The end of summer (in the northern hemisphere at least) is nearly upon us, and students are returning to start their terms. I always look forward to when the students arrive back here in Oxford, a little later than in most UK universities. Although I officially retired 15 years ago (where did all those years go?), for some strange reason, I still get asked to teach for my College and the Physics Department. This gives me the opportunity to meet the students face-to-face and, I hope, utilise some of the teaching experience I have gained over the last 60 or so years. The teaching system in Oxford is based on tutorials or small classes, and this gives me the opportunity to get to know each student personally. It is this aspect of teaching that gives me the most pleasure, as I look forward to the beginning of the term.

I know it is a long way off, but I am already getting excited over the prospect of attending the IUCr Congress in Calgary, Canada, next year. Take a look at the official website at https://www.iucr2026.org/ and you will see what a fantastic program is being offered, and in such a beautiful location. If you love Crystallography like I do, then be sure not to miss it! The IUCr Congresses are typically very well attended and offer a unique opportunity to meet other crystallographers from all over the world and make new acquaintances. I have participated at every Congress since 1966 (apart from the Prague Congress in 2021, when COVID made it difficult to attend), and this has led me to meet many friends and colleagues, often resulting in new research collaborations over the years.

Earlier this year, we reported the formation of the American Union of Crystallography. This has arisen in response to the decision of the National Science Foundation to discontinue direct support for the US National Committee for Crystallography (see https://zurl.co/Lnc7H). You can read more about this here.

In this issue of the Newsletter, Istvan Hargittai continues his series of articles for the Newsletter, this time beginning with the Hungarian mathematician George Pólya, who published on crystal symmetry. The article also describes an interview with Donald Coxeter and his interactions with the renowned artist Maurits Escher (the crystallographers’ favourite artist!). I was struck by Istvan’s quote:

Mathematicians and crystallographers recognized Escher before anybody else. What was his main appeal?

It was the appeal of symmetry.

Congratulations to David Eisenberg on the award of the latest Gregori Aminoff Prize. He pioneered the study of the molecular structure of amyloid proteins, thereby providing new insights into neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. For those who are unfamiliar with this prestigious award, it is an international prize presented since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of Crystallography. The Prize is named in memory of the Swedish scientist and artist Gregori Aminoff (1883–1947), Professor of Mineralogy at the Swedish Museum of Natural History from 1923. It is considered the Nobel Prize of Crystallography. I recall being fortunate to attend one of the ceremonies in 1998 when the Prize was awarded to my friends Pieter (Pim) de Wolff, Ted Janssen and Aloysio Janner for their research into the theory and practice of studying modulated crystal structures. I recall giving a talk there entitled "Incommensurate diffraction as an end member of disorder". As part of the proceedings, we were invited to the Royal Palace for a reception in the evening, held in the presence of the King. A memorable occasion. Unfortunately, Pim was too ill at the time to attend and, sadly, died soon after (see https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/etc/legacy-articles?issue=1344&result_138864_result_page=17).

At time of writing, the latest Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded for research into metal organic frameworks (MOFs) to Susumu Kitagawa (Japan), Richard Robson (Australia) and Omar M. Yaghi (USA). Crystallography has a major role in the study of MOFs and we expect to have an article on this in the next issue of the Newsletter.

At the end of August, crystallographers and scientists from adjacent fields met for the 35th edition of the European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM). ECM35, initially scheduled to take place in Lviv, Ukraine, was relocated to Poznań, Poland, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with the event hosted by the organizers from Adam Mickiewicz University (https://ecm35.ecanews.org/).

More than 700 participants contributed to 48 symposia, covering a wide range of topics, ranging from crystallography in drug discovery, room temperature bio-crystallography, interactions key for understanding diseases, development of technologies and tools in electron crystallography, fragment screening, quantum crystallography, aperiodic structures, crystallization, and AI in crystallography to the latest developments in synchrotron and XFEL technologies, time resolved crystallography, magnetic structures, in situ techniques, and applications in materials science, extreme conditions studies, simulations and predictions, dynamics and disorder, across 96 invited lectures, 146 oral presentations and 275 posters. Several microsymposia focused on general topics, including funding, publishing, and online teaching in crystallography. The plenary lectures by Sven Lidin (Lund University) and Simon Billinge (Columbia University, New York) guided us through “Crystallography – a subject that constantly reinvents itself” and “What I learned about structure from artificial intelligence”.  Nineteen keynote lectures brought insights into specific areas of crystallography or its applications. A special keynote “George Sheldrick’s SHELX: success for all” by Isabel Uson and a special session “Remembering George Sheldrick” celebrated the outstanding contributions and impact of our late colleague, crystallographer George M. Sheldrick.

