The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), in cooperation with iThemba Labs - National Research Foundation (SA) Cape Town Campus, Stellenbosch, South Africa is organizing an Advanced School on Synchrotron Radiation Techniques and Nanotechnology: A Synergic Approach to Life Sciences and Medicine to be held in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, South Africa.Â

In the post-genomic era the emphasis has shifted from genes to proteins and to the understanding of their structure and biological function. The rapid development of nano-sciences has made available a new range of tools and approaches that have revolutionized biological and medical research, by allowing scientist to manipulate nano-particles and macromolecular objects and to monitor the behaviour of single molecules. Not only is this having a great impact on basic biological research, but its applications have become a driving and innovative force in the modern economic and industrial framework, particularly for health and biotechnology.

Topics will include:

• Macromolecular crystallography,
• Single particle electron microscopy,
• Small angle X-ray scattering,
• Computational biology,
• Nano-biophysics,
• High resolution atomic force microscopy,
• Nano-mechanics and tissue engineering.Â

The aim of the school is to introduce young researchers to the latest developments in the field of structural biology, nano-biophysics and nano-medicine and to their revolutionary impact on biotechnology, pharmacology and early diagnostics of widespread diseases. Potential applications range from low-cost diagnostic tools and therapeutics for neglected diseases (such as malaria, Dengue, AIDS) to the development of local biotechnology industry. A few practical sessions will provide the students with some hands-on experience in some of the subjects covered by the lectures.Â

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed I Oujda-er and the Moroccan Association of Crystallography (AMC) organized the 5th Moroccan School of Crystallography from 23 to 27 October 2013.
CMA organizes every two years a school on topics related to crystallography. The 1st school was held at the Faculty of Sciences of Marrakech in 2002, 2nd Faculty of Sciences El Jadida 2004, the 3rd Faculty of Sciences in Agadir 2006, the 4th at the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat in 2008 and the 24th European Meeting of crystallography ECM24 in Marrakech 2007.
This scientific event is part of the preparations for the International Year of Crystallography 2014.
The objective of this scientific event is to bring together potential users of crystallography, academics and industry to review the latest developments in this field. In addition to the fundamental aspect of crystallography, multiple applications extend the mining industry to the pharmaceutical industry through metallurgy and nuclear. This course is intended for researchers, PhD students, teachers and researchers and engineers. It will be moderated by scientists internationally renowned personalities in the form of conferences, courses and practical work. Part will be dedicated to the demonstration of new hardware and software to the latest crystallography.

This course will deal with theoretical aspects of physico-chemical knowledge of crystallization methods and crystallography, applied to crystal growth, crystal structural characterization, materials science, industrial crystallization, nanotechnology and pharmaceutical drugs. Practical aspects will include handling database tools for the crystallization and determination of molecular structures. Experience will be gained in the use of specific crystallography and pharmaceutical databases.
This kind of school (the first one in Costa Rica) is very useful for post-graduate students with intensive courses giving an overview of crystallization and polymorphism.

School aim:

The aim of this school will be to cover all aspects of the structure solution process in macromolecular crystallography, starting from data processing, through phasing and refinement to structure completion and analysis.
The workshop will cover many popular programs used for data processing and structure determination, with the developers available to help throughout the meeting. Programs covered will include: Mosflm, Scala, XDS, Refmac, ARP/wARP, Phaser, AutoSharp, Coot, SHELXC/D/E, BALBES, MrBUMP, Crank, Buccaneer and many more.

Intended audience :

The course is intended mainly for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and young scientists in the area of structural biology. Candidates working in South American countries will be prioritized, but applications are welcome from all around the globe. The school is not meant as an introductory level course to protein crystallography. It is designed more for applicants with reasonable expertise in crystallography and some experience with the CCP4 suite. The purpose of the school is to address specific problems that the applicants face while processing diffraction data and while solving and refining novel structures. Applicants with collected data or partially processed data will be given strong consideration, particularly if they are having trouble with image processing, phasing or refinement. However, these are not mandatory requirements and all applications will be considered.
Several of the leading PX software developers from around the world will present lectures and tutorials on their software, and will also be available to help with problems during hands-on sessions throughout the workshop.

