The International School on Adsorption, Absorption and Crystal Growth will be held April 18-23, 2010 at the Palazzo Feltrinelli in Gargnano, Italy. Located on the Garda lake and close to the Alps, Palazzo Feltrinelli offers a magnificent and quiet location for meetings and schools. In fact, since many years Palazzo Feltrinelli (Università degli Studi di Milano) constantly hosts schools, workshops, and conferences spanning many different fields.Â

The School Adsorption, Absorption and Crystal Growth is aimed at introducing the interested people to the adsorption phenomena occurring at the interface between crystals and their surrounding mother phase (vapour, solution or melt). An important place will be given to the equilibria between an adsorbed phase on both “foreign” and “reactive” substrates. The modification of the growth modes of crystal faces will be related to the foreign adsorption (solvent and impurities effects). The crystal-chemical specificity of the 2D-epitaxy will be considered for the understanding of the habit change of crystals.  The kinetics of crystal nucleation and growth will be detailed according to whether the foreign adsorption remains at the crystal surface or is followed by the absorption into the crystal lattice where either usual or anomalous mixed crystals originate.Â
Owing to its methodological character, the School is open to the topics of the crystal growth research which concern the Materials Science, the Bio-crystallization and mineralization, the Earth Sciences and all other fields where crystallization is a key step (pharmaceuticals, scaling and water treatment, etc). The School is of interest to graduate and post-graduate students, PhD students, post-doctorate fellows, and senior researchers as well as researchers from industry.Â
The lectures presented at the School will be published in a textbook which will be given to each attendee at the School registration desk.

Invitation

Dear Colleagues:
You are cordially invited to participate in the 8th Conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association, AsCA'07, which will be held at the Howard International House in Taipei, Taiwan from November 4th to 7th, 2007. This conference is the eighth of the conference series on crystallography in Asia since its inauguration in Singapore in 1992, which intends to cover all aspects of crystallography, ranging from inorganic and organic small molecules to macromolecular proteins, viruses, and membrane proteins; from crystal growth to protein engineering; from structural chemistry and material science to nanoscience and nanotechnology; from crystal structure, proteomics, and genomics, to drug design; from diffraction physics and ray optics to the applications of electron, neutron, and synchrotron X-ray photons for structural investigations, etc..
Taipei is situated in a basin in northern Taiwan. The city blends traditional culture and cosmopolitan life. The metropolitan Taipei is the cultural, commercial, finance, and educational centers of Taiwan. There are more than thirty universities and colleges around. In the suburbs, places of historic interest and scenic beauty are worth visiting, such as National Palace Museum, Long-San Temple, Taipei Botanical Garden, Yangmingshan National Park, Zhishan Cultural and Ecological Garden, Hot Springs Area, Beitou Hot Spring Museum, Folk Arts Museum, and the Tower 101, among many other attractions.
We hope that the conference will provide an excellent platform for efficient exchange in many branches of sciences relating to crystallography. And your participation will guarantee the success of the conference.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Taipei.
Professor Shih-Lin Chang
Chairman
Organizing Committee AsCA'07

MSA/GS, ANL Short Course on Amphiboles

The Short Course on ‘‘Amphiboles’’, sponsored by the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) and by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (ANL), was held in Rome in October 2007. The aim of the Short Course was to update the scientific community on the extensive developments that have occurred over the last twenty years on many issues concerning the crystal-chemistry and systematics of the amphiboles, as well as their role in petrogenetic and environmental processes.Â

Amphiboles are a complex but fascinating group of minerals, which are currently the focus of several investigations in the realms of geology, petrology, mineralogy, environmental mineralogy, epidemiology and even biology. During the last two decades, most of our previous concepts on the crystal chemistry of amphiboles have had to be reformulated, owing to advances in analytical techniques (especially X-ray diffraction, SIMS analysis and infrared spectroscopy), the development of new comprehensive models and the extensive study of synthetic compositions. This new situation prompted the organization of the Short Course and the preparation of a new volume of the MSA/GSA Reviews in Mineralogy series. Volume 67 (Amphiboles: crystal chemistry, occurrence and health issues) has been edited by Frank C. Hawthorne, Roberta Oberti, Giancarlo Della Ventura and Annibale Mottana, bringing together 13 comprehensive review chapters on the major issues addressed during the workshop. These chapters are focused on concepts and results more than on techniques, including advances in crystal-chemical models, classification and nomenclature. They also present challenges and results regarding synthesis, long-range and short-range ordering, geological occurrences and health issues related to the distribution of natural amphiboles in the environment.
Roberta Oberti
Giancarlo Della Ventura

