BSR is a unique forum to discuss the novel possibilities of synchrotrons and X-ray lasers and to promote their applications to challenging biological problems.

This meeting provides a forum for scientists involved in research and development on synchrotron and free electron laser sources to come together with a broad community of biologists, with the ambition to make the best use of the most advanced infrastructures in structural biology. Possible applications range from atomic-resolution and time-resolved structures of biological macromolecules, medium resolution images of the largest molecular complexes in the living word, and cellular and sub-cellular structures.

Scientists at all possible career levels are invited to this meeting â€" ranging from graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and principal investigators both from academia and industry. There will be ample opportunities for individual presentations.

Featuring five parallel workshops representing a wide range of research interests, the Diamond Synchrotron Radiation User Meeting offers opportunities to hear about the latest in synchrotron research and technique developments, along with the chance to network with colleagues from Diamond and the synchrotron user community.

Workshops
• Current Issues in Energy Research
• MX and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)
• PDF Analysis: The Local Point of View of Materials Development
• Soft X-ray Full-field Imaging and Scanning Microscopy
• Transition Metal Oxides, Superconductivity and Interfaces

This year's edition will be a joint MX and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) workshop.

Day one will have updates from the MX and SAXS beamlines on capabilities, software and access. Day two will have a number of user talks highlighting the use and development of SAXS and MX data to address challenging scientific questions. The second day will also include a user discussion session.

New Developments and Applications of Enzyme Engineering

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The specific topics will include:

• Biocatalysis
• Commodity and industrial chemicals
• Emerging technologies in protein engineering
• Pathway engineering
• De novo design
• Intersection of protein engineering and next-generation sequencing
• Structural biology and enzyme engineering Â

Structure, Mechanisms, and Applications in Health and Disease

Structure, Mechanisms, and Applications in Health and Disease

From Big Data to Smart Data

Regenerative Engineering and Functional Materials Integration

Enzymology: Innovations in Understanding and Impact in Application

New Concepts and Methods in Enzymology: From Molecular Mechanisms to Industrial Applications

The 27th meeting of the Polymer Physics Group provides an opportunity for researchers from both academia and industry to discuss the latest innovations in understanding and manipulating the physical behaviour of a wide range of polymeric systems.

Dr Lorna Dougan, University of Leeds, UK:Â Single molecule studies of proteins from extremophile organisms

Dr Ralf Everaers, ENS de Lyon, France:Â Topologically constrained polymers: From rubber elasticity to chromosome structure

Professor Kohzo Ito, University of Tokyo:Â Slide-ring materials with movable cross-links and entropy of rings

Professor Richard A. L. Jones, FRS, University of Sheffield, Founders' Prize Lecture:Â What drives macromolecules to move?

The Diamond Light Source Macromolecular Crystallography group would like to invite both our academic and industrial users to MX beamline training sessions on the 15th -16th July 2015.

The aim is to provide MX users with sufficient training to be able to operate any of the Diamond MX beamlines efficiently and to get the most benefit from their beamtime. The training will involve hands-on sessions on the suite of five operational MX beamlines (http://www.diamond.ac.uk/mx-home/) as well as optional offline software sessions.

Sessions include:

15th July, afternoon session and 16th July, morning session on MX beamlines:

• MX software: automation in data analysis
• Mini-Kappa goniometry / Anomalous data collection
• Sample humidity control (HC1) • I24 new end station/ In-situ diffraction
• Fragment screening â€" I04-1/Lab36
• Experiment database: new ISPyB

16th July afternoon optional session Hands on software:

Two tutorial sessions:

• CCP4: structure solution and model building with CCP4 (CCP4 team)
• Manual processing with iMosflm (Harry Powell)

This meeting provides a forum for scientists involved in research and development on synchrotron and free electron laser sources to come together with a broad community of biologists, with the ambition to make the best use of the most advanced infrastructures in structural biology. Possible applications range from atomic-resolution and time-resolved structures of biological macromolecules, medium resolution images of the largest molecular complexes in the living word, and cellular and sub-cellular structures. Scientists at all possible career levels are invited to this meeting â€" ranging from graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and principal investigators both from academia and industry. There will be ample opportunities for individual presentations.

3rd Edition of the School of Crystallisation and Crystallography for Latin America

The proposed themes involve:

• all material science
• control and description of industrial crystallisation processes
• nanotechnology
• polymorphism
• co-crystallisation of drugs and
• tools for structural determination of solids (including amorphous) from powder diffraction.

