Macromolecular Crystallography School 2014

"From data processing to structure refinement and beyond"

April 8th - 16th, 2014 Instituto de Física de São Carlos/USP, São Paulo, Brasil
Intended for advanced PhD students, postdocs and young scientists Theoretical and in-depth tutorial training on state-of-the-art methods in macromolecular crystallography
Main Topics

• Diffraction data processing
• Phasing and structure determination
• Model refinement and validation

EMBO Practical Course on Computational Structural Biology - from data to structure to function

Venue: European Bioinformatics Institute, CB10 1SD, United Kingdom

Overview

This course aims to teach computational aspects of protein structure determination, validation and analysis. It will cover the background of different structural biology techniques and provide hands-on experience in building a model from X-ray diffraction data. In addition, participants will learn how to critically assess the quality of data and models, and gain expertise in the integration and visualisation of data from different techniques, thus enabling the analysis of protein structure data for functional relationships. The importance of protein structure to drug discovery will also be illustrated with sessions dedicated to small-molecules, protein-ligand docking and model validation.

Audience

This course aims to teach computational aspects of protein structure determination, validation and analysis to PhD students and post-docs working on the collection and analysis of protein structure data. The course will be highly interactive and will include many practical sessions. Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring their own data and ideas of work to be addressed during these sessions.

The school is intended to give a general overview of modern methods in electron crystallography with a strong accent on electron diffraction tomography. The students will learn basics of crystallography, image and diffraction pattern formation in a transmission electron microscope and most common methods of structure analysis using electron scattering data. Two transmission electron microscopy (TEM) labs are available in order to get an extended experience in diffraction tomographic data acquisition â€" at the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mainz. Diverse data processing approaches will be presented during afternoon seminars. With the knowledge gained from the school the participants will be able to run tomographic experiments on their own and have a deep understanding of data processing upon their return to the home institution.  Basic crystallographic or TEM knowledge is desired; nevertheless both topics will be covered in a deep and deductive way. Students from diverse fields (chemistry, physics, biology, etc.) are encouraged to apply.

The 2014 Powder Diffraction and Rietveld Refinement School will be held at the University of Durham from Sunday 30th March to Thursday 3rd of April. 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.

 Scope

This conference aims at reiterating the success of the first "international school and conference on biological materials science (Bio-inspired Materials)" which took place in March 2012 in Potsdam. At the same place and at a similar time of the year from March 18-21 2014, we will cover recent advances in all areas of biological materials science and, in particular, in the field of bio-inspired materials. Scientists with diverse backgrounds will discuss new results about structure and function of natural materials and the ways in which those may influence the bio-inspired design of engineering materials and systems. The meeting will cover experimental characterization and theoretical modeling of structure-property relations, as well as concepts and strategies for the fabrication of bio-inspired materials with unusual combinations of properties or capabilities to self-assemble, self repair and/or evolve. Because material properties can be critical for the biological function of molecules, tissues and organs, the conference will also address materials science approaches which contribute to some areas of biology or medicine.
The conference will host several invited keynote lectures, oral as well as poster contributions. The Conference will be preceded on March 17-18 by satellite meetings of two related research programs of the German Science Foundation, the DFG Programs SPP1420 (Biomimetic Materials Research: Functionality by Hierarchical Structuring of Materials) and SP1569 (Generation of multifunctional inorganic materials by molecular bionics).

