments was carried out using the CEA s 4 MV accelerator the 15 MV accelerator at the Orsay Institute of Nuclear Physics and the Lansce at MATERIALS FOR ENERGY ALHYANCE INNOVATION act 2 The second Polymers Plastics Composites hub on the AlHyance Innovation platform has been inaugurated at CEA s Ripault centre near Tours Its goal is to play an active role in CEA materials research in particular in the transport field with the development of batteries and fuel cells for hybrid and electric vehicles The materials have to meet increasingly demanding specifications with regard to their properties savings in the manufacturing processes strength durability safety environmental impact and recyclability Les D fis du CEA n 156 December 2010 Experimental Surrogate Experiment with XY silicon set up used to study the compound nucleus
57. ocesses Some of them are already being studied as a way of stabilizing micro bubbles of air passivating surfaces against corrosion synthesizing nanoparticles with adjustable properties or safely manipulating actinide colloids In the processes that will be used in the nuclear plants of the future sonochemistry will no doubt play an important role ranging from fuel dissolution to the preparation of storage nano materials containing hot short lived radioactive waste At the Institute of Separative Chemistry a sono spectrophotometer will be used This tool is unique in Europe and combines optical spectroscopy analysis of the gases and reaction products present and monitoring of the acoustic pressure and temperature Monitoring a reaction in the ions at interfaces laboratory Self repairing nano materials Materials capable of rapid renewal said to be self repairing are of great interest for the industries of tomorrow The aim of the research to be carried out at the Institute is to use the knowledge acquired on the self transformation of matter at all scales and the associated physical chemical modifications in order to design complex materials whose properties not only refuse to degrade but can also improve over time This is primarily focused on multiscale materials from the nanometric to the micrometric This implies the ability to synthesize them through the combined use of advances in soft chemistry and precursors with a l
58. on along with the advent of energy recovery micro devices are paving the way for new independent communicating industrial systems Press release December 2010 CSEM Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology CETIM Technical center of the French mechanical industries Organic electronics for energy micro source Talents du CEA n 128 November 2010 MODELING AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION Inauguration OF THE MANON LABORATORY The joint research laboratory will enable civil nuclear research to take advantage of the latest mathematical and numerical technologies It was officially opened on December 17 2010 by the Chairman of UAUA Jean Charles Pomerol the CEA Chairman Bernard Bigot and Liliane Flabb e representing the Chairman of the CNRS Alain Fuchs This laboratory was set up for a renewable four year period and its aim is to promote research into modeling numerical simulation and optimization of the complex systems encountered in the civil nuclear industry Collaboration concerns improvement of the numerical tools currently used and it will above all lead to the production of more powerful numerical methods for better modeling of the physical phenomena encountered in many applications relating to the working of a nuclear power plant Thanks to the expertise of the two partners the MANON laboratory will be able to examine in greater detail and combine the following topics mechanics of m
59. peratures and the researchers discovered that some copper oxide based materials were capable of achieving superconducting states at a temperature of 135 K 138 C Whereas conventional superconductors had to be cooled with liquid helium these materials known as high critical temperature superconductors could be simply cooled with liquid nitrogen making them far easier to use Abnormal electronic properties To explain this phenomenon of superconductivity at high temperature the physicists must elucidate the particular behavior of these materials CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 which before becoming superconducting go through an intermediate oseudogap phase during which abnormal electronic properties appear and which do not correspond to the behavior of conventional metals Several theoretical models were proposed to describe this phase One of them from Professor Varma of the University of California Riverside postulates the existence of a hidden order from which the superconducting state of the matter emerges below a certain temperature a new material state appears in which microscopic loops of electric current form spontaneously The pseudogap phase would be the result of the appearance of these current nano loops This theory has just been validated by the research teams through observations made with the IN20 polarized neutron spectrometer at the Laue Langevin Institute Interpretation of this fascinating phenomenon
