The 2009 Joint Conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA'09) and Chinese Crystallography Society

The Joint Conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association and the Chinese Crystallographic Society, 2009 (AsCA'09) was organized under the auspices of the Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA), the Biophysical Society of China (BSC), the Chinese Crystallographic Society (CCS), the Institute of Biophysics CAS (IBP), Nankai University, Tsinghua University and Peking University. This conference was held in Beijing from October 22-25, 2009. Zihe Rao, president of BCS and Jianhua Lin, president of CCS jointly chaired the meeting.
AsCA is a large academic meeting of the Asian Crystallographic Society which is held every 3 years and is very popular within the international crystallographic community. This year, 518 delegates attended AsCA'09, of whom 310 were from the United States, England, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, India and Bangladesh, and from Hong-Kong and Taiwan regions. Up to 299 conference papers were submitted to the organizing committee. Seven outstanding crystallographers, including Ted Baker, Hongkun Park, Joel Sussman, Matthew Rosseinsky, David Owen, Thomas Mak and Yoshinori Fujiyoshi, were invited as speakers. There were 84 oral presentations given and 208 academic posters presented at the conference. In addition, four training courses were arranged before the meeting, which provided opportunities for graduates and postdoctoral fellows to study the latest techniques, present their research and benefit from academic interaction. A new feature of this AsCA meeting was a Plenary Symposium Session for young scientists, called "AsCA Rising Stars". Six speakers were selected to participate in this symposium based on submitted abstracts. This session received the approval of the AsCA organizing committee and will be repeated in AsCA conferences in the future.
The opening ceremony started at 6:00pm on October 22 at the Beijing Jingyi Hotel and was presided over by the Executive chairman Zhijie Liu. Academician Dongcai Liang, a member of the AsCA Advisory Committee, and Prof. Peter Colman, Chairman of the AsCA Program, gave Welcome speeches. Prof. Ted Baker then gave the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) lecture.
The meeting focused on Crystallography and related research fields, covering Structural Biology, Chemical Crystallography - Structure and Properties, and Specialized Techniques in three sessions. The Structural Biology session covered hot spot topics such as Membrane proteins, Protein-nucleic acid complexes, Structural genomics, and Structural biology in disease/structure-based drug design. Five topics were covered in the Chemical Crystallography - Structure and Properties session: Inorganic and nano-materials, Charge density studies, Organic crystal engineering and structure, Metal-organic crystal engineering, and Superconductivity and crystal properties. Topics such as Neutron and synchrotron sources and applications, advanced imaging techniques, small-angle scattering and soft materials crystallography, powder diffraction, and electron microscopy and diffraction were highlighted in the specialized techniques session. The academic schedule of the meeting was packed and presenters did an excellent job at bringing delegates up-to-date with new areas of progress and trends in the field of Crystallography. Participants were actively involved in academic interaction and discussion. Most participants gave very positive feedback on the high standard of the presentations.
This meeting was successfully accomplished thanks to the hard work and efficient organization of BSC and IBP, with significant help from other organizations including the Bureau of International cooperation at CAS, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The 2010 Annual Meeting: A Great Success

ACA would like to thank all those who have made this year's meeting in Chicago possible.  ACA is grateful to the 2010 Program Chair, Local Chair, Session Chairs and invited speakers for their diligent efforts to make this meeting a success.  The Association was honored to have  the 2009 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry  present lectures in Chicago.  Venkatraman Ramakrishnan gave a plenary lecture on Saturday, Thomas Steitz gave a plenary lecture on Wednesday and  Ada Yonath presented a plenary lecture during session 07.18 on Macromolecules, Complexes & Assemblies.

Invitation

Dear Colleagues:
You are cordially invited to participate in the 8th Conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association, AsCA'07, which will be held at the Howard International House in Taipei, Taiwan from November 4th to 7th, 2007. This conference is the eighth of the conference series on crystallography in Asia since its inauguration in Singapore in 1992, which intends to cover all aspects of crystallography, ranging from inorganic and organic small molecules to macromolecular proteins, viruses, and membrane proteins; from crystal growth to protein engineering; from structural chemistry and material science to nanoscience and nanotechnology; from crystal structure, proteomics, and genomics, to drug design; from diffraction physics and ray optics to the applications of electron, neutron, and synchrotron X-ray photons for structural investigations, etc..
Taipei is situated in a basin in northern Taiwan. The city blends traditional culture and cosmopolitan life. The metropolitan Taipei is the cultural, commercial, finance, and educational centers of Taiwan. There are more than thirty universities and colleges around. In the suburbs, places of historic interest and scenic beauty are worth visiting, such as National Palace Museum, Long-San Temple, Taipei Botanical Garden, Yangmingshan National Park, Zhishan Cultural and Ecological Garden, Hot Springs Area, Beitou Hot Spring Museum, Folk Arts Museum, and the Tower 101, among many other attractions.
We hope that the conference will provide an excellent platform for efficient exchange in many branches of sciences relating to crystallography. And your participation will guarantee the success of the conference.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Taipei.
Professor Shih-Lin Chang
Chairman
Organizing Committee AsCA'07

You are cordially invited to attend the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association to be held May 31st through June 5th, in Knoxville Tennessee. The workshops, scientific and poster sessions, as well as the exhibit show will be housed in the Knoxville Convention Center.

ECM24 is over…….

