Shedding light on correlated electrons

To be held at Resort Hotel Schwielowsee, Werder (near Potsdam)

In research and development of solar cells, the issue of microstructure and its impact on the device performance is often regarded inadequately, mostly because of insufficient knowledge about analysis and simulation methods. Apart of the microstructural properties of completed thin films in semiconductor devices, it is also of concern how the microstructure develops during growth.The school aims at giving insight into various techniques for microstructural analysis as well as simulation methods of the growth of crystalline materials, apart from a session on electrical materials and device characterization. Each session will comprise a keynote lecture of an expert in the corresponding field, followed by a 2-3 hours hands-on tutorial, giving the participants the possibility to get deeper into the topic, with the help of a specific question to be solved in teamwork practices. Two poster sessions are also planned as evening events, which intensify the discussions and scientific exchange between experts and participants.

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Confirmed invited speakers

• Thomas Kirchartz, FZ Jülich, Germany (electrical characterization of
  solar-cell materials and devices)
• Joachim Mayer, RWTH Aachen, Germany / Ernst-Ruska Center,
  FZ Jülich, Germany (transmission electron microscopy)
• Anthony D. Rollett, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
  (electron backscatter diffraction)
• Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal, ILL Grenoble, France (Rietveld refinement of
  diffraction data)
• Ingo Steinbach, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany (Phase-field theory and application to solidification of multi-crystalline solar cell materials)
• Xiaowang Zhou, Sandia National Laboratories, U.S.A. (molecular dynamics)

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25 Years of Neutron & Synchrotron Radiation Science

This school provides training for students, postdoctoral and senior scientists from European and non-European universities and laboratories, in the field of Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation for condensed matter studies (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Geosciences, Industrial applications).

The 1-month school includes lectures (60%), hands-on practicals and tutorials at partner institutes (ESRF, ILL in Grenoble, Soleil and LLB near Paris, SLS in Switzerland) and Grenoble Laboratories (CEA, CNRS, EMBL, IBS).

The school includes a common part and two parallel sessions:
Biomolecular, soft condensed matter structure & dynamics,
Physics and chemistry of condensed matter

HERCULES is a yearly event, established in 1991.

Training school for beginners on the small-angle X-ray scattering technique. It will be held at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS).

The main idea of this training is to help and build up user community at SAXS1 and SAXS2 beamlines at LNLS. The SAXS group will offer comprehensive hands-on training in synchrotron data collection and analysis for first-time synchrotron users.

In this edition, participants will receive information about basic principles of small angle X-ray scattering and learn how to collect data on SAXS1 and SAXS2. This will help participants to strength their proposal and prepare their first experiment.

Course Description

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Lecturers

• Charles Campana, Bruker AXS Inc.
• Josh Chen, Indiana University
• Yu-Sheng Chen, The University of Chicago
• Mati Meron, The University of Chicago
• Maren Pink, Indiana University
• Amy Sarjeant, Northwestern University
• Shao-Liang Zheng, Harvard University

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The main focus of the school is on chemical and materials science. Topics to be covered will include:

• Growth and evaluation of non-macromolecular crystals
• Space group determination
• Background theory to data acquisition for small molecules and inorganics
• Practical aspects of data collection
• Practical aspects of data processing
• Fourier syntheses
• Patterson syntheses and direct methods for crystal structure determination
• Charge flipping
• Refinement of inorganic, organic and metal-organic structures
• Derivation of results
• Random and systematic errors
• Twinning
• Validation of results
• Crystallographic databases (CSD, ICSD, etc)

CoursÂ

Réseau direct, cristal, plan réticulaire B. Capelle

Symétrie, groupes Yves Garreau

Diffusion Thompson, théorie cinématique, Laüe Sylvain Ravy

Méthodes expérimentales; neutrons Alexandre Bataille - Florence Porcher

Méthodes expérimentales; rayons X Pierre Fertey

Analyse des données â€" poudres Erik Elkaïm

Analyse des données â€" monocristaux Sébastien Pillet

Surfaces â€" interfaces Alejandro Coati

Diffraction de neutrons â€" structures magnétiques Françoise Bourée

Défauts Pascale Launois

Cristallo en biologie Beatriz Guimarães

Cristaux déformés Olivier Thomas

Diffusion aux petits angles en biologie Javier Perez

Cohérence David Le Bolloc'h

Atelier "Groupes" Yves Garreau

Atelier "Facteur de structure" Delphine Cabaret

T.D. Biologie Beatriz Guimarães

T.D. Monocristaux Pierre Fertey, El-Eulmi Bendeif

T.D. Poudre Erik Elkaïm, Gwénaëlle Rousse, Françoise Thomas

Nanomaterials 2014 is divided into two chapters : the scientific school MSnows 2014 and the industrial day Trans Nano Forum (10th September).