A Practical Introduction to Neutron Scattering

The Berlin Neutron School is one of the oldest established neutron schools. It was founded in 1980 by Prof Hans Dachs and is organised by the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB). The aim of the school is to provide an introduction to neutron scattering with an emphasis on hands-on, practical experience using the instruments at the BERII reactor.
The first three days of the school consist of detailed lectures on the principles and techniques of neutron scattering followed by a tour of the instruments and an introduction to sample environment. As well as the course lectures given by members of HZB, external guest lecturers will be invited to review current issues in the field of neutron research. In the past, Prof Michael Steiner (ENSA) discussed the future of neutron sources in Europe and Dr Andrea Denker (HZB) has lectured on neutron auto-radiography of paintings and artifacts.
After attending the lectures the students begin the hands-on experiments. They are divided into groups of four to five people from similar subject areas and do triple-axis spectroscopy, powder diffraction, small angle scattering, reflectometry, time-of-flight spectroscopy, tomography and residual stress analysis under the guidance of the instrument scientists. The experiments last three hours each and take place over three and a half days. On the penultimate day we will hold a students´ poster session which will give the students the opportunity to present their work and discuss with the HZB scientists how neutron scattering could benefit their research. The poster session will be followed by the Neutron School dinner. Finally, on the last day of the school the students will attend lectures on how to use neutron scattering as a tool for research in various subject areas e.g. biology, chemistry, engineering and physics, and how to apply for neutron beamtime at HZB.
This school is primarily aimed at advanced students who have completed their Bachelor degree in physical, engineering and life sciences, and early stage researchers e.g. PhD students and postdocs. The course is part of the curriculum of the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences at the Technical University Berlin.
Organised by Professor Bella Lake

Rietveld Analysis with BGMN

The workshop is addressed to persons using the BGMN Rietveld program in research and education. Basic knowledge in X-ray powder diffraction is assumed. The content focuses on laboratory powder diffractometers, the application of BGMN in phase analysis, and examples in the tutorials are mainly from minerals and rocks, inclusive clay materials.Â

Computer exercises will be performed on the participants own laptop computers. The BGMN, BGMNwin and Profex software are under GNU GPL and will be distributed for free. Versions for Windows and Linux systems will be available. Copies of the presentations will be distributed as PDFs. Participation is limited to 20 persons. Confirmation will be sent after pre-registration deadline. Â Content: 2 * 6 hours in totalÂ
Lectures:

• the Rietveld method and BGMN software
• use of the GUI Profex (Nicola Döbelin)
• profile modeling including clay structures
• problems related to quantitative phase analysis

Tutorials:

• settings of laboratory XRPD instruments
• simulation and check of instrumental profilesÂ
• computer exercises on prepared problemsÂ
• use of control files for phase quantification
• sources of errors in mineral quantification

Lecturers: Reinhard Kleeberg, Nicola Döbelin, Kristian Ufer  Date: March 12-13 2014  Place: TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Department of Mineralogy Brennhausgasse 14 D-09596  Freiberg Germany  Fees: include workshop material and workshop diner full registration 170,- students reduced 60,-  Accommodation: Please book your room on your own, e.g. via tourist service http://www.klick-auf-freiberg.de/engl/index.htm  Pre-registration: deadline  January 24th 2014 Email to the address below, with name, institution, student/no  Contact: Dr. Reinhard Kleeberg Tel. 0049(0)3731 393244 Fax. 0049(0)3731 393129 Email kleeberg@mineral.tu-freiberg.de

The ISIS Practical Neutron Training Course is aimed at PhD and post-doctoral researchers who have little or no experience of neutron scattering, but whose future research program aims to make use of neutron scattering techniques.

Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation for Science

This school provides training for students, postdoctoral and senior scientists from European and non-European universities and laboratories, in the field of Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation for condensed matter studies (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Geosciences, Industrial applications).
It includes lectures, practicals, tutorials, and visits of Large Facilities.

The ~4-week school is a yearly event, established in 1991.

20 YEARS OF HERCULES

Since its first session, in 1991, HERCULES has displayed a number of features that differentiate these courses from the rest: i.e. simultaneous training in neutron and synchrotron radiation science for about 75 participants over several weeks, multidisciplinarity, lectures and tutorials given by highly qualified international specialists, and a substantial fraction of the programme devoted to practical sessions carried out on cutting edge instruments, at European Large Facilities partner institutes.Â