Dear delegates, Dear accompanying guests, Dear sponsors and exhibitors,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee I would like to thank you for your large participation in ECM24.Â

The participation in the ECM24 was one of the largest over the last ten years. The scientific and social programs were particularly attractive to scientists from more than 50 countries. In addition, three workshops and satellite meetings and several meetings of Special Interest Groups, and round table were held before the opening of ECM24 and during the meeting. Â

ECM24 was very attractive for sponsors and exhibitors. 24 companies and organizations attended the meeting. Â

I am very grateful to the Programme Committee, the chairpersons of SIGs, the microsymposia chairpersons and the excellent speakers who have contributed to the success of ECM24.Â

The continuous support and encouragement of the ECA Executive Committee is kindly acknowledged.Â

I would like to thank the sponsors and exhibitors for their participation which was synergetic and vital to the success of this event. Â

I am very grateful to the IUCr, the ECA, the Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapon (OPCW) and the University Cadi Ayyad of Marrakech for their financial support to the young scientists and scientists from emerging countries. The invited speakers who renounced any financial assistance have made the participation of many young international researchers possible. They will find here all my thank and my respect.Â

I wish to thank my colleagues on the local organizing committee, the Congress Secretariat leaded by Prof Nouzha Bouhmaida assisted by Mrs Siham Rezzouqui, my colleagues on the Organizing and Bursary Committees for their wonderful work. The team of Events Motion, our Congress Manager, conducted by Mrs Majdouline Tazi and Mr Zoubair Amghar, are aknowledged for their hard work, the patience they have shown during the preparation of the meeting and the excellent organization of ECM24.
I hope that you have enjoyed your stay in Marrakech, found some time to visit its historical monuments, learnt about Moroccan culture and appreciated our social programme.
Finally I would like to thank the large number of participants who send us their congratulations since the closing of ECM24. The organizing Committee appreciates it very much.
See you all in Osaka next year!
And

Istanbul in August 2009Â

Abdelmalek Thalal
Chair of the ECM24

You are cordially invited to attend the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association to be held, July 22 - 27, in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Honolulu, the capital city of the 50th state to be admitted to the United States, is located on the island of Ohau.  The Hawaiian islands were born of volcanoes millions of years ago and discovered by Polynesian voyagers who arrived in outrigger sailing canoes some 1,5000 years ago.  Hawaii's people are descended from Polynesians, Americans, Europeans, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Okinawans, Puerto Ricans, Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asian. No one ethnic group is in a majority here.  The Aloha Spirit Law is an actual  law "on the books" in Hawaii,  and acknowledges that The Aloha Spirit "was the working philosophy of native Hawaiians and was presented as a gift to the people of Hawaii." All citizens and government officials of Hawaii are obligated by law to conduct themselves in accordance with this law, while performing their duties and obligations, as well as in their day-to-day living.  The history of the ancient Hawaiian people is preserved through chants (mele) and dances (hula) that are still practiced today. Honoring Hawaiian heritage, making it a vital part of everyday life is The Spirit of Aloha.

The 12th Conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association

We cordially invite you to attend the 2013 Asian Crystallographic Association Meeting (AsCA'13), which will be held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong. The venue for the meeting has been moved from Dhaka, Bangladesh due to security concerns. The new dates for the meeting are 7-10 December 2013 (Sat - Tues). The meeting will cover diverse aspects of crystallographic research ranging from materials to life sciences and incorporating synchrotron and neutron studies. This meeting in 2013 is special since the International Union of Crystallography is celebrating the centenary of X-ray crystallography by the Braggs. The meeting is also a prelude to the upcoming International Year of Crystallography, IYCr2014.

Se-Won Suh
President, AsCA

The 29th European Crystallographic Meeting

The 29th European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM29) will be held in Rovinj, a coastal Croatian town where subtle Mediterranean grace, traditional Croatian hospitality and rich history and culture coalesce in a unique and uncomparable blend.

The Executive Committee of the Croatian Crystallographic Association (CCA) decided at its meeting of 23 May 2011 to accept the invitation of the European Crystallographic Association to present the bid to host the ECM29 in Croatia. We immediately opted for Rovinj as the conference host town candidate. Rovinj is a true pearl of the Croatian northern Adriatic, located on the western Istrian coast, in the very heart of Europe. The ECM29 venue will be the Adris exhibition and convention centre. Located just steps away from the historical centre of Rovinj, within walking distance from the majority of hotels, from the city port and bus station, this fascinating convention venue is a considerately renovated old tobacco factory complex which allows all the activities of the ECM29 to be organized under a single roof.

For colleagues coming from numerous research centres and universities across central Europe, a useful piece of information could be that you can easily reach Rovinj from Munich, Milan, Vienna, Budapest or Belgrade, in just six hours drive or so.

Traditional Croatian policy of open borders for all visitors coming in good faith, is even enhanced now, as Croatia, since 1 July 2013 became a proud 28th member state of the European Union. All visitors from within EU/EEC are allowed to enter Croatia with a valid ID or passport, and citizens of many countries outside EU/EEC can also enter Croatia without visa. Croatia is also recognized as one of the safest tourist destinations on the Mediterranean. For more practical information please visit the info section of the ECM29 website.

Mark your calendar! You are cordially invited to attend the 2014 Annual Meeting of the ACA to be held in Albuquerque, NM. Workshops, scientific and poster sessions, as well as the Exhibit Show will be housed in the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Come enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the Land of Enchantment with a little science on the side!

Congratulations to our 2014 Award WinnersÂ

• John Helliwell - Patterson AwardÂ
• Borden Lacy - Etter Early Career AwardÂ
• Dan Rabinovich - Wood Writing AwardÂ

Program Co-Chairs

• Christine Beavers - cmbeavers@lbl.gov
• Petrus Zwart - phzwart@lbl.gov

Local ChairsÂ

• Zoe Fisher - zfisher@lanl.gov
• Kate Page - kpage@lanl.gov