China Upgrades Shanghai Synchrotron Light Source to Support Sci-tech Development (Xinhua)

　　China has upgraded the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), a key sci-tech infrastructure to reveal the mysteries of the microscopic world.
　　This undated aerial file photo shows a full view of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) in Shanghai, east China.
　　 (SSRF/Handout via Xinhua)
　　The construction of upgrades on the SSRF passed the national inspection and acceptance in east China's Shanghai on Wednesday.
　　The SSRF, which resembles a nautilus when viewed from above, was officially opened to users on May 6, 2009 as the first third-generation synchrotron light source on China's mainland.
　　The brightness of the light emitted by the facility is a trillion times higher than that of ordinary X-rays. At the experimental stations of the light source, various samples are illuminated by the synchrotron light, while scientific instruments record information of light-matter interactions. This enables scientists to gain insights into the microscopic world, such as the structure of viruses, and the microscopic architecture and properties of materials, scientists explained.
　　Construction for upgrades on the SSRF started in November 2016 and was completed in July 2023. It includes 16 state-of-the-art beamlines and experimental stations, auxiliary laboratories, user data centers, support systems and associated facilities, as well as an accelerator performance upgrade, said Tai Renzhong, vice president of the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
　　The upgraded SSRF currently has 34 beamlines and 46 experimental stations available to users. "A number of world-class beamlines and experimental stations have been built in the second phase, which has greatly improved the experimental research capabilities of the light source and maximized its efficiency," Tai said.
　　Scientists have used one of the new beamlines to calibrate instruments installed on China's space station, providing support for space experiments and health assessments for astronauts.
　　New beamlines have also played an important role in revealing the antiviral effects and mechanisms of drugs, accelerating drug development, and solving the long-term failure mechanism of polymer materials in artificial joints.
　　"The effectiveness of new beamlines in supporting technological development has already begun to show results," Tai said.
　　This undated file photo shows the interior of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) in Shanghai, east China.
　　 (SSRF/Handout via Xinhua)
　　Having been in use for 15 years, the SSRF has become an irreplaceable comprehensive research platform in a wide range of fields such as life science, material science, environmental science, earth science, physics, chemistry, and information science. It also serves as a significant means of technological research and development in advanced industries such as pharmaceuticals, new materials, bioengineering and fine petrochemical engineering.
　　The SSRF has served nearly 800 institutions and over 4,500 research teams, supporting users in completing over 20,000 experimental projects and contributing to the publication of over 11,000 research papers, including more than 220 articles in the internationally renowned academic journals such as Science, Nature and Cell, according to Tai.
　　The facility has provided customized services to over 100 companies in various fields such as biopharmaceuticals, chemical engineering, new energy and high-performance materials.
　　The SSRF has also attracted scientists from around the world to come to Shanghai for research purposes. The equipment and technologies developed by the team behind SSRF have been exported to Brazil, the Republic of Korea, Canada and Japan, said Li Aiguo, deputy director of the SSRF's science center.
　　"The light source will have broad application prospects in cutting-edge research in the fields including energy catalysis, new material creation, innovative drug research and development. It will help promote industrial technological progress and cultivate new quality productive forces," Tai added.Source: Xinhua| 2024-05-15 

The 6th International Conference on X-ray and Neutron Phase Imaging with Gratings Successfully Held in Shenzhen