The scientific program was accompanied by a concert in the Adam Mickiewicz University Hall, a student mixer, a gala dinner with live jazz music, a science slam and an open lecture for the general public: “Nobel Prize winner Max von Laue was a student in Poznań”. Twelve satellite events included the 6th International School on Aperiodic Crystals, “Utilising CCP4 for structure solution”, “Understanding solid forms with the CSD”, Synchrotron Intro, Quantum Crystallography Workshop, European Young Crystallographers Satellite Meeting, 3D-deltaPDFs and diffuse scattering analysis, the so-called Frolic Goats High Pressure Workshop, Computing in Crystallography Forum, Highscore Workshop, Crystallography in School (promoting teaching of crystallography with school science teachers), and MACSMIN2025: Mathematics and Computer Science for Materials Innovation.

We are grateful to the team of local organizers led by Maciej Kubicki who stepped in to make it possible to realize a 'Ukrainian ECM' in Poland. We also appreciate the efforts of the team from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, led by Grygoriy Dmytriv and Roman Gladyshevskii, who led the ECM35 Programme Committee. Together, the organizing and program committees and microsymposia chairs and co-chairs prepared an event full of the latest science, outstanding speakers, and friendly atmosphere in the lovely city of Poznań.

Three crystallographic prizes were awarded during the Meeting. The Max Perutz Prize was given to Professor Gilberto Artioli (University of Padova), accompanied by his lecture “My life as a curious crystallographer”. The Alajos Kálmán Prize was awarded to Felipe Gándara Barragán (Materials Science Institute of Madrid – CSIC), and the George M. Sheldrick prize to Lauren E. Hatcher (Cardiff University). You can find more information about the ECA prizes here: https://ecanews.org/prizes/.  

Poster prizes were awarded in five categories, supported by IUCr Journals, NanoMEGAS, Rigaku, SIG-06, SIG-13, CCDC, and CrystEngComm, to the best poster presenters in specific fields of research, instrumentation development, or at the start of their careers.

The ECA Council has approved the organization of the European Crystallographic School (ECS) 12 at the Diamond Light Source, United Kingdom, in the 2nd half of June 2027 and launch of the new ECA Scholarship Program aimed at supporting PhD students and young post-docs in realization of their research projects in a foreign laboratory (https://ecanews.org/blog/2025/09/01/scholarship-program-of-the-european-crystallographic-association/). A new special interest group of the ECA with focus on magnetism was approved by the Council: SIG-16 – Magnetic Crystallography. The ECA also agreed to launch a new mentoring scheme, “GEMS: GIGs ECA Mentoring Scheme”, which will provide mentoring opportunities for association members, primarily early-stage crystallographers (https://ecanews.org/gig-01/gems/).

The upcoming ECS 11 will be held in Stockholm, June-July 2026 (https://ecs11.org/), and ECM36 will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, in August 2027 (https://www.xray.cz/ecm36/).

The organizing team behind IUCr2026 is thrilled to invite the global crystallographic community to the 27th IUCr Congress and General Assembly, taking place August 11–18, 2026, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Hosted by the American Crystallographic Association (ACA), the Canadian National Committee for Crystallography (CNCC), and the newly proposed American Union of Crystallography (AUC), the Congress will gather thousands of researchers to share discoveries, build collaborations, and celebrate the vibrancy of structural science. The event will be held in the stunning new BMO Centre at Stampede Park, a state-of-the-art convention venue located in the heart of downtown Calgary.

Call for Abstracts Now Open

We are delighted to announce that abstract submission is now open! Researchers from every corner of crystallography and related disciplines are encouraged to submit their work for consideration in the program of microsymposia.

Registration Opens October 15, 2025

Congress registration and official accommodation booking will launch on October 15. Delegates will have access to a variety of housing options, from convenient university dormitories to modern downtown hotels, making IUCr2026 accessible for every budget and preference.

