Sixth joint Diamond–CCP4 MX workshop

The sixth joint Diamond–CCP4 Data Collection and Structure Solution Workshop was held from 1 to 8 December 2019 at Diamond Light Source, Oxfordshire, UK. As in previous years, there were more than four times as many applications as places on the workshop, demonstrating the high demand for a course of this type. Twenty graduate students, postdocs and other early career scientists had the opportunity to follow the full crystallographic structure solution pathway, guided by the expert scientists who design the experiments, run the beamlines and write the software. This year we were also joined by three additional students funded by the INSTRUCT-ERIC OPEN SESAME project. All participants had the opportunity to collect data on their own crystals at Diamond’s MX beamlines. Progress was made on many projects, resulting in a few new structure solutions.

The diversity and strength of scientific projects brought to the workshop was clearly evident from the IUCr Journals Poster Competition. Choosing a winner of this competition is always a great challenge for the tutors! Discussion between the panel took place over multiple days until eventually Hazel Aitkenhead from the University of Oxford, UK, was chosen for her poster “Pestivirus membrane fusion – The Receptor".

The 2020 event will take place again in December at Diamond Light Source, with details to be confirmed here in due course.