HSC5: Synchrotron Radiation and Neutrons for Cultural Heritage Studies

Grenoble, 7 to 13 October 2007

Part of the Marie Curie Conferences and Training Courses

SCOPE

Synchrotron and neutron sources offer recent and additional insight into the records of our cultural past. Over the last years, there has been an increasing demand for access to SR- and neutron-based techniques, and their applications in the fields of archaeological science and cultural heritage. The purpose of this Hercules Specialized Course is to give the participants an introduction to the basic principles of SR and neutron techniques (imaging, microscopy, diffraction, absorption and fluorescence, IR spectroscopy). The school will also provide cross-disciplinary examples illustrating the abilities of these techniques in a representative range of scientific cases in relation with the European cultural heritage. The lectures will cover both theoretical and experimental aspects to the attention of a non-expert audience. They will be complemented by tutorials (diffraction and XAS data processing), and practicals on a selection of artefacts taking place at several ESRF and ILL beamlines. Young scientists and newcomers at the interfaces of the disciplines of archaeology, archaeological science, art conservation and materials science are welcome.

ORGANISERS

Loïc Bertrand, Eric Dooryhee, Jean-Louis Hodeau Secretariat: N. Petricola (ESRF)

TOPICS

Introductory lectures:Â

Over the first 2 days, the HSC includes introductory talks on core SR and neutron methods (diffraction, XAS) and will also cover recent and dedicated developments in IR spectroscopy, full-field 2/3D imaging, micro-beams and microscopy, together with related tutorials.

Complementarity lecturesÂ

The last day covers a variety of archaeological and cultural heritage issues, e.g. studies of pigments, metal ware, manuscripts and parchments, tissues, ceramics and glasses.

PracticalsÂ

2 days of beamtime are planned for training and practising at the ESRF and ILL. The participants are encouraged to discuss with us the possibility to bring over their own samples as test cases and for preliminary measurements.

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in structural studies on biological macromolecules and assemblies using cryo-electron microscopy and electron crystallography. As more and more genome projects for human and other organisms are completed, the focus of biological research is shifted to proteins, protein complexes, organelles and cells. Along with X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy and electron crystallography are playing increasingly important roles in structural biology research.
To train the next generation of scientists in this exciting field, a workshop on cryo-electron microscopy of macromolecular assemblies will be held at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, July 14-16, 2008. The workshop will cover electron crystallography, single particle cryo-electron microscopy, and electron tomography. Both basic principles of these techniques and their state-of-the-art applications to biological systems will be taught at the school, and practical sessions may also be organized to show hand-on experience in cryo-electron microscopy as well as various image processing programs. Graduate students and postdocs who currently work in or who are interested in joining the field are particularly encouraged to attend. Importantly, a number of leading scientists will be lecturing at the school; young scientists will have plenty of opportunities to directly interact with these leading scientists.

Dear Colleagues,

We cordially invite you to attend the 10th International Conference on Quasicrystals (ICQ10), which will take place in Zurich, Switzerland, July 6 â€" 11, 2008.

ICQ10 provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest results in the field of quasicrystals and complex metallic alloys. Due to the interdisciplinarity of the field, the spectrum of invited and contributing speakers will include mathematicians, physicists, chemists and material scientists.
Abstracts are invited in all areas of study including, but not limited to, synthesis, crystal growth, phase stability, structure, surfaces and thin films, physical properties, theory, applications and new frontiers of quasicystals and cluster-based complex metallic alloys.
Zurich is the largest city of Switzerland situated in the heart of Europe. Besides a nice lake and beautiful views of the Swiss alps, it offers an excellent infrastructure including an international airport.
We invite you to join us at ICQ10!
Walter Steurer
Conference Chair

Purpose and Scope of Workshop

The purpose of this course is to provide participants with hands-on experience of a variety of crystal growth methods for obtaining high quality crystals. The course will address both conventional and non-conventional methods in membrane protein crystal growth. Optimization methods will include application of oils, novel nucleating agents, detergents, crystallization in lipid cubic phase, crystallization with gels, and more... Introductory lectures will precede the eight practical sessions planned for the course. Time for discussions and informal meetings with the tutors is scheduled.
A special session on cryogenic protection and crystal quality assessment will be conducted at the X6A beam line on the last day.

Intended Audience

Graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research scientists interested in learning about different approaches to crystallization.

