Scope of the School

Crystallography is a mature scientific discipline, which has contributed, in the recent past, to the development of drugs, to the understanding of the biological activity of proteins and nucleic acids, to the comprehension of the unique properties of crystals at the nanometer scale for diagnosis and drug-delivery and to shedding light on complex hierarchical organic-inorganic composites such as bone and enamel.
The purpose of the 2012 International Insubria Summer School is to explore the multiple aspects of crystallography: the world of crystallization, the more traditional and advanced experimental andcomputational techniques and other complementary methods, which will be specifically focussed to the applications on health- and bio-sciences.
A full intensive week will be organized under the guide of internationally recognized experts in the field.

About ECCG4Â

Modern crystal growth research is strongly aligned with crystallographic analysis and methodology, particularly in the area of industrial crystallization and materials characterisation.Â
The meeting is being organised by the newly formed European Network for Crystals Growth (ENCG) under the auspices of the International Organisation for Crystal Growth (IOCG) and seeks to draw together European expertise in crystal growth and crystallization in an holistic manner from fundamentals through to applications.  This meeting will target Professors, Doctors, Industry Professional and Students interested in the field of Crystal Growth.Â

Introduction

The Electron Crystallography School â€" new methods and applications will be held at Arrhenius laboratory in Stockholm University, Sweden in June 16-20, 2012. We have invited several world-wide renounced experts in the field to give lectures covering the basics of electron crystallography as well as the frontier developments in the recent years. The topics include general crystallography, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction methods (electron diffraction tomography and precession electron diffraction) and structure solution methods using the electron data. The school also features lab sessions both on the TEM and computers to help the students get practical experiences of applications of the methods.  Students interested in learning the basics of electron crystallography and new methods recently developed are encouraged to apply. The deadline for registration is April 30, 2012. Financial support will be provided to a limited number of Ph.D. students to cover the registration fee and part of the travel expenses. The deadline for the application of financial support is March 31st, 2012.  The "International Symposium on Electron Crystallography and X-ray diffraction - from Materials Sciences to Structural Biology” will follow immediately after the Electron Crystallography School at Arrhenius laboratory in Stockholm University June 20-22, 2012. All are also welcome to join the symposium.

Invited Speakers

1. Enrico Mugnaioli, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany 2. Paul Midgley, Cambridge University, UK 3. Jan-Pieter Abrahams, Leiden University, NL 4. Holger Klein, Institut Néel, CNRS et Université J. Fourier, France 5. Lynne McCusker, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland 6. Lukas Palatinus, Institute of Physics, The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech republic 7. Xiaodong Zou, Stockholm University, Sweden 8. Peter Oleynikov, Stockholm University, Sweden 9. Sven Hovmöller, Stockholm Universtiy, Sweden 10. Junliang Sun, Stockholm Universtiy, Sweden

The workshop will cover the study of light-induced processes in crystalline solids on timescales of hours to femtoseconds.

Topics

• Chemical reactions, linkage isomers, and photoinduced molecular excited states
• Experimental techniques used for in-house experiments at high intensity sources, at synchrotron beamlines, and at Free-Electron Laser sources
• New computational techniques for processing time-resolved data
• Interpretation of the results

The program will consist of lectures, software exercises, a poster session, and demonstrations. The workshop will open with a welcoming reception on the evening of Sunday, June 16th and close in the morning of June 20th.
Class size is limited to 45 participants. Registration deadline is April 1st or until the workshop is filled.

Organizing Committee

• Philip Coppens, general organization
• Elzbieta Trzop and Bertrand Fournier, software exercises
• Lisa Zimmerman, organization and facilities

International Advisory Committee

• Eric Collet, Professor, University of Rennes, France
• Masaki Takata, Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan

Resonant Elastic X-ray Scattering 2011

The proceedings of the REXS 2011 conference are now available as open access articles in European Physical Journal Special Topics 208.
The REXS 2011 conference is now over ! We hope you had a great time in Aussois!
The first conference dedicated to Anomalous or Resonant X-ray Scattering took place in Madrid in 1974, followed in 1992 by Malente conference (Hamburg, Germany, published as: "Resonant Anomalous X-Ray Scattering", by G. Materlik, C.J. Sparks & K. Fischer,North-Holland,1994). The aim was to bring together scientists using this novel technique specific to synchrotron radiation in a variety of fields.
20 years or so later, scientists of third generation synchrotrons intensively use this technique that opened to a broad range of applications such as magnetism and nanoscience. A need emerges of a school / conference with published synthesis that would set a similar milestone in condensed matter research. In order to favor scientific exchanges, we restrict the topics to elastic resonant scattering in condensed matter.
Aim of the conference: bring together young and experienced scientists from different fields in condensed matter to share their experience on the application of Elastic Anomalous/Resonant Small, or/and Wide Angle Scattering (including diffraction and reflectivity).
The conference will cover the following topics:

• Fundamentals of elastic resonant scattering
• Electronic correlations
• Magnetism
• Nanostructures
• Soft condensed matter, polymers and glasses
• Materials science and chemistry
• Instrumentation

