Macromolecular Crystallography and the International Union of Crystallography

Phil Coppens

When at the 1967 Atlanta ACA winter meeting Sir Lawrence Bragg gave an after dinner talk, he was standing in front of a large screen showing the  structure of hemoglobin, which had just been solved by Perutz in Cambridge after an admirably persistent effort spanning decades. In a small corner, an insert with the structure of NaCl, for which Professor Bragg and his father had received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915, could be discerned. Sir Bragg noted only half in jest that "the standard of Nobel prizes has changed during the years". Though the implications of the new structural information for the understanding of basic physiological processes, such as oxygen  absorption and desorption in blood, were already obvious, few of us realized at the time how much Crystallography would be affected in the coming two decades by its newfound ability to solve the structure of very large molecules.

Crystallography has always had a strong industrial component, evident in the understanding it has provided in materials science, from the structure of metals and alloys, magnetic materials, polymers and zeolites, to the more recent high temperature superconductors. Many industrial laboratories have employed crystallographers over the years, and some of the most significant new insights have come from such laboratories. Nevertheless the current developments have a novel component. We have reached a stage at which a set of atomic coordinates can have great commercial value; they may be the key to a "billion dollar molecule". A company's stock price can surge when such a structure is solved at adequate resolution, and publication of the results may be the last thing being considered.

Macromolecular Crystallography has become so essential in drug research, that, together with molecular modeling, and NMR in the case of "smaller" molecules, it has become the basis for the rational design of new drugs. There is now a large community including many nonscientists, for whom Crystallography is Macromolecular Crystallography, the remainder of the field being somewhere in the distant past, especially for those for whom the commercial aspects are central.

In this new environment, academic crystallography must continue to provide for the development of new ideas and methods, which may not have immediate, or perhaps never will have commercial impact. Few of us will deny that it is of crucial importance that the standards of science be maintained, independent of an often understandable commercial rush to claim priority for a set of results. The expansion of Acta Crystallographica through the addition of the now highly successful Section D is an important step in this direction. Acta D maintains the high standards typical for Union journals, and through the hard work of its editorial and technical staff, is now recognized as the medium of choice for publication of high quality papers including the necessary detail. The sponsorship by the Union of a series of Macromolecular Crystallography conferences and schools is another activity that will be continued vigorously, without detracting from the support of the many other aspects of crystallography. The IUCr Congresses have provided a forum for a large and increasing number of macromolecular presentations and discussions.

The significance of the new developments is enormous. They will lead to the conquering of a host of diseases, which have defied cures in the past. Those fortunate enough to hear the plenary lectures on the subject in Beijing could not escape the notion of witnessing a scientific revolution of tremendous practical impact, of no less importance than the development of quantum mechanics in the thirties (from which the new revolution has derived many of its tools).

The Union is proud to be part of these developments and will ensure that it remains a central focus for the science it represents.