60. r Country Reflecting the keynote theme Innovation for sustainable growth the French exhibits will put the focus on the energy sector sustainable mobility and energy efficiency Atomexpo 2011 June 6 8 Moscow Russia ATOMEXPO 2011 is host to a specialized exhibition for nuclear enterprises and related industries For top managers and specialists the international exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to see the products and services of one of the most promising industries in Russia The forum will also be home to the International Congress another opportunity to get an idea of what the nuclear industry needs and what it is capable of and to discover new promising business contacts CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 The 9 China International Exhibition on Nuclear Power Industry 2011 Ever since the first inception in 1995 the International Exhibition on Nuclear Power Industry has been gaining a tremendous and unanimous support from the Chinese governmental authorities the world s organizations concerning nuclear power and the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA The year of 2011 marks 17 years existence for this event Throughout these years a considerable number of the most influential enterprises have exhibited their novel technologies and solutions The event serves to encourage business communication and interaction by means of coherent international cooperation and conferences focusing on state
61. r Fr d ric Joliot is running clinical trials of this tracer in colla boration with the Piti Salp tri re hospital Weighing a sample for analysis in the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals in the SHFJ CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 Alzheimer s a real social issue In France Alzheimer s and similar diseases progress inexorably with age as of 85 years old 1 in 4 women and 1 in 5 men are affected id One of the drawbacks for widespread use of PIB is that it is marked with carbon 11 a radioactive element with a life of only 20 min which means that it has to be produced in situ The problem is that few nuclear medicine centers have the necessary equipment or know how for this production Louisa Barr s team in the unit in Caen developed a synthesis method compliant with French regulations for another radioactive tracer AV45 This is marked with fluorine 18 and has a life of about 2 h enabling it to be transported It is currently the basis of two clinical trial protocols being run in partnership with the Inserm s research units No marker is as yet able to provide a reliable early diagnosis and only a combination of corroborating data can be used to estimate the probability of the patient developing Alzheimer s disease in the near future two to three years The staff at MERI the SHFJ and NeuroSpin see page 14 worked on another approach by developing DPA714 a radioactive tracer of activation of the mic
62. roglia the cells which clean the brain when a neuron dies This phenomenon is not specific to Alzheimer s disease but its observation in certain areas of the brain could confirm the diagnosis Producing a radioactive tracer is no mean feat First it must be synthesized and the researchers then have to make sure that it is not toxic understand what happens to it in the blood and identify where it attaches Furthermore amyloid plaques are not conventional targets for this type of examination They are aggregates and not specific receivers on the surface of a cell Many other neurodegenerative diseases exhibit relatively similar aggregates hence the difficulty in finding markers that can reveal this disease adds Philippe Hantraye director of MIRCen whose team is currently attempting to develop a new model of the disease in primates which among other things would allow verification of the metabolism in vivo and of the selectivity of the radioactive tracer or of a possible treatment To make things more complicated as we are dealing with imagery of the brain the molecule has to be able to cross the barrier which isolates the brain from poisons the blood brain barrier A simple test was developed at the SHFJ for in vitro detection of whether or not the molecule of interest passes this barrier As regards the DPA714 the teams from EM are waiting for authorization from the French health products safety agency AFSSAPS to begin cl
63. rse was only 10 to 20 of the age it is today The international collaboration being coordinated by Mattia Negrello The Open University GB and involving 89 other astronomers 7 of whom are working in French laboratories supported by the CNES used the SPIRE and PACS panoramic cameras fitted to Herschel whose instrumentation was to a large extent developed in the CEA and CNRS laboratories For the very first time ff L _ a nm En Artist s impression of the Herschel satellite EX 3 researchers have been able to observe large swathes of the sky Each of the images produced by the international Herschel ATLAS project contains tens of thousands of galaxies Most of them are so remote that their light took billions of years to reach us Based on the initial results of this panoramic survey 1 30 of the total area that will be covered by the end of the project the team focused on five exceptionally bright objects which are gravitational lenses By scanning the position of each of them with large optical telescopes on the ground the astronomers found galaxies that should not normally have been bright at the wavelengths observed by Herschel It was therefore highly probable that these galaxies situated at moderate distances and seen in visible light were in fact gravitational lenses amplifying the light coming from far more distant galaxies revealed by Herschel using submillimeter wavelengths MATE