Crystal Engineering

June 10-15, 2012Â

Waterville Valley Resort
Waterville Valley, NH

• Chair: Robin D. RogersÂ
• Vice Chairs: Christer Aakeroy & Mike J. Zaworotko

The 2012 GRC on Crystal Engineering follows the highly successful first ever GRC on Crystal Engineering (2010) which had over 160 international participants. The 2012 Crystal Engineering GRC will also include a new and exciting Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) in which only students and postdocs may present or lead discussions. Both the GRC and GRS on Crystal Engineering provide a forum for the discussion of the current state of the art of this rapidly evolving, highly interdisciplinary field, to identify and debate open questions, and to point out new and promising research directions.
Crystal engineering is the design and synthesis of functional solid-state structures (e.g., new organic molecular crystals and metal-organic co-ordination polymers and framework solids (MOFs)), based on a bottom-up approach from smaller building blocks such as neutral organic molecules, and organic or inorganic ions. Typical design strategies use hydrogen bonds and coordination bonds, which define sub-structural units that are called respectively, supramolecular synthons and secondary building units. This subject cuts across the traditional divisions of organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry, making for a very eclectic blend of ideas, techniques, and strategies.
This GRC and the accompanying GRS will provide a forum for the discussion of the current state of the art of this rapidly evolving, highly interdisciplinary field, will identify and debate open questions, and will point out new promising research directions. These conferences will bring together experts with a diverse background and will consist of the following sessions:

• Nanocrystals
• Nucleation, Crystal Growth, and Solid State Reactivity
• Polymorphism and Crystal Structure Prediction
• Functional Porous Materials
• Magnetism and Conductivity
• Design, Synthesis, and Properties of Co-crystals
• Industrial Applications of Crystal Engineering
• Coordination Polymers
• Halogen Halogen and Other Weak Interactions

The school will take place in Granada (Spain) from June 3th to June 6th, 2013. It will cover a wide range of topics related with the application of High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope in the investigation of minerals at nanoscale and include practical work by using the equipments of the Centro de Investigación Científica (CIC) of the University of Granada: Philips CM-20 and FEI Titan. Practical work also includes preparation of samples and interpretation of data.
The official language of the School will be English.
The School is addressed to:

• Postgraduate students
• Teachers
• Researchers
• Experts from industry

The number of participants is limited to 40 in order to keep operative the practical sessions. Admittance will be made on a first come, first serve basis.

Sponsors

The EMU school 2013 on Minerals at Nanoscale is mainly sponsored by the University of Granada, the Centro de Instrumentación Científica, FEI, the Spanish Mineralogical Society (Sociedad Española de Mineralogía, SEM), Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft (DMG) and Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (IACT)

Electron Distribution and Chemical Bonding

Pushing the Limits of Experimental and Theoretical Charge and Spin Density Studies

June 2-7, 2013Â

Les Diablerets Conference Center Les Diablerets, Switzerland

• Â Chair: Piero MacchiÂ
• Vice Chair: Wolfgang Scherer

The Gordon Conference on Electron Distribution and Chemical Bonding is typically devoted to discussion on the nature of chemical interactions by studying the electron density distribution of molecules or solids. This attracts contributions from various fields, ranging from quantum chemistry and theoretical physics to experimental crystallography, materials chemistry and solid state physics.
The frontiers of this scientific area are addressed by putting the focus on the exploration of new types of chemical bonding/interactions and the identification of the control parameters providing the basis for a rational materials/drug design. Accordingly, the topics also enclose recent and future innovative concepts such as state-of-the-art charge density studies at "non-standard conditions" (high pressure, electric field, etc.) or novel techniques to explore photochemical or ultrafast processes. Another focus lies on the challenge to perform charge density studies at subatomic resolution. Here, the conference attributes to the dramatic instrumental achievements in pushing the resolution limits to meet the requirements for the study of core polarization effects.

Purpose of the Course

 X-ray crystallography is the pre-eminent technique for obtaining the 3D structures of macromolecules at the level of individual atoms. These structures are central to understanding the detailed mechanisms of biological processes and to discovering novel therapeutics using a structure-based approach. Great advances continue to be made in the methods for determining crystal structures, pushing the frontiers, allowing the pace of structural understanding to increase and making it possible to respond efficiently and rapidly to emerging threats. This course will help to equip the next generation of scientists with a deep understanding of the tools they need to solve challenging structural projects and an appreciation for what the future holds.

Purpose of the Course

The determination of three dimensional structures of new materials is frequently the starting point for mechanistic studies, revealing structure-property relationships, modelling of molecular variants and intelligent design for specific properties. However, these are traditionally static results and although we can follow structure evolution with temperature and pressure, it is far less easy to study time evolution when the time scales of the processes involved are short. The latest high intensity X-ray sources, fast detectors, new techniques and modern software are now taking us into the regime of conducting timeâ€"resolved studies and it is this aspect of structural science that we shall be exploring during this course.