　　The 6th International Conference on X-ray and Neutron Phase Imaging with Gratings (XNPIG 2024), co-organized by Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) and Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences was successfully held in Shenzhen from April 8th to 12th, 2024.
　　The conference has attracted over 120 top imaging experts and scholars from 12 countries, including China, the United States, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Australia. It featured 14 invited lectures and 31 academic reports, during which participants shared the latest advancement in phase imaging technology and their applications in biomedicine and materials science.
　　The conference was chaired by Professor Xiao Tijiao from the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility of SARI, with Dr. Ge Yongshuai from SIAT and Dr. Zhu Peiping from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as co-chairs.
　　Held biannually, XNPIG is a professional international conference in the field of X-ray and neutron phase-contrast imaging. It has been held by Tohoku University in Japan, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, to the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland in the previous years. The last session of XNPIG was held in 2019, but the current session was postponed to 2024 due to the pandemic.
　　The successful convening of XNPIG 2024 promotes exchanges between domestic scholars and international counterparts in related research fields, which has significantly elevated China's international influence in the field of X-ray imaging.
　　The XNPIG 2024 conference was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 
　　Conference Chair, Researcher Xiao Tiqiao delivered the opening remarks
　　Conference Co-Chair, Researcher Ge Yongshuai hosted the conference
　　International renowned expert in phase imaging, Professor Atsushi Momose from Tohoku University delivered the invited lecture
　　International renowned expert in phase imaging, Professor Franz Pfeiffer from the Technical University of Munich delivered an invited lecture
　　International renowned expert in phase imaging, Professor Marco Stampanoni from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich delivered an invited lecture
　　International renowned expert in phase imaging, Professor Alessandro Olivo from University College London delivered an invited lecture
　　

Thailand SLRI Delegation Visit SARI

On October 10, 2023, the Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI) delegation of 21 people led by Dr. Weerapong Pairsuwan, Chairman of SLRI Executive Board Committee, and Dr. Saroj Rujirawat, SLRI Director, visited Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI), Chinese Academy of Sciences for a two-week academic exchange. The delegation was received by Prof. Zhao Zhentang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), and Prof. Tai Renzhong, Vice President of SARI and Executive Deputy Director of SSRF.
　　Accompanied by SARI scientists, the delegation first visited the Shanghai Soft X-ray Free Electron Laser, and the superconducting RF cavity test platform for Shanghai Hard X-ray FEL Facility, and then went to Ruijin Hospital’s Jiading Campus for a site visit to the Shanghai advanced proton therapy facility. 
　　At the meeting held on October 11, Prof. Tai first extended a warm welcome on behalf of SARI to the visit of Dr. Pairsuwan and Dr. Rujirawat and their delegation. Prof. Tai expressed his hope to enhance understanding through mutual visits and further promote the cooperation in the field of synchrotron radiation.
　　Dr. Klysubum, SLRI Deputy Director, introduced the operation status and important scientific achievements of SLRI. Prof. Zhao introduced the facilities built and operated by SSRF and their scientific achievements, and reviewed the history of cooperation between SSRF and SLRI in synchrotron radiation.
　　Later in the afternoon, Prof. Tai introduced the construction of the SSRF Beamline Project, and the key technologies and applications involved. Dr. Rugmai, SLRI Deputy Director, introduced the development and research level of SLRI’s beamline stations.
　　Prof. Liu Bo, Deputy Director of SSRF, Dr. Supat Klinkhieo, Deputy Director of SLRI, and Dr. Somjai Chunjarean, then made keynote reports on the current status of scientific research and development of accelerators at SSRF and SLRI, respectively.
　　At the discussion session, the two sides exchanged views towards the construction of beamline stations, accelerator technologies, human resources and other issues of common interest. Expressing his gratitude for SARI’s warm reception, Dr. Rujirawat, in his conclusion, hoped that this visit could facilitate future cooperation, and lead to more high-level scientific research exchanges, promoting the technological innovation in the construction of synchrotron radiation facilities of both sides.
　　

SARI Held the 11th Annual Meeting of the SSRF Users and the Symposium on the Experimental Applications of the Phase-II Beamline Project