Module I on Crystallization: 7-11 December

Module II on Crystallography: 14-18 December

Confirmed speakers:

Dario Braga University of Bologna

Fabrizia Grepioni University of Bologna

Antonella Guagliardi Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Istituto di Cristallografia

Simon J. L. Billinge Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics at Columbia University and Physicist at Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory

Richard I. Cooper Head of Chemical Crystallography and Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford.

Silvia L. Cuffini Institute of Science and Technology, UNIFESP

Helvécio Rocha Laboratório de Sistemas Farmacêuticos Avançados, LaSiFA

3rd Edition of the School of Crystallisation and Crystallography for Latin America

The proposed themes involve:

• all material science
• control and description of industrial crystallisation processes
• nanotechnology
• polymorphism
• co-crystallisation of drugs and
• tools for structural determination of solids (including amorphous) from powder diffraction.

Module I on Crystallization: 7-11 December

Module II on Crystallography: 14-18 December

Confirmed speakers:

Dario Braga University of Bologna

Fabrizia Grepioni University of Bologna

Antonella Guagliardi Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Istituto di Cristallografia

Simon J. L. Billinge Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics at Columbia University and Physicist at Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory

Richard I. Cooper Head of Chemical Crystallography and Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford.

Silvia L. Cuffini Institute of Science and Technology, UNIFESP

Helvécio Rocha Laboratório de Sistemas Farmacêuticos Avançados, LaSiFA

Serependipity vs Prediction

The next Indaba, the eighth in a series of interdisciplinary workshops is organized by the South African Crystallographic Society in conjunction with the Structural Chemistry Commission of the International Union of Crystallography.

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The discovery of processes, novel molecular compounds and materials with exciting properties is often to a large extent based on serendipity but in other cases on the careful observation and interpretation of experimental data. In the latter, classical models and approaches derived from qualitative molecular orbital theory, methods based on parameters related to donor-acceptor strengths or empirical concepts based on geometric and steric effects may be employed. Following these discoveries, it is then quite general that a subsequent thorough analysis of experimental data such as state-of-the-art spectroscopy, magnetism, thermodynamic properties and/or detailed mechanistic information and electronic structure calculations is performed to 'fully' understand as many aspects thereof as possible.

As a result, new models and theories may emerge, possibly leading to rules concerning how the relevant properties of the process or the new class of compounds may be predicted and be improved. There are also examples where novel types of compounds or novel mechanistic ideas have emerged from theoretical studies or from a close collaboration between theoretically oriented individuals with experimentalists.

This has often led to the development of efficient models for the design and interpretation of experiments, based on some understanding of intra- and intermolecular interactions or processes.

Indaba 8 is dedicated to the discussion of Serendipity vs (first-principle) Prediction of scientific phenomena related to structure, dynamics, activity and function of molecular and other materials and processes. The scientific sessions will include invited keynote lectures, a small number contributed oral presentations as well as poster sessions spanning Theory and Molecular Modeling, Crystallography, Crystal Engineering, Materials, Supramolecular Chemistry, Organometallics, Biochemistry, Biology and other relevant fields. In the Poster sessions, a number of poster presenters will also be invited to present their work orally in 'Flash' presentations of 2-3 min each.

Participation is unrestricted except for a limitation on the numbers due to the nature of the venue which can accommodate only 120 delegates. Preference will be given to presenters of original research and to students and postdoctoral associates.

A limited number of IUCr-sponsored bursaries will be available for students and other young scientists, who are invited to apply for support, preferably by e-mail, with the recommendation of a supervisor or a senior colleague, to the Secretariat (thereza@technoscene.co.za). A preliminary Registration including a presentation title and abstract must first be submitted and your invoice number should be quoted on all correspondence. Any support granted will be conditional on the acceptance by the Organising Committee of the abstract submitted by the delegate (see Submission of Abstracts). The cut-off date for applications is 30 April 2015, but early application and submission of abstracts are encouraged for those delegates seeking support.

The South West Structural Biology Consortium (SWSBC) was initiated by Prof. Jenny Littlechild and Prof. Leo Brady as a forum where Structural Biology groups in the South West of England could come together to present their research and network with each other.

Since that initial meeting in Exeter, the Consortium has expanded to include researchers interested in Structural Biology â€" including the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Reading, Portsmouth, Southampton and Sussex â€" with an annual meeting moving between each of the cities.