MSnows 2014

Because the size of magnetic object could be shrink down to typical magnetic characteristic length like (domain size, domain wall thickness, exchange length ..) or typical electrical transport length like (electron mean free path, spin diffusion length ..) new spintronic properties were recently discovered. Consequently a lots of effort is focussing on the study of a single nano-object and their applications. The aim of this workshop is to gather different scientific community on this particular topic of the manipulation of spin and Magnetisation at the nanometer scale.

Trans-Nano-Forum

This international event aims at:

• Informing industrial companies about issues and opportunities of nanomaterials revolution,
• Promoting a responsible approach of their development,
• Providing networking and partnering opportunities between European companies and research stakeholders.

The full day conference includes plenary session, workshops, flash presentations, and a BtoB matchmaking session organized by Enterprise Europe Network, with a special focus on 3 main industrial sectors: Energy, Transport & Packaging. Societal issues will also be emphasized.

The 2nd MLF School is targeted at postgraduate students and early-career researchers from anywhere in the world who are interested in using neutron or muon beams in their research but who have limited or no experience with these techniques. The program will include introductory-level lectures and hands-on practical sessions on the neutron and muon instruments at the MLF.

L'Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule et l'Institut Européen des Membranes organisent une Ecole de Réflectivité des rayons-X et des neutrons à Marcoule du 1er au 3 octobre 2014.

Le programme met l'accent sur la pratique : manipulation à l'appareil et modélisation des données. Des cours théoriques complètent la formation.

Cette école s’adresse surtout à des doctorants et des jeunes chercheurs travaillant dans le domaine des surfaces et des couches minces et souhaitant utiliser la réflectivité.

The 2014 summer school will focus on providing theory and practical experience for researchers interested in improving their imaging capabilities. This school will provide background theory and practical experience from proposal writing to sample prep through data collection, reconstruction and visualization. We invite scientists who have some experience with synchrotron based imaging to apply. Participation is limited at 20 to ensure everyone is able to gain hands-on experience. Sessions will include:

• An insider’s view of the CLS peer review process with hints and tips on writing a killer proposal
• Sample preparation â€" what to consider prior to beamtime
• Computed Tomography â€" reconstruction and visualization
• Diffraction Enhanced Imaging
• K-edge Subtraction Imaging
• Phase Contrast Image Retrieval
• Introduction to and practical experience with various software packages
• Full day workshop using Paraview, a visualization software package
• Introduction to other CLS techniques and beamlines that may be useful
• Ample opportunity for socializing and networkingÂ

Confirmed speakers: L. Dean Chapman, Canada Research Chair in X-ray Imaging and Nuclear Initiative Special Advisor and Professor, Anatomy & Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan;Â David Cooper, Canada Research Chair in Synchrotron Bone Imaging and Assistant Professor, Anatomy and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan; Tomasz Wysokinski, CLS Staff Scientist, BMIT; George Belev, CLS Staff Scientist, BMIT.

SCHOOL PURPOSES AND TOPICS:

The purpose of the Synchrotron Radiation School is to introduce and demonstrate advanced analytical methodologies based on X-ray spectrometry with application in the fields of Nano-Science and Environmental monitoring. The introduction of environment-friendly energy sources and the diagnosis, monitoring and understanding of environmental problems are issues of high concern for developing countries due to the destructive impact of the growing industrialization. These problems in many cases can be tackled by novel technologies based on the development of nano-structured materials that can be fully characterized due to the remarkable properties of synchrotron radiation.

This two-week School is addressed to young motivated scientists with a Ph.D., or at least several years of research activity. It will offer a balanced program composed by lectures, tutorials and practical hands-on training sessions at different Elettra beamlines including the newly developed XRF beamline and the IAEA multipurpose endstation. The School aims to enhance the skills of participants in applying synchrotron radiation based on X-ray spectrometry techniques. It will also represent an opportunity for young researchers from developing countries to utilize in a competitive manner the access mechanisms offered by Elettra, the IAEA and the ICTP.

