After the success of the workshop organized in Buffalo (NY) in 2003, a new school on accurate charge density determination and analysis is presented. The XD2006 program package has been recently released, including new features that summarize the main developments occurred in the field during the last few years.Â

New students have started projects on charge density analysis and therefore a systematic and accurate training is necessary.Â

The workshop is mainly intended for undergraduate, PhD or postdoctoral students as well as for senior researchers who want to approach the field. Theoretical lectures will be accompanied by hands on computing sessions, where students will learn how to perform a multipole refinement and the new methods to compute interactions between molecules in crystals or to analyze the electron density distribution.Â

The workshop is organized in a small village in the south of Italy (Martina Franca, nearby Bari) with the purpose to provide the students with a nice and relaxed atmosphere. We are grateful to commercial sponsors for economic support and to the IUCr for the availability of funds to assist young scientists.Â

A special symposium in honour of Professor Dame Louise Johnson FRS, DBE, on the occasion of her retirement from the David Phillips Chair of Molecular Biophysics, University of Oxford in November 2007. Â Former D. Phil students, post-doctoral scientists, colleagues, and scientific collaborators of Louise, together with guests, are invited to a symposium to be held in Oxford from September 2nd to 5th 2007. Â The themes of the symposium will cover the subject areas that have been of particular scientific interest to Louise during her career and will include topics such as protein structure, signal transduction, protein phosphorylation and ubiquitination, the cell cycle, enzymatic mechanisms, synchrotron radiation, electron microscopy, drug design, with the emphasis on exciting current research.

The Siena 2006 School on Crystallographic Teaching will be run at the Certosa di Pontignano, 10 km outside the town of Siena, in Tuscany, Italy. The school organisers are extremely appreciative of the generous support from the University of Siena in providing such facilities.
The Teaching Commission (TC) of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) proposes to organise an International School on Basic Crystallography. Recognising that basic crystallographic curricula is regressing in the academic bachelors and masters formation, the TC expects to fill this formation gap by organising an intensive one week course possibly on a periodic basis.
The organisation of the school will be close to the successful model adopted by the British Crystallography Association (BCA), which has acquired an excellent popularity since its existence. The topics will be presented to students in two equally distributed forms, namely ex cathedra teaching during the morning and tutoring during the afternoon. The lecturers are experienced crystallographers with excellent international reputation and a long experience in teaching. Following the presentation of each topic, tutors will lead the students by working in small groups with the aim to solve practical exercises.
After a general introduction to crystallography, the student will first acquire elementary notions on matrices and group theories in order to get familiar with the concept of crystal symmetry. The concept of isometry will lead to point and space group symmetries. The student will be able to understand the description of crystalline structures on the basis of its space group, lattice constants and atomic coordinates.
The students will then be introduced to diffraction, which is fundamental for the study of matter at the atomic level. The various X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques, based on single crystal and powder methods, will be introduced. The techniques of data acquisitions, structure solutions and refinements will be followed by the derivation and the interpretation of the results. Finally, the student will be introduced to information retrieval from the numerous crystallographic databases, which are of prime importance for any research in the field of crystallography.
With its origins as a 14th century monastery, the Certosa di Pontignano provides a wonderful environment for teachers and students alike. It is now run by the University of Siena. Attractively placed on the top of a hill, it is surrounded by vineyards; with a direct view to the town of Siena, and a famous Chianti winery. We hope to have a productive school worth remembering both for its teaching content, and its surroundings.

ECM24 is over…….

Dear delegates, Dear accompanying guests, Dear sponsors and exhibitors,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee I would like to thank you for your large participation in ECM24.Â

The participation in the ECM24 was one of the largest over the last ten years. The scientific and social programs were particularly attractive to scientists from more than 50 countries. In addition, three workshops and satellite meetings and several meetings of Special Interest Groups, and round table were held before the opening of ECM24 and during the meeting. Â

ECM24 was very attractive for sponsors and exhibitors. 24 companies and organizations attended the meeting. Â

I am very grateful to the Programme Committee, the chairpersons of SIGs, the microsymposia chairpersons and the excellent speakers who have contributed to the success of ECM24.Â

The continuous support and encouragement of the ECA Executive Committee is kindly acknowledged.Â

I would like to thank the sponsors and exhibitors for their participation which was synergetic and vital to the success of this event. Â

I am very grateful to the IUCr, the ECA, the Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapon (OPCW) and the University Cadi Ayyad of Marrakech for their financial support to the young scientists and scientists from emerging countries. The invited speakers who renounced any financial assistance have made the participation of many young international researchers possible. They will find here all my thank and my respect.Â

I wish to thank my colleagues on the local organizing committee, the Congress Secretariat leaded by Prof Nouzha Bouhmaida assisted by Mrs Siham Rezzouqui, my colleagues on the Organizing and Bursary Committees for their wonderful work. The team of Events Motion, our Congress Manager, conducted by Mrs Majdouline Tazi and Mr Zoubair Amghar, are aknowledged for their hard work, the patience they have shown during the preparation of the meeting and the excellent organization of ECM24.
I hope that you have enjoyed your stay in Marrakech, found some time to visit its historical monuments, learnt about Moroccan culture and appreciated our social programme.
Finally I would like to thank the large number of participants who send us their congratulations since the closing of ECM24. The organizing Committee appreciates it very much.
See you all in Osaka next year!
And