64. s epilepsy neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer s Parkinson s or development anomalies dyslexia dyscalculia so that they can be better recognized prevented and treated Research programs The research projects being developed at NeuroSpin are multi disciplinary and cover four main areas Instrumentation and methodology designed to improve existing MRI scanners develop new anatomical and functional imaging methods using MRI study of molecules other than water virtually the only one used today in particular carbon or phosphorus based molecules etc Modeling of the anatomy and functions of the brain involving new algorithms the use of large databases merging of MRI data with other methods electro encephalography magneto encephalography etc and the use of supercomputers and computational grids Applications aimed at understanding certain pathologies epilepsy neural migration anomalies cancers neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer s Parkinson s development and genetic disorders etc The aim is to more clearly identify the relationships between genes and environment in cerebral plasticity and to understand the brain mechanisms physical chemical or biological involved in the cognitive and mental processes Study of the possible effects of magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation on biological tissues and organisms Myriad spin offs are expected The foreseeable offshoots for this large natio
65. s to observe and understand damage to and intentional modification of materials at nanometer levels Jannus Acronym for Joint Accelerators for Nano science and Nuclear Simulation is a multi beam irradiation platform Between CEA and SKC for training of Swedish students on CEA s ISIS neutron model in Saclay Between CEA and the Swedish research council for a Swedish contribution to the R amp D program associated with the ASTRID 4 generation prototype reactor project and the experiments conducted on the future Jules Horowitz research reactor under construction at CEA s Cadarache facility UVSQ Universit Versailles Saint Quentin VRI Swedish research council VR Vetenskapsr det ESS AB ESS AB is the company that is to design build and operate the future European Spallation Source in Lund SKC KTH Swedish nuclear technology centre SKC Svenskt Karntekniskt Centrum part of the Stockholm Royal Technical School KTH Kungliga Tekniska h gskolan GANIL Large national heavy ion accelerator an economic interest group comprising CEA and the CNRS wee Polish partnership anniversary B One year after cooperative agreements between CEA and its Polish partners were signed deputy Chairman Herv Bernard and a delegation visited the Polish team which was the opportunity to highlight all the work being done and the prospects for cooperation Herv Bernard recalled the success of the two
66. sents two photon polymerization of a light sensitive resin This is the second time that the Grenoble team has won this international award In 2008 in Portland the award went to Beginning of life resulting from work on the assembly and self organization of colloids r Piayzoa0 HO Liss 16 02 47 Marc Jary Le Mensuel de Grenoble n 146 December 2010 Biomanufacturing Symposium reviews 30 years of production 2chwaerzwald i a VISIATOME 100 000 visitor On October 18 2010 as the curtain raiser to the F te de la science festival the Visiatome welcomed its 100 000 visitor This was an opportunity for Christian Bonnet Director of CEA Marcoule to present awards to two first year classes from Fr d ric Mistral high school in Avignon which took part in the workshops proposed throughout the week Visiatome was opened in April 2005 and receives an average of 20 000 visitors every year broken down as follows one third children visiting with their schools one third French and foreign general public adults families associations and so on and one third professional visitors In addition to the permanent exhibition covering 600 m it proposes temporary exhibits conferences for the general public and other special events throughout the year Marcoule et vous December 2010 What s on More than 200 researchers and representatives from industry took part in the 3
67. ssible to visualize the anatomical structure of an organ This method can be used to diagnose cancerous tumors or to locate certain malformations for example those causing epilepsy Functional MRI More recently thanks to data acquisition and processing speeds MRI has also become functional fMRI revealing the activity of the various structures making up our brain When we talk read move think etc certain areas of our brain are activated This activation of the neurons entails an increase in the local blood flow in the regions of the brain concerned It is this local and transient increase in blood flow rather than the direct neural activity that can be detected by fMRI owing to the magnetization of the hemoglobin contained in the red blood cells Diffusion MRI This is a powerful tool for microscopic measurement of movements by water molecules thus establishing the detailed architecture of the neural tissue and its variations It offers more direct measurement than the imaging methods conventionally used It can be used to probe the tissue structure at a microscopic scale far more detailed than MRI image resolution millimeter It is also faster because the fall in the water diffusion coefficient appears a few seconds before activation is detectable using functional MRI CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 Spotlight on Research S CRC Rea petiole 7 Ji ASTRONOMY 7 NY Five di
68. stant galaxies An international team of astronomers including a number of French researchers has just measured the exact distance of five extremely remote galaxies using ESA s Herschel space observatory plus ground based observations in particular with the interferometer of the Institut de radioastronomie millim trique millimeter radioastronomy institute The research teams showed that the light from these galaxies must have traveled for about ten billion years before reaching us To come up with this figure they first of all developed a new method that for the first time in the SUbmiullimeter domain uses a phenomenon called gravitational lensing a sort of cosmic magnifying glass that can be detected by Herschel These rapidly evolving and remote galaxies had hitherto been hard to observe yet constitute one of the keys to a better understanding of the history of the galaxies in our Universe CEA NEWS E SPRING 2011 Albert Einstein had predicted the gravitational lens phenomenon when light passes close to an extremely massive object such as a galaxy its path is bent If a galaxy is situated in perfect alignment between ourselves and the very distant galaxy we are observing the light from the furthest object will then be amplified This gravitational lens phenomenon is the equivalent of a cosmic magnifying glass and enables us to observe particularly distant galaxies receiving the light emitted when the Unive