The following specific topics will be included:

• Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation: X-ray optics, UHV instrumentation, Advanced sample manipulator systems, trends and developments
• Theory and analytical applications of X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS) techniques
• Synchrotron Radiation based X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis Methodologies: Grazing Incidence XRF (GI-XRF), Total Reflection XRF (TR-XRF), 2D-3D Micro-XRF analysis, Quantification methodology and Monte Carlo Methods
• Tutorials on XRF/GIXRF and XAFS data analysis and on Monte Carlo Methods
• Experimental hands on sessions at Elettra XRF, TwinMic and XAFS beamlines

PARTICIPATION:

Young scientists with a PhD, or at least several years of research activity, who are from countries that are members of the UN, UNESCO or IAEA, may attend the School. The Organizers will select participants upon evaluation of the application forms. The main purpose of the Centre is to help researchers from developing countries through a programme of training activities within the framework of international cooperation, however, scientists from developed countries are also most welcome to participate. Please note that, due to organizational reasons, the total number of participants to the School is LIMITED. All candidates wishing to participate in the school are kindly invited to apply through the online application system (see link below). This applies to ICTP Associates and Affiliates too. As the School will be conducted in English, participants must have an adequate working knowledge of that language.

There is no registration fee to attend this School. As a rule, travel and subsistence expenses of the participants are borne by their home institutions. Limited funds are available for a limited number of applicants who are nationals of, and working in, developing countries, and who will be attending the entire School. As scarcity of funds allows travel to be granted only in a few exceptional cases, every effort should be made by candidates to secure support for their fare from their home country. Funds from external co-sponsors will allow limited support of a few participants from developed countries, to be selected by Organizers.

The 2014 Kuo Symposium on 3D Cryo-EM Molecular Imaging to be held July 28 - 30, 2014, in Shanghai, China. There will be a two-day workshop: The 7th K. H. Kuo Summer School of Electron Microscopy & Crystallography (July 26 - 27) immediately before the symposium. The symposium is partially sponsored by the K.H. Kuo Education Fund and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The scientific program is being arranged by an organizing committee that includes Huilin Li (SUNY Stony Brook, USA), Yifan Cheng (UCSF, USA), Yao Cong (SIBCB, China) and Yongning He (SIBCB, China).

As a background, the annual EM meeting series is named after the late Prof K.H. Kuo, a prominent electron microscopist who discovered quasi-crystals and first introduced cryo-EM to China, who also trained a generation of electron microscopists in China, including some of us organizing this symposium/summer school. The Kuo Education Fund was established by his over 100 former graduate students as a tribute to Kuo as a great scientist and a loving mentor. The subject of the school series alternates between biology and material science. The cryoEM meeting has evolved from a summer school aimed to bring modern cryoEM technology to Chinese students into an important international symposium in the field of cryoEM in Asia. It has witnessed rapid growth of cryoEM community in China as well as other Asia countries. The last (3rd) biological cryo-EM meeting was held in Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) in September 2012 and was chaired by Hong Zhou ( http://cryoem.csp.escience.cn/dct/page/1) and attended by students from mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Europe.

2014 Topics

Biomacromolecular complexes and assemblies (protein-RNA/DNA complexes, e.g., viruses, ribosomes; quaternary protein structures; DNA, proteins, polyelectrolytes). The lecturers will describe related problems and discuss approaches to solutions, e.g.:

• spectroscopies (NMR, EPR, FTIR, Raman, MS…)
• microscopies (AFM, fluorescence techniques, tweezers…)
• diffraction methods
• computational solutions, modeling and simulations

Lecturers

• Nenad Ban, ETH, Zürich, Switzerland: Protein structure & function; X-ray diffraction
  • Ribosomes and their functional complexes
  • Beyond the prokaryotic ribosome
• Jasna Brujic, NYU, New York, USA: Soft matter, statistical physics; single molecule experiments-AFM
  • Emulsions and packing
  • Single-molecule AFM studies
• Mario Cindrić, RuÄ'er BoÅ¡ković Institute
  • Mass Spectrometry for protein sequencing
• Yves Engelborghs, KU Leuven, Belgium: Fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy
  • Time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy of proteins
  • Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy : an elegant way to study molecular interactions.
• Helmut Grubmueller (COST lecturer), MPI-BPC, Göttingen, Germany: Theoretical and Computational Biophysics
  • Forces and Conformational Dynamics in Biomolecular Nanomachines 1,2
• Jané Kondev, Brandeis University, USA
  • Chromosome Folding in Cells
  • Transcriptional Regulation
• Pierre-Emmanuel Milhiet, Centre de Biochimie Structurale, Montpellier, France: High-performance AFM, membrane proteins imaging
  • Near field microscopies in structural biology
    