　　The 11th Annual Meeting of the SSRF Users and the Symposium on the Experimental Applications of the Phase-II Beamline Project was successfully held in Shandong from August 14 to August 17 2023. The four-day Meeting was organized by the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), with Yantai Institute of Costal Zone Research (YIC) of CAS as the co-organizer.
　　Prof. Tai Renzhong, Vice President of SARI and Executive Deputy Director of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), presided over the opening ceremony. Speeches were delivered by Prof. Li Yan, Party Secretary of SARI, Prof. Qin Song, Deputy Director of YIC, Prof. Gao Fu, Academician in the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS), and Prof. Zhao Zhentang, Director of SSRF, in which they expressed their congratulations to the opening of the Meeting and their hope for the better development of SSRF.
　　More than 570 representatives across the country participated in the Meeting. The Meeting contains four sections, with a total of 127 academic reports, including 12 plenary reports, 46 keynote reports, 48 key project defense reports, and 21 user-specific exchange reports. Prof. Tai Renzhong, Prof. Dong Yuhui, and Prof. Ye Yifan introduced the sharing situation of SSRF, Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF) and Hefei Light Source (HLS) and their progress of new projects in the previous year respectively. Plenary reports covered the fields of health, energy, materials, and environment, delivered by Prof. Gao Fu, Prof. Wu Shengchuan from Southwest Jiaotong University, Prof. Zeng Jie from Anhui University of Technology, Prof. Qin Song, Prof. Zhao Lidong from Beihang University, Prof. Luo Yongming from Institute of Soil Science of CAS, Prof. Fang Haiping from East China University of Science and Technology, Prof. He Ruihua from Westlake University, and Prof. Cui Tian from Ningbo University. 
　　Acting as a bridge for the participants' scientific cooperation and exchanges, the Meeting presented reports covered the disciplines of chemistry, physics, materials, energy, environment, health and instrumental methods, and attracted 46 user representatives from universities, research institutes and companies to exchange their research results and the latest progress in each research field, giving full play to the important role of SSRF as a comprehensive platform for national scientific and technological innovation. The Meeting also featured a poster presentation and the evaluation of the 48 key SSRF projects, after which SSRF will give support to appropriate projects based on the evaluation results.
　　Following the 11th Annual Meeting of the SSRF Users, the Symposium on the Experimental Applications of the Phase-II Beamline Project was held. The Project was in the list of the national major scientific and technological infrastructure construction projects in the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan". It aims to build experimental auxiliary systems and 16 new beamline stations, and expand the light source performance. SSRF phase-II has been completed in July 2023 all the process tests and open to users for trial operation. This Symposium was convened to enable users to understand the methods and applications of the relevant beamline stations and experimental auxiliary systems in a timely manner.
　　The Symposium included 21 reports on four topics of experimental assistance (experimental auxiliary system, big data platform, optical detection technology), diffraction and scattering, imaging, and spectroscopy, which introduced in detail the experimental assistance system of SSRF, the data acquisition and storage system, as well as the scientific objectives, experimental capabilities, and the preliminary application results of the newly-built beamline station. This Symposium has made it easier for SSRF to better utilize the capability of the newly built experimental device and provide a high-level experimental platform in the future.

Thailand MHESI Delegation Visits SARI

A delegation of 13 people led by Prof. Pasit Lorterapong, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand, visited the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI), Chinese Academy of Sciences on February 12, 2023.Prof. Zhao Zhentang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Prof. Tai Renzhong, Vice President of SARI and deputy director of SSRF, Prof. Jiang Biao, Director of Innovation Cooperation Center (Bangkok), CAS led the Chinese delegation. Mr. Yang Wenzhan, Program officer from the International Cooperation Department, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality also joined the visit.Accompanied by Chinese scientists, the delegation first visited the storage ring and two experimental stations at SSRF, the Shanghai Soft X-ray Free Electron Laser, and the superconducting RF cavity test platform for Shanghai Hard X-ray FEL Facility.At the meeting, Prof. Tai first extended a warm welcome on behalf of SARI to the visit of Prof. Pasit Lorterapong and his delegation. Tai briefly introduced the historical development and research direction of the Institute, and expressed his hope to enhance understanding through mutual visits and further promote the cooperation between China and Thailand in science and technology.Prof. Zhao Zhengtang delivered a report, introducing in details the operation and scientific research achievements at SSRF and reviewing the cooperation between China and Thailand in the field of synchrotron light source.In the final discussion, Prof. Pasit Lorterapong expressed his gratitude for the reception of sari, and said that through this visit, they had a deep understanding of the huge space for cooperation between China and Thailand in the field of science and technology. They will continue to promote mutual visits between the two sides and strive to produce more results in scientific research cooperation.
　　