Organizers

• Alejandro Buschiazzo, PhD (Unit of Protein Crystallography, IPasteur Montevideo, Uruguay)
• Ronan Keegan, PhD (Computational Science & Engineering Dept â€" CCP4 Group, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, United Kingdom)

Supported by:  Centro de Biologia Estructural del Mercosur (CeBEM, Mercosur), Collaborative Computational Project Nº4 (CCP4, UK), Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK), Reseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), and Institut Pasteur de Montevideo.

Organised by the Bulgarian Crystallographic Association, the Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography “Acad. Ivan Kostov" and the IUCr Commission on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography

International school on fundamental crystallography:

Introduction to International Tables for Crystallography,Â
Vol. A: Space-group symmetry andÂ
Vol. A1: Symmetry relations between space groups

Gulechitza, Bulgaria, 30 September - 5 October 2013

 Chair of the Organizing Committee and contact person: Dr. Rosica Nikolova (Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) [email protected]

Language

The official language of the Schools is English. No simultaneous interpretation will provided. However, local tutors will help the participants during the exercises.

Venue

The School will be held at the mountain base Guletchitza (1600 m) of  Sofia University,  in the northern slopes of Rila Mountain - Maliovitza area (~1h30min from Sofia).

International School on Fundamental Crystallography

Third MaThCryst school in Latin America

Uberlândia, Brazil, 25 November - 3 December 2012
The Commission on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography is strongly committed to promote education in all the fundamental aspects of crystallography that nowadays are overlooked in common University courses. This mission is accomplished through a series of meetings in a wide range of regions. In fall 2012 we organized a school in Brazil, in continuation of our activity in the region after the previous shools in Havana and in Montevideo.

A satellite event to the Seventh Meeting of the Argentinian Crystallography Association (AACr), the 3rd School of Crystallography, focused on X-ray and neutron diffraction in polycrystalline materials, held November 7-18, was partially supported by the IUCr. It was attended by 41 students from Argentinia, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia. This School was divided into two modules. The first module, led by Juan Rodríguez-Carvajal and Gabriel Cuello, consisted of a compact version of the well-established 'FULLPROF School' held annually at the Inst. Laue Langevin in Grenoble. The second module, led by Raúl Bolmaro, Javier Santisteban, Miguel Vicente-Álvarez, Aldo Craievich and Eduardo Granado, focused on scientific and technological applications in polycrystals, such as internal stresses and strains, texture and size effects, and synchrotron radiation techniques. The afternoons were dedicated to demonstrations and practical sessions.

IV School of the Argentina Association of CrystallographyÂ

Fundamentals and Applications of X-Ray Powder Diffraction

Objectives

• To provide students with the necessary theoretical background and knowledge the most important experimental diffraction X-ray powder including fundamental and advanced aspects.
• To introduce students to various applications of the technique and tools for data analysis required to address each case.

Mode

The mode of dictation School consist of lectures and practical classes with a total workload of 40 h. Practical classes will include the collection of experimental data and using different analysis programs with free access. The evaluation will consist of a written exam scheduled for November 10 in early morning.

Recipients

The School is particularly aimed at postgraduate students (areas of chemistry, physics, biology, geology, engineering and related) who need to use X-ray powder diffractionas a working tool.

Main topics

• Theoretical Foundations of powder diffraction
• Experimental Aspects
• Crystallographic symmetry and Index Allocation
• Databases and qualitative analysis
• Rietveld refinement
• Quantitative analysis of crystallite size and tension
• Powder diffraction with synchrotron light
• Introduction to structural determination ab initio from powder diffraction data

List of Invited speakers. (for more information, lease visit: www.imre.oc.uh.cu/cristalografia

• 1. Dr. Jasper Plaisier (ELETTRA Synchrotron, Trieste Italy)
• 2. Prof. Dr.Dr.h.c Peter Paufler ( Institut f. Strukturphysik, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany)
• 3. Dr. Eduardo Granado (National Lab. of Synchrotron Radiation, LNLS, Campinas, Brasil)
• 4. Dr. Ernesto Estevez Rams, IMRE â€" University of Havana, Cuba
• 5. Dr. Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal, Institut Laue-Langevin. Diffraction group. Grenoble, France

The 8th International School on Crystallography and X â€" Ray Diffraction will be held at the University of Havana, in November of 2011. The Commission on "Crystallographic Teaching" of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) has granted sponsorship and financial support to the Institute of Sciences and Technology of Material at the University of the Havana for November 2011. This edition will address the subject of experiments at Synchrotron Light Sources.