69. t of 15 kW The energy equivalent of 4 to 10 electric car batteries with a range of 100 to 150 km explains Nicolas Martin an engineer at DJS This large battery is used for fixed applications It is connected to a 30kW photovoltaic unit located on the site The goal is to smooth out photovoltaic production to avoid disrupting the grid underlines Marion Perrin head of the Laboratory This is because renewable energy sources whether solar or wind need to be storable so that their intermittent production of electricity dependent on sunshine or wind can be matched to the varying demand from the consumers The researchers are therefore working on developing a Redox flow battery to meet these needs They are testing and modeling all the technologies and developing electrical management algorithms to maximize their lifetime Conventionally the power and energy of a standard battery is linked to the technology and there s nothing you can do to change that adds Nicolas Martin The innovation of this Vanadium redox flow battery system developed or qualified by INES is to allow separate calculation of the power and the energy For the time being the Redox flow system is operational Marc Jary Le Mensuel de Grenoble n 144 October 2010 INES LES Flectrical storage laboratory of the INES French national institute of solar energy ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY World first RYB and CEA Leti un
70. titute of emerging diseases and innovative therapies Viral particle with infectious capability CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 27 28 CANCER RESEARCH A NEW TARGET FOR ANTI CANCER TREATMENTS Researchers at the iRTSV the I and the have just identified a new mode of action by ellipticine a molecule known for its anti cancer properties but which is not used owing to its side effects By screening the 6 560 molecules in the Curie Institute s chemical library they selected derivatives of this molecule specifically targeting CK2 a protein kinase found to be deregulated in numerous cancers and highlighted their anti tumor potential These inhibitors are not only capable of preventing the proliferation of cells in vitro but their anti tumor potential has also been confirmed in mice Owing to their highly selective mode of action these derivatives are particularly active but with far less severe side effects These results open the door to the design of future cancer treatment drugs in particular for breast and prostate cancer Bio actif n 6 December 2010 Structural Biology Institute Curie Institute State approved Foundation associating one of the top European cancer research centers with two leading hospitals together with Inserm and the CNRS Renaud Prudent and al Antitumor activity of pyridocarbazole and benzopyridoindole derivatives that inhibit protein kinase CK2 Cancer Research online
71. tudy to compare the cerebral activity of adults with varying degrees of literacy illiterate unschooled in childhood but having learned to read as adults or schooled since childhood This study was coordinated by the French team and involved researchers from Brazil Portugal and Belgium 63 adults took part in it on the 3 Teslas MRI machines in the CEA Saclay NeuroSpin centre for the Portuguese volunteers and in the neurosciences research centre of the Sarah Lago Norte hospital in Brasilia for the Brazilian volunteers The impact of literacy is far more extensive than was originally imagined Learning to read in fact increases the responses of the visual areas of the brain as well as the auditory cortex region involved in coding of phonemes the smallest significant elements of spoken language such as b or ch BIOLOGY AIDS the virus can also be The virus responsible for AIDS can be sexually transmitted by infected cells present in sperm This has just been demonstrated for the first time on an animal model by researchers at IMEEM the University of Paris Sud 11 and the Inserm Sperm contains three major virus sources infected leukocyte cells free WiiGHS and virions associated with the spermatozoa But are the infected cells as contaminating as the free viruses This question is an important one when one considers that the sperm of an HIV positive person can contain a high level of cells infected with HIV In attempt to
72. uide Altal Antecim Alcen SDMS Technologies Bodycote Sigmaphi Brucker Sominex Mecachrome Onet Technologies Comex Nucleaire Thales EC Innovation Director visits CEA Grenoble On September 21 2010 Georgette Lalis the Director of Industrial Innovation and Mobility Industries at the European Commission s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry along with Costas Andropoulos head of the ICT for Competi tiveness and Innovation Unit were at CEA Grenoble On this occasion Georgette Lalis visited the site and its various research infrastructures dedicated to key generic technologies identified by the European Union nanotechnologies micro and nano electronics advanced materials photonics biotechnologies This visit was part of the new European initiative addressing these technologies and in which CEA is a participant The high level group on key enabling technologies is chaired by Jean Therme the Director of CEA Grenoble CEA Director of Technology Research and Deputy Director for renewable energies reporting to the Chairman After the Brussels launch on July 13 a first report was submitted to the European Commission in January with the final recom mendations report scheduled for July 2011 The visit by Mrs Lalis and Mr Andropoulos positions the Grenoble innovation ecosystem and model for which CEA Grenoble is the technological cornerstone at the heart of the European Union s appro