Congratulations to Prof. Alessandro Sepe on Winning the 2022 Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award

On December 18, 2022, the Shanghai "Magnolia Silver Award" ceremony was held in Shanghai. Prof. Alessandro Sepe, Chief Scientist of the Big Data Science Center (BDSC) at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), was awarded this award for his outstanding contributions supporting the construction of major national science and technology infrastructures, promoting Shanghai's urban economy and social development, and promoting foreign exchanges and cooperation.

On December 18, 2022, the Shanghai "Magnolia Silver Award" ceremony was held in Shanghai. Prof. Alessandro Sepe, Chief Scientist of the Big Data Science Center (BDSC) at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), was awarded this award for his outstanding contributions supporting the construction of major national science and technology infrastructures, promoting Shanghai's urban economy and social development, and promoting foreign exchanges and cooperation.                                            
　　Prof. Sepe's main research direction is synchrotron Big Data science, and he has joined the SSRF full-time as the chief scientist of the BDSC since March 2018, where he led his team carrying out a series of innovative research and development works culminating in the architecting, design and deployment of the BDSC at the SSRF, while making a number of core technological breakthroughs in the design and development of scientific computing infrastructures, and in the research and development of automatic data processing pipelines. This architecture provides a unified Big Data management and processing framework for the SSRF, supporting multiple running beamlines, while capable of supporting the new additional beamlines part of the SSRF Upgrade Project.In 2020, in the early stage of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, the BDSC fully guaranteed the emergency opening of the Crystallography beamline at the SSRF, supporting the domestic users in obtaining, for the first time, the structural properties of a number of key proteins of the new coronavirus, fully supporting, at the most difficult moment, the principle of "fighting the epidemic and resuming work and production", while strongly supporting drug screening and research and development, as well as vaccine research and development and other related research projects. Moreover, subsequent research carried out on the new coronavirus at the Crystallography beamline at the SSRF has largely benefited from the support of the BDSC.Furthermore, Prof. Sepe has actively used his overseas research network to promote SSRF's foreign exchanges and cooperation. He has participated in many top international academic conferences in the field of scientific Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to large scientific installations, where he gave invited reports, which improved the international visibility of the SSRF. Prof. Sepe’s outstanding work has been reported by Italian TV academic channels and newspapers, which aroused great interest in the international community to build Shanghai into a science and technology innovation center with global influence. Moreover, Prof. Sepe has actively led and promoted strong and robust domestic cooperation, sharing his achievements on synchrotron Big Data science with the other domestic light source large scientific facilities in China. Furthermore, as an international expert, Prof. Sepe guides and trains a number of graduate students of the ShanghaiTech University, while cultivating young scholars.
　　On July 2018, at the SSRF, Prof. Alessandro Sepe and Prof. Sir Tony Hey, Chief Data Scientist at the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), worked on a memorandum of cooperation.
　　 
　　On October 2018, at the ShanghaiTech University, the first national symposium on Big scientific Data at Large Scientific Facilities was held with the participation of the SSRF Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, CAS, ShanghaiTech University, , Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, and the China Spallation Neutron Source.
　　On November 2019, the international conference “Artificial Intelligence Applied to Photon and Neutron Science” hosted by the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) at Grenoble, France was held. Prof. Sepe was invited to give a lecture on the BDSC at the SSRF, as The First Superfacility Platform in China.
　　 
　　Established by the Shanghai Municipal Government in 1989 and named after the city flower of Shanghai, the magnolia, the Magnolia Silver Award is awarded annually to thank outstanding expatriates in recognition of their positive contributions to Shanghai's foreign exchanges and urban development. This year, 50 outstanding expatriates from 13 countries, including the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Japan, received the award.