5th European Charge Density Meeting

in conjunction with DFG 1178 annual meeting

The 5th European Charge Density Meeting (in conjunction with DFG 1178 annual meeting), took place in Gravedona, on the beautiful shores of the Lake of Como (Italy) between 6 and11 June 2008. The conference has been organized by CNR-ISTM Milan, University of Insubria at Como, University of Milan and DFG SPP-1178 .

Keynote Lectures

• Long live the QTAIM. New ideas in the Quantum theory of Atoms in Molecules (A. M. Pendas, Oviedo)
• Chemical insights from charge density (D. Stalke, Goettingen)
• The role of charge and spin density in the quantum mechanical simulation of crystalline solids. The case of X3Y2Si3O12 garnets (R. Dovesi, Torino)
• Chemical bonding at extreme conditions: a few extreme examples and new trends (Y. Xie, A. Oganov, Jilin and Zurich)
• Including theoretical information for obtaining additional and more reliable information from X-ray diffraction data (B. Dittrich, Goettingen)
• Charge density and intermolecular potential. Towards a theory of molecular aggregation and crystallization (A. Gavezzotti, Milano)
• Intermolecular interactions, a multipolar model approach (P. Coppens, A. Volkov, P. M. Dominiak, Buffalo)
• Understanding the Halogen...X (X=Halogen, Lewis Base) interactions: Application to charge transfer complexes(S. Dahaoui, Nancy)
• Applications of Experimental Electron Density Work in the Life Sciences: From Small to Macromolecules (P. Luger, Berlin)
• Application of synchrotron charge densities in materials chemistry (B. B. Iversen, Aarhus)

Topics of the ECDM5 Micro-Symposia

• Chemical bonding in extreme environments: Crystallography under high pressure or electric field (chair: U. Pietsch)
• Charge, Spin, and Momentum densities in Materials Science (chair: Y. Wang)
• Large facilities and charge density in the life sciences (chair: J. Helliwell)
• New functions and descriptors for chemical bonding (chair: M. Kohout)
• New directions in charge density refinement and density matrix reconstructions (in memory of Niels Hansen) (chair: F. Larsen)
• Static and dynamical aspects of charge density (chair:C. Matta)
• Molecular interactions : the charge density viewpoint (chair: M. Spackman)

Topics of the DFG-1178 Micro-Symposia

• Molecules
• Materials
• Life Science and Theory

You are cordially invited to attend the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association to be held May 31st through June 5th, in Knoxville Tennessee. The workshops, scientific and poster sessions, as well as the exhibit show will be housed in the Knoxville Convention Center.

Purpose of the Course

It is primarily intended to educate the upcoming generation with experts drawn worldwide, in an intensive, hand-on forum not available at any other meeting, and in particular, unavailable to these students in any other way.Â

Global disease is perhaps the greatest threat to mankind. There are three primary tools at our disposal to counter this threat, vaccines, drugs and diagnostic tests. Protein crystallography plays a major role in all of these, from its contribution to the explanation of fundamental biological processes to the application of structure-based drug design.
Scientifically, there is no better aid to the understanding of biological processes than to be able to visualize the exact position of every atom in a biologically active molecule. It is therefore not surprising that protein crystallography is such a fundamental part of the modern drug discovery process; both in increasing our understanding of disease processes and in the direct, structure-based design of drugs. Parallel to the developments in structural biology, great strides have been made towards targeted medicines. The discipline of bioinformatics is maturing towards ‘systems biology', i.e. a complete elucidation of the biology of an organism; this has been massively aided by the completion of the sequencing of the human genome. Highly targeted medicines, specifically tailored to small groups of patients, are a reality that is already with us, one that has a fundamental dependence on understanding biology at a molecular level. Protein crystallography not only impacts on society via health, but also via economics. This is particularly so in Europe, which has a rich history in medicines research, from the pioneering studies at the turn of the last century through to the establishment of the pharmaceutical giants and biotechnology industry of today, a key part of Europe's economic strength. Competition in this industrial field requires young European scientists to be trained to be able to exploit the techniques in this multidisciplinary area.