Planning Your Travel

As you prepare to join us in Calgary for the Congress, we encourage you to begin planning your travel early. International participants in particular should allow plenty of time to apply for the required visa, as processing times can vary greatly depending on your country of residence. We strongly recommend that you start the visa application process as soon as possible to avoid delays. In addition, it’s never too early to begin reviewing flight options, accommodations, and other travel arrangements so that you can secure the best availability and rates.

Building Momentum

Behind the scenes, preparations are well underway to ensure an unforgettable meeting. The scientific program is shaping up with a diverse slate of microsymposia reflecting the full breadth of crystallography and structural science. At the same time, extensive planning is underway for venues, accommodations, cultural activities, outreach, and sponsorships—all designed to create an experience that is both scientifically enriching and welcoming to all.

Our cheerful mascot, Calgary Cal, recently toured the new BMO Centre and is already making appearances to build excitement for the Congress. IUCr2026 has also been promoted on the international stage, with visibility at the European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM) and upcoming outreach planned at LACA and AsCA.

Beyond the Science

IUCr2026 will offer much more than a world-class scientific program. Attendees can look forward to a vibrant exhibition, networking opportunities, cultural outreach initiatives, and unforgettable tours. Explore Alberta’s treasures—from the Canadian Rockies and Indigenous heritage tours to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Family-friendly services, including on-site daycare and complimentary city transit passes, will ensure that all participants feel supported throughout the week.

We can’t wait to welcome the international crystallographic community to Calgary for a week of science, collaboration, and discovery.

Stay updated at https://www.iucr2026.org!

The American Union of Crystallography (AUC) is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization established in 2025 to represent and support the US crystallographic community at both national and international levels. It was formed in response to the USA National Science Foundation’s (NSF) decision not to fund the US National Committee for Crystallography (USNC/Cr). As a result, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will cease serving as the US adhering body to the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), effective January 1, 2026. While NSF will continue to support other national scientific committees directly, it has ended centralized funding through the NAS, necessitating the creation of the AUC as an independent successor.

The AUC was officially incorporated in the state of Delaware on April 22, 2024, and received Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(3) nonprofit status on August 21, 2025. On September 4, 2025, the IUCr Executive Committee granted the AUC ad interim adhering body status, effective January 1, 2026, enabling it to represent the USA to the IUCr until the General Assembly in Calgary in 2026.

Mission and Core Objectives

The AUC serves as the national voice for US crystallographers and is committed to advancing crystallographic science through the following objectives:

·       Represent US crystallographers to the IUCr.

·       Advocate strong, sustained support of crystallographic research.

·       Promote interdisciplinary collaboration to accelerate scientific discovery.

·       Support education and training for the next generation of crystallographers.

·       Expand outreach to showcase real-world applications of crystallography.

·       Steward the USNC/Cr’s financial resources responsibly.

·       Operate as a volunteer-led organization responsive to community needs.

·       Recognize and celebrate distinguished members of the community.

Current Priorities

With nonprofit status and international recognition in place, the AUC is focused on the following immediate priorities:

·       Supporting US-based education and training initiatives, including student travel to the IUCr Congress.

·       Managing the newly established George M. Sheldrick Award for Contributions to Structural Science.

·       Contributing to the success of the 2026 IUCr Congress and General Assembly in Canada.

·       Establishing key committees on Workforce & Education, Finance, Ethics, and other areas as needed.

·       Managing and growing the legacy funds originally held by NAS to support US crystallography.

Governance and Community Engagement

To ensure transparency and continuity, all current USNC/Cr members will serve on the AUC Board through 2025. Beginning in 2026, Board members will be selected through an open and inclusive nomination process, with active involvement from the US National Division of the American Crystallographic Association (USND, ACA). The AUC’s bylaws are modelled on those of the USNC/Cr, and the organization is committed to continued community input as it grows.

Why Not the ACA or USND?

The ACA is a regional affiliate representing both US and Canadian crystallographers and is not structured to take on US-specific international responsibilities. The USND, while created as a possible successor to the USNC/Cr, is not a standalone legal entity and therefore cannot function as an independent 501(c)(3) organization.

A Call to Action

The AUC invites all members of the US crystallographic community to support its leadership, mission, and transition by:

·       Participating in AUC initiatives through service, collaboration, and advocacy.

·       Supporting the transfer of NAS-held legacy funds to the AUC for continued stewardship. 

We ask the worldwide crystallographic community to support the AUC by voting to make it the permanent adhering body representing the US at the General Assembly in Calgary in August 2026.