Istanbul in August 2009Â

Abdelmalek Thalal
Chair of the ECM24

BSR2007

We are pleased to announce that 9th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation will be held in the UK in August 2007. The main event (13th to 16th August, inclusive) will take place at the Manchester International Congress Centre. This will be followed for those with special interests by a visit to DIAMOND Light Source (on 17th August) at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. The sessions at Diamond will be primarily oriented towards the instrumentation and technology.
It is an exciting time for Biological sciences and synchrotron radiation. Several new synchrotron sources would be coming on line including SOLEIL in France and DIAMOND in the UK. In the UK, in 2007, the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS Daresbury) should still be producing important biological results, DIAMOND will be commissioned in January 2007 and the prototype of the new venture of the VUV Free-electron-laser based proto-type facility of 4GLS should be completed Daresbury. The world's first X-ray coherent source, LCLS is scheduled to produce first beam in 2008 offering new challenges to the biophysics and biological communities.

The 13th International Summer School for Crystal Growth

Organized by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The 13th International Summer School on Crystal Growth will be held August 5-11, 2007 at the Park City Marriott in Park City, Utah. Following tradition, the School will be held the week prior to the 15th International Conference on Crystal Growth in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The objective of the school is to provide a comprehensive series of lectures on theoretical and experimental aspects of growth and characterization of semiconducting, oxide, metallic, organic, and biological crystals. Lectures by leading researchers will encompass crystal growth and epitaxial processes, nanocrystallization, in-situ and ex-situ characterization, properties, and applications, with a focus on fundamental discussion of the chemical and physical processes that control the assembly of atoms and molecules from the melt, solution, or vapor. A textbook based on the lectures will be given to each attendee at the School. The level of the school is intended for post-graduate and post-doctoral students as well as researchers from industry and academia who are interested in fundamental knowledge of crystal growth and epitaxy. Researchers new to crystal growth as well as experts are encouraged to attend. The format of the School is designed to encourage interaction between lecturers and attendees. Informal discussion of student research through posters is planned during extended coffee breaks. In addition, several social activities will provide ample opportunity for discussions.

You are cordially invited to attend the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association to be held, July 22 - 27, in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Honolulu, the capital city of the 50th state to be admitted to the United States, is located on the island of Ohau.  The Hawaiian islands were born of volcanoes millions of years ago and discovered by Polynesian voyagers who arrived in outrigger sailing canoes some 1,5000 years ago.  Hawaii's people are descended from Polynesians, Americans, Europeans, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Okinawans, Puerto Ricans, Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asian. No one ethnic group is in a majority here.  The Aloha Spirit Law is an actual  law "on the books" in Hawaii,  and acknowledges that The Aloha Spirit "was the working philosophy of native Hawaiians and was presented as a gift to the people of Hawaii." All citizens and government officials of Hawaii are obligated by law to conduct themselves in accordance with this law, while performing their duties and obligations, as well as in their day-to-day living.  The history of the ancient Hawaiian people is preserved through chants (mele) and dances (hula) that are still practiced today. Honoring Hawaiian heritage, making it a vital part of everyday life is The Spirit of Aloha.

International School on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography

First MaThCryst School in Latin America

The University of Havana, Cuba

15-20 July 2007
The IUCr-MaThCryst commission, in cooperation with the IUCr Commission on Crystallographic Teaching (CTC) and with the IUCr Commission on Inorganic and Mineral Structures (CIMS), has organised an International School on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography at the The school was held at the Universidad de la Habana Cuba.

Program

• 15 July, Sunday: arrival and registration
• 16 July, Monday: Group theory applied to crystallography: part I. 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). Bernd Souvignier, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
• 17 July, Tuesday: Group theory applied to crystallography: part II. Application of crystallographic group theory to concrete problems in lower dimensional space. Marjorie Senechal, Smith College Northampton U.S.A.
• 18 July, Wednesday: Twinned crystals as polychromatic objects
• Morning session:Polychromatic point groups and their mathematics Marjorie Senechal, Smith College Northampton, U.S.A.
• Afternoon session:Reticular and symmetry theory of twins Massimo Nespolo, Université Henri Poincaré Nancy I, France
• 19 July, Thursday: OD structures Stefano Merlino, Università di Pisa, Italy
• 20 July, Friday, morning session: The mathematics of Polytypes Ernesto Estévez Rams, Institute for Materials and Reagents, Cuba
• 20 July, Friday, afternoon session: Modeling modular inorganic structures Giovanni Ferraris, Università di Torino, Italy

International Program Committe

Prof. Massimo Nespolo, Chair (MaThCryst) Prof. Paola Spadon (CTC) Prof. Giovanni Ferraris (CIMS) Prof. Ernesto Estevez Rams (IMRE)

Local Organizing Committee

Prof. Ernesto Estevez Rams , Chair Dr. Arbelio Penton Madrigal , Vice-chair MSc. Cristy Azanza Ricardo Ms. Mariela Hurtado Carnero , Secretary

Electron Distribution and Chemical Bonding

Dynamics and Densities

July 1-6, 2007

Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, MA

• Chair: Carlo GattiÂ
• Vice Chair: Dylan Jayatilaka