Epigenetics refers to the study of heritable changes in genome function that occur without a change in primary DNA sequence. The 2009 Gordon Conference in Epigenetics will feature discussion of various epigenetic phenomena, emerging understanding of their underlying mechanisms, and the growing appreciation that human, animal, and plant health all depend on proper epigenetic control. Special emphasis will be placed on genome-environment interactions particularly as they relate to human disease. Towards improving knowledge of molecular mechanisms, the conference will feature international leaders studying the roles of higher order chromatin structure, noncoding RNA, repeat elements, nuclear organization, and morphogenic evolution. Traditional and new model organisms are selected from plants, fungi, and metazoans.

This article discusses complexity and synchronization in decision making and information transmission.

We present experimental studies of the gain length and saturation power level from 1.5 nm to 1.5 Angstroms at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). By disrupting theFEL process with an orbit kick, we are able to measure the X-ray intensity as a function of undulator length. This kick method is cross-checked with the method of removing undulator sections. We also study the FEL-induced electron energy loss after saturation to determine the optimal taper of the undulator K values. The experimental results are compared to theory and simulations.

The second stage of the FERMI FEL, named FEL-2, is based on the principle of high-gain harmonic generation and relies on a double-seeded cascade. Recent developments stimulated a revision of the original setup, which was designed to cover the spectral range between 40 and 10 nm. The numerical simulations we present here show that the nominal (expected) electron-beam performance allows extension of the FEL spectral range down to 4 nm. A significant amount of third harmonic power can be also expected. We also show that the proposed setup is flexible enough for exploiting future developments of new seed sources, e.g., high harmonic generation in gases.

Simulations of the x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) oscillator are presented that include transverse effects and realistic Bragg crystal properties with the two-dimensional code GINGER. In the present cases considered the radiation divergence is much narrower than the crystal acceptance, and the numerical algorithm can be simplified by ignoring the finite angular bandwidth of the crystal. In this regime GINGER shows that the saturated x-ray pulses have 109 photons and are nearly Fourier-limited with peak powers in excess of 1 MW. Wealso include preliminary results for a four-mirror cavity that can be tuned in wavelength over a few percent, with future plans to incorporate the full transverse response of the Bragg crystals into GINGER to more accurately model this tunable source.