73. ular gas from which stars are formed and study of the morphology and dynamics of these galaxies at the remotest confines of the Universe Press release November 2010 CEA NEWS E SPRING 2011 20 TECHNOLOGIES FOR INFORMATION DATA STORAGE We are all looking for the same thing to be able to store more information on the same area while retaining a good output signal and realistic production costs explains J r me Moritz researcher at Spintec joint CEA CNRS laboratory part of the ET CEA along with other laboratories around the world has since 2000 been working on computer memory media that are not made of a continuous layer of magnetic material but of nanometer scale silicon dots covered with a fine magnetic layer Each dot stores a data bit 0 or 1 according to the direction of its magnetization up or down The next step was logical why not superpose several magnetic layers so that more than one bit per dot can be stored CEA tested superposed twin layer perpen dicular magnetization up down systems However when the read head passed over the dot the signal from the upper layer tended to mask that of the lower layer Two stacked MOLECULAR CHEMISTRY layers were tested one with perpendicular and the other with planar magnetization The read signal from this latter appears above all around the periphery of the dot rather than in the centre as is the case with perpendicular magnetization Th
74. ultiphase fluids multiscale and multiphysic modeling in nuclear reactors specific numerical methods for neutronics specific numerical methods for high performance computing incorporation of random variables in physical models Web release December 2010 MANON Modeling and numerical analysis oriented to nuclear energy UPMC Universit Pierre et Marie Curie at Paris BIOTECHNOLOGIES Lactose cure type bacteria are being studied by the research teams at CEA TE because their photosynthetic metabolism is able to convert certain organic compounds waste into hydrogen This phenomenon is already a well known one but the researchers have discovered that this production of sun one liter of this culture generated four liters of hydrogen as compared with two liters with the natural strain of bacterium The team is now working on optimizing the demonstrator with the aim of achieving twenty liters within the next two years The goal is to produce a simple and inexpensive means of producing hydrogen worked better when the compound hydrogen to be degraded was lactoserum The aude Ganier Les D fis du CEA n 154 November 2010 bacteria of the Rhodospirillacea family use lactic acid from the fermentation of milk to Phodosoirillacea produce hydrogen However they are unable to use lactose a sugar which accounts for ponds and lakes 40 of the milk explains John Willison a researcher We did however man
75. us gammatolerans and Deinococcus deserti two micro organisms resistant to ionizing radiation owing to their exceptionally effective DNA repair mechanisms The results are surprising The researchers thus found that certain genes of D deserti had been annotated backwards They also discovered 19 more than with the previous classical annotation Another finding was that D deserti uses unusual start codons These are short DNA sequences that give the starting signal for reading of a gene to synthesize a protein and this in particular concerns that which is involved in DNA replication With regard to T gammatolerans an organism that is less well known that D deserti the same method was used for primary annotation because nothing hade been done previously The first significant finding is that the DNA repair mechanisms in T gammatolerans are different from those found in D deserti Photosynthetic bacterium which lives in freshwater With its proteomics high throughput screening imaging platforms and animal supply facility the CEA institute of life sciences research and technologies coordinates the combined CEA University Joseph Fourier CNRS Inserm Photosynthetic growth of the Rhodobacter capsulatus bacterium In the light of these results the researchers suggested systematic use of this approach combining genomics and proteomics as of the first annotation of freshly sequenced genomes Patrick Philipon Les D fis
76. ut also for advanced traceability of buried infrastructure The pipe incorporates a new type of embedded RFID technology developed by CEA and today patented It has a number of particular characteristics detection down to a burial depth of 1 50 m reliable detection localization and reading of the information stored on the chip regardless of the pipe s environment a response time of a tenth of a second information storage capacity an independent system built into the pipe Chemical vapour phase deposition for a part on which catalyst nanoaggregates are deposited Laboratory for innovation and new energy technologies and nanomaterials MOCVD Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition Project financed by Ademe a simple reading system with an appropriate antenna compatible with off the shelf products a signal measured on the surface that accurately characterizes the pipe detected thus avoiding confusion if several networks are located close to each other In concrete terms special RFID chips are incorporated into the pipe at regular intervals using a patented process They are then encoded to carry information specific to each pipe Once the prototype was developed its potential was tested in real conditions on the CEA site other test sites and on the experimental research platform belonging to the GDF SUEZ Group a major operator in the field of gas and water distribution After prototyping an