Présentation et objectifs

La Faculté des Sciences de l’Université Mohammed V-Agdal et l’Association Marocaine de Cristallographie (AMC) organisent la 4ème Ecole Marocaine de Cristallographie (EMC4) du 26 au 29 mai 2008 sous le thème :

La cristallographie, diffraction, instrumentation et leurs apports à la science des matériaux

L'AMC organise tous les deux ans une école sur les thèmes en relation avec la cristallographie. La 1ère école a eu lieu à la Faculté des Sciences de Marrakech en 2002 (100 participants), la 2ème à la Faculté des Sciences d’El Jadida en 2004 (126 participants) et la 3ème à la Faculté des Sciences d’Agadir en 2006 (133 participants).  L’objectif de cette manifestation scientifique est de regrouper les utilisateurs de la cristallographie, universitaires et industriels, pour faire le point sur les derniers développements réalisés dans ce domaine.
En plus de l’aspect fondamental de la cristallographie, des applications multiples s’étendent de l’industrie minière à l’industrie pharmaceutique en passant par la métallurgie et le nucléaire.  Cette formation s’adresse aux chercheurs, doctorants, enseignants chercheurs et aux ingénieurs. Elle sera animée, par des personnalités scientifiques de renommée internationale, sous forme de conférences, de cours et d'ateliers pratiques. Une partie sera réservée à la démonstration de nouveaux matériels et de logiciels de cristallographie les plus récents.  Durant les quatre jours de cette école, les conférenciers débâteront les sujets suivants

• Diffraction des rayons X et des neutrons
• Diffraction électronique
• Rayonnement Synchrotron
• Structures modulées
• Structures des macro molécules (protéines)
• Instrumentations et logiciels

Program

Monday April 28, morning. Introduction to crystallographic symmetry I. Massimo Nespolo, Université Henri Poincaré Nancy I, France

• Basics of group theory. Space groups and space group types. Hermann-Mauguin symbols. Wyckoff positions, site symmetry. Unconventional settings of space groups. Extracting information from Volume A of the International Tables for Crystallography

Monday April 28, afternoon. Introduction to crystallographic symmetry II. Mois I. Aroyo, Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao, Spain

• Mappings, symmetry operations, 4x4 matrices. Basis and coordinate transformations, origin shifts. Subgroups and splitting of Wyckoff positions.

Tuesday April 29. Group theory applied to crystallography. Bernd Souvignier, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

• Dimension-independent fundamental notions of crystallographic groups (lattices, point groups, vector systems); classification of crystallographic groups (arithmetic/geometric classes, crystal systems, lattice systems, crystal families). Equivalent descriptions for a crystal structure (use of normalizers).

Wednesday April 30, morning. Subgroups of space groups. Mois I. Aroyo, Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao, Spain

• Exercises on the Volume A1 of the International Tables for Crystallography

Wednesday April 30, afternoon. The symmetry principle in crystal chemistry - I. Ulrich Müller, University of Marburg, Germany

• Instructions how to build trees of group-subgroup relations between space groups. Examples for translationengleiche, klassengleiche and isomorphic subgroups; space groups related by a common supergroup; large structural families. Pitfalls and possible sources of errors.

Thursday May 1, morning. The symmetry principle in crystal chemistry - II. Ulrich Müller, University of Marburg, Germany

• Applications: Structures with close-packed atoms and occupied interstices; symmetry aspects at phase transitions and topotactic reactions, twinning, domains; wrong structure determinations due to twinning; symmetry relations among molecular structures

Thursday May 1, afternoon. Role of symmetry and energy in structural phase transitions. Michele Catti, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

• Elements of Landau theory of structural phase transitions. Symmetry group-subgroup relationships. Reconstructive, displacive and order-disorder solid-solid transformations. Evaluation of the crystal energy by periodic quantum-mechanical techniques. Applications to thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of displacive and reconstructive phase transitions of inorganic crystals.

Friday May 2, morning. Computer tools in mathematical crystallography. Mois I. Aroyo, Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao, Spain

• Introduction to the Bilbao Crystallographic Server

Friday May 2, afternoon. Understanding organic crystal packing: how intermolecular energies determine crystal symmetry and intermolecular geometry. Angelo Gavezzotti, University of Milano, Italy

• Fundamentals of intermolecular potentials. Correlation-dispersion and exchange-repulsion. Close packing symmetry elements. Restrictions on space groups for organic crystals. Use of crystallographic Databases. Models for the calculation of intermolecular energies: recognition in gas-phase dimers versus pairwise molecular interactions in crystals. Quantitative ranking of approach modes: the hydrogen bond versus other bonding interactions. Quantitative ranking of lattice energies among polymorphs; crystals structure 'prediction'.

Conference venue

The school took place at Palazzo Feltrinelli, on the Garda Lake. This beautiful historical Villa is now owned by the University of Milan and is dedicated to Workshop and Meeting activities. Gargnano is a small resort village on Garda Lake, about 150 km east of Milan.