Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

A proteomic approach for the discovery of protease substrates

Standardized, comprehensive platforms for the discovery of protease substrates have been extremely difficult to create. Screens for protease specificity are now frequently based on the cleavage patterns of peptide substrates, which contain small recognition motifs that are required for the cleavage of the scissile bond within an active site. However, these studies do not identify in vivo substrates, nor can they lead to the definition of the macromolecular features that account for the biological specificity of proteases. To use properly folded proteins in a proteomic screen for protease substrates, we used 2D difference gel electrophoresis and tandem MS to identify substrates of an apoptosis-inducing protease, granzyme B. We confirmed the cleavage of procaspase-3, one of the key substrates of this enzyme, and identified several substrates that were previously unknown, as well as the cleavage site for one of these substrates. We were also able to observe the kinetics of substrate cleavage and cleavage product accumulation by using the 2D difference gel electrophoresis methodology. “Protease proteomics” may therefore represent an important tool for the discovery of the native substrates of a variety of proteases