77. vation of 550 square degrees of sky in 5 bands 110 170 250 350 and 500 micrometers About 250 000 galaxies FES rai ie a VON 15 eres oo lt 9 By hydrogenating the surface of the substrates we created between the diamond and the bio receivers The diamond is first doped with boron and can also act as an electrode Some bio receivers can therefore in addition to detecting a molecule catalyze their oxidation which produces electrons captured by the diamond explains Pascal Mailley a researcher whose team has already demonstrated electron transfer between molecular probes and diamond It is very easy to produce the bio sensors thanks to the surface chemistry developed simply wet T 3 E 4 ha A o ai i F FN the carbon monoxide molecule the marker for these galaxies The RAM interferometer played an important role in these measurements proving that the light from these objects must have traveled for about ten billion years before reaching us Its considerable sensitivity its angular resolution power as well as recent developments in instruments should allow precise measurement of the distance to these are expected to be detected distributed more or less equally between the relatively near Universe and the very distant young Universe The program is being run by S Eales Cardiff University and L Dunne Nottingham University This phenomenon is comparable to red shift in the visible spe
78. veil ELIOT www eliot tech com to find out more ELIOT ENVIRONMENT NANOPOLLUTION CATALYTIC CONVERTERS How can we limit the pollution caused by today s cars until electric cars get her The solution has been with us for a number of years using catalytic converters that filter the exhaust gases produced by incomplete combustion of fuel Their performance could be considerably improved thanks to the work done by a team from the CEA institute which has optimized the design of these converters Multi layer type architecture superposing a layer of ceramic catalyst elements and a layer of a precious metal such as platinum could multiply the triple points which is where the depollution reactions occur This process could increase the chemical reactions that transform the gases into less harmful elements while halving the quantity of precious metals needed It is the subtle combination of the three elements that enables carbon monoxide to be transformed into the less toxic CO or the nitrogen oxide into nitrogen and water The system for vapor phase layer deposition consists of integrating catalysts of a clearly defined size of between four and fifteen nanometers depending on the application and their type The engineers also made sure that these catalysts remain active at low temperatures so there is no need to inject gasoline into the catalytic converter This research was carried out under the project started four
79. years ago with Faurecia and Peugeot PSA It could also be of interest to other sectors such as ambient air filtering systems Aude Ganier Les D fis du CEA n 155 November 2010 At the last Pollutec show the company unveiled ELIOT the world s first detectable and communicating plastic pipeline By integrating RFID type technology developed in partnership with CEA this pipeline is revolutionizing the safety monitoring and maintenance of gas drinking water wastewater electricity and telecommunications networks By their very nature plastic pipes are inert and hard to detect once buried Only topographical surveys are able to situate them But the urban environment is constantly changing making it hard to obtain a quick precise and exhaustive picture of the subsoil Location techniques are complex and hard to implement This is why thousands of pipes are accidentally torn up every year with potentially serious consequences In order to resolve this major problem the RYB company has been working for three years with CEA MEV This partnership led to the design and development of the world s first detectable communicating plastic pipeline called ELIOT This innovation specially designed for gas water electricity and telecommunication networks is a real technological breakthrough in terms of piping monitoring and maintenance thus reducing the risk of accidents and the costs involved in inadvertent tearing up of pipes b
80. ypes each meeting the specifications submitted by the partner companies For the Seb group in the field of measu rement and control systems for small domestic equipment an independent small domestic appliance prototype was developed For NTN SNR Roulements in the field of monitoring and diagnosis of rotating ORGANIC ELECTRONICS A NEW START UP AT THE LITEN Isorg for Image sensor organic is the new start up at the Liten Institute created in May 2010 and now a spin off So what is it all about It s about printed organic electronics more particularly transforming glass and plastic surfaces into optical sensors This is a real breakthrough technology that boasts a large number of applications industry photometry object and shape recognition by image capture medical imaging analysis systems security access control and so on The first functional demonstrators are now available with one already delivered to a European industrial firm in October 2010 CEA NEWS SPRING 2011 parts transport and industry in general a prototype independent communicating monitoring system for bearings was developed For Somfy in the field of building closure and solar protection sensors and controls shutters roller blinds doors and gates an independent system for door and window security and monitoring was developed These technological advances in minia turization and reduced electronic component consumpti

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