  • AFM imaging in the field of biological membranes
  • New developments in Bio-AFM imaging
• Lennart Nilsson, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden: Molecular modeling, nucleic acids, peptides and their interactions
• Chris Oostenbrink, UNRLF, Vienna, Austria: Structure and dynamics of biomolecules; modeling
  • Ensembles and sampling, leading to molecular dynamics simulations
  • Structure refinement using molecular dynamics simulations (NMR observables)
  • Calculation of free energies from molecular simulation
• Frances Separovic, University of Melbourne, Australia: NMR and Structural Studies of Membrane-Active Peptides
  • Solid-state NMR of membrane-active peptides
  • Membrane interactions of antimicrobial and amyloid peptides
• Ana-Sunčana Smith, RuÄ'er BoÅ¡ković Institute & Uni Erlangen-Nürnberg Germany: Membranes and vesicles, cell adhesion
  • Membranes, from self assembly to rafts 1,2,3
• Holger Stark, MPI-BPC, Göttingen, Germany: Protein structure& function; cryoEM
  • Introduction into single particle cryo-EM
  • High-resolution structure determination of macromolecular complexes by cryo-EM
• Heinz-Jürgen Steinhoff (COST lecturer), University of Osnabrück, Germany: Macromolecular Structure, EPR
  • Principles of site-directed spin labeling EPR
  • Site-directed spin labeling EPR of biomacromolecules, complexes and assemblies
• Antonio Å iber, Institute of physics, Zagreb, Croatia: Physics of viruses
  • Physics of viruses: electrostatics, elasticity and DNA condensation in viruses 1,2,3
• Iva Tolić, RuÄ'er BoÅ¡ković Institute & MPI-CBG, Dresden, Germany & RBI, Zagreb: Physics of cells, fluorescence-microscopy
  • Microtubules and motor proteins 1, 2
• Anthony Watts, Department of Biochemistry, Oxford, UK: Protein structure& function; solid state NMR
  • Principles of solid state NMR for the study of biomolecules
  • Solid state NMR for structural studies of large integral membrane proteins
  • Receptor dynamics and structure in membranes resolved using solid state NMR
• Bojan Žagrović, MFPL, Vienna, Austria: Computational Biophysics of Macromolecules
  • More dynamic than we think? On conformational averaging in structural biology 1, 2
  • Protein-RNA interactions and the origin of the genetic code

Program Committee

• Dr. Sanja Tomić RuÄ'er BoÅ¡ković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia (chair)
• Dr. Fraser MacMillan, CM1306 COST Action Chair, University of East-Anglia, UK
• Prof. Ana-Sunčana Smith Uni Erlangen-Nürnberg Germany, Germany
• Dr. Antonio Å iber Institute of Physics, Zagreb, Croatia
• Dr. Iva Tolić MPI-CBG, Dresden, Germany
• Prof. Bojan Žagrović Max F. Perutz Laboratories GmbH, Laboratory of Computational Biophysics Department of Structural and Computational Biology, Campus Vienna, Austria

• Introduction to group theory
• Crystallographic point groups
• Stereographic projection and the morphology of crystals
• Space groups
• Exercises on the space group diagrams from Volume A of the International Tables
• Fourier transforms and convolutions
• Scattering from an electron, an atom, a unit cell, a crystal
• Diffraction symmetry: Laue classes, Friedel's law, resonant scattering
• General, zonal and serial reflection conditions and their use to determine the space-group type
• Group-subgroup relations and their application to phase transitions
• Twins and modular structures
• Use of the Bilbao Crystallographic Server in the study of the structure and properties of crystals

Local UFS Website: http://conferences.ufs.ac.za/default.aspx?DCode=724 Â

In addition to BloemCrystSchool2, a Pre-Workshop is scheduled on the 23rd and 24th of August on the Introduction to Crystallography. The pre-workshop will cover the following topics and will be presented by lecturers from the University of Cape Town, University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Free State:Â

• Data collection and general introductory concepts of Crystallography (Afternoon: 13.00: Saturday 23 August).
• Refinement strategies of small molecules and hands-on session (Afternoon: 15.00: Saturday 23 August).
• Use of Cambridge Structural Database (Morning: Sunday: 24 August).
• Matrix Algebra (Afternoon: Sunday 24 August):

Introduction for BloemCrystSchool2 which starts 25 August and highly recommended for all attending BCS2)Â

Website for Pre-Workshop (23-24 Aug 2014): http://conferences.ufs.ac.za/content.aspx?id=306