Together, we can ensure a strong, sustainable, and globally connected future for US crystallography.

The CCDC sponsors poster and short presentation prizes at national and international crystallography conferences. Prizes are awarded for original research in:

• Chemical crystallography, including new techniques.
• Applications of small-molecule crystallography in areas such as structural chemistry, molecular modelling, materials design, and chemical informatics.

Congratulations to our latest winners on their fantastic work and well-earned recognition.

At the ECM35

If you're organizing a conference and would like to request CCDC sponsorship for an early career prize, visit our website.

Free Virtual Workshop: Learn How to Perform Virtual Screening Simulations

🗓️ Tuesday, 4th November, 15:30 (GMT)

Virtual screening (VS) is a key computational method in drug discovery, used to identify hits, optimize leads, and explore new scaffolds. It streamlines research through structure-based and ligand-based approaches.

In this workshop, you'll learn to use the Hermes graphical user interface (GUI) and run virtual screening campaigns with GOLD. The session includes expert presentations, live demos, and hands-on practice with support from CCDC tutors.

Special guest speaker: Professor Armando Albert, Departamento de Cristalografía y Biología Estructural, Instituto de Química Física "Blas Cabrera", Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

Register: How to Use the Docking Software GOLD to Perform Virtual Screening Simulations

Frontiers in MOFs Panel Webinar: Real-World Solutions with MOFs

🗓️ Thursday, 20th November, 15:00 (GMT)/10:00 (EST)

Leading experts from industry and academia will discuss MOF applications like carbon capture, chemical sensing, catalysis, and smart materials. The webinar will cover breakthroughs and challenges in integrating MOFs into commercial products, offering insights into tools, trends, and collaborations.

This event is part of a series of webinars to celebrate 60 years of the CCDC and the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s largest database of small-molecule organic and metal-organic structures, used by thousands of scientists.

Register here

If you have any questions, get in touch at [email protected]!

Below is an interview with the author, John R Helliwell, conducted by Jacqui Gulbis. 

Jacqui Gulbis: Why did you write this book?
John R Helliwell: Newcomers to the field of structural biology, which aims to understand life at the molecular level, see a vast array of existing results and are faced with a diverse range of experimental methods that can be used singly or in various combinations. Unfortunately, the uncertainties of published results are rarely fully analysed and reported. Numerous types of data are even given with a false precision. Results can be described as accurate when, in a physicist’s terminology, precision is meant. If you type the words “precision and accuracy” into Google images, numerous examples are given of a dartboard with a tight cluster of darts away from the bull’s eye meaning good precision but poor accuracy, and a poor distribution of darts but around the bull’s eye to mean poor precision but good accuracy. The only difficulty in science is that we don’t know where the bull’s eye actually is, i.e. the “truth”. As scientists we are aware that, while we may not know the absolute truth, our approximation to scientific truth is in the raw data, our processing of it, and the model we finally derive. That is our equivalent of the courtroom’s “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. In biology we know that the truth is the living cell; however, we cannot observe the inside of the living cell in atomic detail. Furthermore, in assessing atom movements upon some sort of stimulus we need to assess the uncertainties in their starting and final positions and indeed if they are moving at all in our time-resolved experiments.

On a less lofty level, also to say, that while I was preoccupied with new synchrotron radiation and neutron instrumentation, methods and structural applications, my collaborator and mentor Durward Cruickshank stimulated my interest in crystal structure model refinement in general and model precision in particular. I have dedicated my new book to him.

What is your book about?
As a teaching text I start by describing the basics of what precision and accuracy are. Also, I assess all the methods that we harness in structural biology, which means properly describing the uncertainties in our results for each one of them. These methods include crystallography, diffraction and scattering using various probes (X-rays, electrons and neutrons) as well as the microscopies and spectroscopies. In combination, these provide powerful glimpses of the scientific truth of the living cell. By “powerful”, I mean that it can guide interventions, helping the pharmaceutical industry in solving pathologies and diseases. My book also covers the topics of predictions and molecular dynamics simulations.

Who are you aiming at?
Principally I am aiming my book at graduate students from a wide range of science disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. But I think that long time practitioners in the discipline of structural biology will be stimulated in their thinking and practice. It may provoke improvements in our best practice.