X-ray and neutron diffraction are the most powerful methods for elucidating full 3-D structures from single crystals and microcrystalline powder samples for many forms of matter. The techniques are continuously evolving enabling ever more challenging questions to be addressed and the most difficult of problems to be solved. We shall be describing time resolved studies in crystallography, spectroscopy and computation and looking also at applications of this work as well as looking forward to the future and exciting opportunities and challenges that facilities such as XFEL will bring to the field.

We shall concentrate during the course on:

1) Photocrystallography â€" obtaining structural information from short lived crystalline species.

2) Time resolved spectroscopy - identifying and characterising intermediates and correlating these results with structural data.

3) The future â€" current and upcoming developments in dynamic structural techniques.

4) Theoretical calculation â€" correlating with and supporting experimental studies through computational calculations.

And in addition to the lectures we shall be presenting demonstration and workshop sessions providing training in using modern computer programs in these aforementioned areas.

3rd International School of Crystallisation

Granada, Spain, May 21st-25th, 2012

Introduction

The Laboratory of Crystallographic Studies (CSIC-UGR) organised the 3rd International School of Crystallization (ISC2012, http://www.iscgranada.org/) under the auspices of the International Union of Crystallography through the Crystal Growth and Characterization of Materials Commission. The event took place in the Centre of the beautiful City of Granada, an ideal place to promote close scientific and social interactions between the attendees.Â
The School was aimed for postgraduate/postdoctoral students as well as research scientists from industry and academia that deal routinely with crystallisation processes but seek fundamental knowledge on the crystallisation phenomena and the behaviour of crystallising solutions. Students from all over the world were invited to learn from top quality international speakers, to hear case study presentations, to watch practical hands-on demonstrations, to participate in round table discussions and to present their research results in the purposely dedicated poster sessions.
ISC2012 covered five days of lectures and practical demonstrations related to the field of the crystallization of foods, drugs and agrochemical compounds, including dedicated sessions on polymorphism and mineral growth.

Brief Description:

The last decade has seen an exponential growth in the results obtained by macromolecular crystallography, both in terms of number of structures and their complexity. This growth is having a significant impact on molecular and cellular biology, as more and more macromolecular structures have been instrumental in elucidating biological functions.Â

The objective of this introductory workshop is to expose the participants to the methodologies used to solve macromolecular structures, using single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. Structural biology is an interdisciplinary research area, requiring expertises from both the life sciences and the physical sciences: the school aims to bridge the gap between physics and biology by providing a comprehensive overview of the field, starting from the gene to obtain the atomic structure. A short overview of other structural biology techniques will also be presented. The educational program will be based both on lectures and practical sessions.Â

The school is part of a joint initiative between Elettra, IAEA and SESAME, the Middle East synchrotron radiation facility in Jordan.

Main Topics:

• Bioinformatics analysis to identify structural targets and optimise constructs design
• Molecular biology and cloning techniques
• Protein expression and purification
• Crystallisation
• Data collection & reduction
• Structure determination
• Model building, refinement and model validation
• Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)
• An overview of other structural biology techniques

Accuracy in Powder Diffraction IV

Purpose:

We are pleased to announce the location and dates for our next "Accuracy in Powder Diffraction" meeting. This meeting, designated APD-IV, is the fourth in the series which are held approximately every ten years. They constitute a review of the state of the art in powder diffraction techniques, instrumentation and data analysis methods. The meeting will host a program of invited presentations plus a contributed poster session. APD-IV will cover the broad range of developments in powder diffraction metrology and methodology in the time since APD-III. In addition, we will host an exhibition area where leading instrument manufacturers and providers will be available to discuss recent commercial developments in the diffraction context.

The 2012 PCG-SCMP Powder Diffraction and Rietveld Refinement School will be held at the University of Durham from Sunday 25th to Thursday 29th of March. Lectures will be given by Jeremy Cockcroft, Andy Fitch, John Evans and Ivana Evans. There will also be small group tutorials and a large number of hands-on practical computer sessions.
Topics to be covered will include:

• Data collection strategies for X-ray and neutron diffraction
• Constant wavelength and time of flight diffraction
• Modelling peak shapes
• Indexing powder patterns
• Rietveld, Le Bail and Pawley fitting methods
• X-ray and neutron combined Rietveld refinement
• Extended solids and molecular systems
• Restrained refinements
• Rigid body refinements

Magnetic refinements will not be explicitly covered.
Accommodation will be at Grey College Durham and lectures/computer workshops will be held in/near the Chemistry Department. Durham is on the fast east coast rail track. London is ~2.75 hours and Edinburgh 2 hours. There are a number of cheap flights to Newcastle Airport (e.g. flybe to Exeter/Southampton; Easy Jet to Bristol/Stanstead/Geneva/Nice, etc). More travel information can be found here.
For more information please email ivana.radosavljevic@durham.ac.uk.
Thanks to our 2012 sposors: the IUCr, Rigaku and Bruker.