IUCr news digest 6 October 2014

The IUCr-UNESCO OpenLab Uruguay was held in Montevideo on 23-31 July 2014 in partnership with Bruker. The successful meeting was attended by 20 young professors and advanced PhD students from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Perú and Uruguay. During the Opening Ceremony of the OpenLab, the official inauguration of the Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction Laboratory of the Facultad de Quimica, Universidad de la República, took place. The intensive OpenLab included 14 hours of lectures and 12 hours of practical sessions on the history and fundamentals of crystallography. One full day was devoted to the collection of data and a number of the group brought their own single crystals and were able to collect data and make structure determinations and refinement of their own structures on site. For the more advanced student there was a special topic lecture on charge-density analysis, which was very well received. The final morning of the event was devoted to presentations by the participants themselves. Those who had solved their structures showed their results, discussed their problems and received advice on how to finalize their work from other participants and lecturers.

The IUCr-UNESCO OpenFactory took place between 10 and 19 September with sponsorship and active participation from STOE, DECTRIS and Xenocs. It involved 20 young scientists from 15 different countries, some of whom had come from the immensely successful First European Crystallography School in Pavia a few days before. A highlight of the meeting was a keynote talk by Professor Gautam Desiraju (IUCr Immediate Past President) on the topic "100 years of crystallography: seen through 15 small molecule crystal structures". More information about the OpenFactory can be found in a STOE press release and in a recent article in Wiley's ChemViews Magazine.

IUCr-UNESCO Latin American Summit took place in Campinas, Brazil from 22 to 24 September with support from a number of organisations and bodies. This was the second Summit Meeting of the IYCr and this time the scientific theme was biological crystallography and complementary methods. Over 100 senior scientists, young researchers, postdoctoral fellows and students from 12 countries met at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) in Campinas.

Delegates enjoyed a mix of lectures on the history of Latin American crystallography and examples of current, cutting-edge research and the collaborative programmes that are taking place in Latin America. Professor Marvin Hackert (President, IUCr) gave the opening lecture on IYCr2014 and the role and benefits of the OpenLabs and Summit Meetings. Dr Lidia Brito (Regional Director for Latin American for UNESCO) spoke about the partnership of UNESCO with the IUCr on IYCr2014. Professor Glaucius Oliva (IFSC/USP) presented an overview of the history of crystallography in Latin America, while Dr Antônio José Roque da Silva (LNLS) presented a glimpse of the future with the construction of a fourth-generation synchrotron (Sirius) at Campinas.

A memorable highlight of the Summit was the keynote lecture given by Nobel Laureate Ada Yonath who discussed the progress to design better therapeutics from our understanding of the structure of the ribosome.

Another highlight was a Roundtable discussion mediated by Professor Samar Hasnain (Editor-in-Chief of IUCr Journals) where the panelists reflected on the changes, opportunities and challenges facing the further development of crystallography in Latin America. At the close of the final session, a petition was presented and unanimously approved by those attending to ask for continued support from the IUCr and UNESCO to promote regional scientific collaborations in Latin America, with a pledge to partner in supporting these activities from regional resources. More information and a full description of the programme can be found here.