When will it be used most?
Our crystallographic societies, national, regional and global, and other representative organisations in biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry and data science who each provide teaching courses on a yearly basis will be a prime audience for my new book. Some universities and colleges do have undergraduate courses on the topics of my book and, as the price of the book is quite low, I also hope it will be purchased by these students to provide a foundation for those courses.

Where will it be used?
The book is in English, which covers a large part of the world obviously, but I hope it will be translated into other languages. OUP is open to being approached by other publishers for Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish versions, for example.

How did you research and write it?
I have a good range of experience across most of the methods I cover, drawn from my experience at synchrotron radiation and neutron facilities, including as a beamline scientist and at senior levels up to facility director, but also running my own wide ranging research laboratory projects. Nevertheless, digging deep across the literature was needed to bring various aspects of my knowledge up to date. I have access to the very splendid University of Manchester Library as an Emeritus Professor. Also, the numerous permissions requests I made to the authors of figures and article quotations often led to interesting dialogues and even my learning about their papers in press.

Tell us about your teaching experience
I have taught crystallography to undergraduate and graduate physicists, chemists and biochemists at Keele, York, and Manchester Universities as well as to early career researchers in Europe and the USA at crystallography society training courses. Students often ask: why am I learning this? I finish each chapter with a short set of “Key learning points”. In addition, I mention that I was a member of the IUCr OUP Book Series Committee from 1996 to 2023, including as its chairman from 2017 to 2023. I had chance to comment on a large number of book proposals, both research monographs and teaching texts, that came to our committee for evaluation. Especially relevant, was that these revealed a range of approaches taken by authors of these teaching texts. This evaluation procedure exposed me to the exceptionally learned members on the IUCr Book Series Committee and thereby their insights from the perspectives of all the sub-disciplines of crystallography.

This book is amongst the least expensive of the IUCr Teaching texts
The price is driven by the length of the book, and I have a tendency to write concisely, which has kept the number of pages down. I benefitted from the senior management training provided to me as a synchrotron facility director. To paraphrase a well-known saying, sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde: it takes a lot of time to write a concise version. Anyway, I hope it means that the sales of my book will be buoyant, and I mention that I am donating the royalties from the sale of my book to the IUCr Education and Outreach Fund.

Details of the book: Precision and Accuracy in Biological Crystallography, Diffraction, Scattering, Microscopies, and Spectroscopies by John R. Helliwell is the latest book in the International Union of Crystallography Texts on Crystallography Book Series published by Oxford University Press. Available from 01 October 2025, 144 pages and 27 figures. ISBN: 9780198952824. Also available as an e-book.

Anton Paar introduces the XRDynamic Autosampler – an advanced automation solution for X-ray diffraction (XRD) that sets a new benchmark in sample handling and operational efficiency. With a capacity of up to 105 samples, it provides the highest sample throughput available for standard sample holders in the industry.

Designed for seamless integration with XRDynamic 500 and the XRDdrive software, the XRDynamic Autosampler offers fully automated measurement workflows. Users benefit from extended walkaway time, reduced manual intervention, and improved laboratory efficiency.

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The XRDynamic Autosampler is automatically recognized by the XRDdrive software upon connection, minimizing setup time and the risk of user error. It is also 100% retrofittable to existing XRDynamic 500 systems.

The autosampler’s modular design supports scalability, allowing users to expand from one to seven magazines as needed. It does not interfere with other measurements when idle, and can be easily detached or reattached. This ensures a flexible, space-efficient setup suited for evolving laboratory requirements.

The XRDynamic Autosampler enhances Anton Paar’s existing sample changer portfolio, which includes solutions with 3, 6, 12, or 48 positions. This broad range of options ensures that users can select the most suitable configuration for their specific XRD applications.

With its unmatched capacity, software integration, and intelligent automation, the XRDynamic Autosampler is a future-ready solution for efficient and reliable X-ray diffraction workflows.

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About Anton Paar

Founded in 1922 in Graz, Austria, Anton Paar is a global market leader in density and concentration measurement, rheometry and viscometry, and dissolved carbon dioxide determination. Anton Paar also offers cutting-edge technologies, such as Raman spectroscopy, XRD, particle size analysis, and surface analysis. Anton Paar’s customers include most of the major beer and soft drink manufacturers worldwide, and companies active in the food, chemicals, petroleum, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as leading academic institutions. Anton Paar invests 14.5% of its annual turnover in research and development.