The school oriented to students from all over the world and especially, to those from the region where it takes place, has had as objective since the first edition to join the community of crystallographers around a common subject and to promote the postgraduate studies on this field of the sciences. The event has already been recognized as official school of one of the IUCr commissions mentioned before.Â

Increased Synchrotron Light facilities in the world has allowed the access to these facility to a growing number of researchers from different scientific fields. In our geographical region, the Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron (LNLS) in Campinas, Brazil has become an alternative to the scientific research in many countries.

The possibility of using electromagnetic radiation in a wide range of wavelengths, particularly in the range corresponding to hard and soft X - Rays, using both diffraction and absorption techniques, make this facility a very versatile tool. Â

Materials Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biotechnology, etc.. are just some examples of different scientific branches which have found in the use of synchrotron light sources the solution for many of their experimental limitations in research.

At the last users meeting held at the LNLS in early 2010, it was shown that in addition to Brazil, the countries of the region that make use of this facility is still limited to a very small number, namely, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba and Mexico. From this experience, it is necessary to focus our efforts on increasing the number of scientists in our area that can make use of these tools in their research.Â

We believe that the next school may be an adequate space for specialists in this field in order to transmit the basic operating principles and capabilities of such facilities.

Headquarter Ciudad de La Habana

San Cristóbal of Havana, founded in 1519 by the Spanish conquerors, was at the very beginnings a forgotten city of the vast Spanish empire, until its strategic location in the means of the Gulf of Mexico, made it the most important port of the New World. Their colonial architecture, considered by the UNESCO as patrimony of the humanity, shows a variety of styles from the Baroque, the rococó, the art nouveau, the art deco, until Moorish influences; but their distinctive sign is the eclecticism in which varied styles mix.
Called by one of their most famous writers, Alejo Carpentier, as the City of the columns, Havana grew from its original enclosure to become a city of two millions citizens, without losing its original beauty and its eclectic distinctive stamp. Valued by another big one of the letters, Ernest Hemingway, like one of the three more beautiful cities in the world, Havana with its malecón and their walks continues surprising with their charms.

The School and Workshop aim to celebrate the 100 years of X-Ray Diffraction and to provide a forum for exchange of knowledge in the fields of crystallography in order to get the latest developments in structure determination of biological and non-biological molecules. During this occasion, the history and developments of Crystallography in Egypt and North Africa will be reviewed. Single crystal and powder techniques will be considered using conventional Sealed Tube and non-conventional Synchrotron Radiation. Advanced applications of different techniques such as Small Angle Scattering as well as Raman and IR spectroscopy in characterizations of materials will be also covered. Hand-on computer training on the latest developed programs in the field will be also available.

The sixth BioCrys course will be focused on Macromolecular Crystallography, by developing the fundamental concepts of Crystallography and illustrate these by tutorial and practical sessions.
 This is particularly important due to the rapid development of the field and also due to the fact that many young researchers do not receive a formal education in Crystallography. Additionally, with the introduction of high-throughput methods, the need to understand and grasp the theory behind modern methods will certainly be critical to overcome the difficult problems that will arise and will not be solved by the automated procedures.
Topics of the course will run from fundamentals such as symmetry, point groups and crystal systems, basic diffraction physics, reciprocal space and the Ewalds sphere, radiation damage, data processing, symmetry in the diffraction pattern, structure factors, Patterson function to modern methodologies including molecular replacement, SAD, MAD, MIR and maximum likelihood phasing, direct methods, density modification, refinement, model building, twinning and structure validation. Main challenges on sample preparation and crystallization of proteins will also be covered.
The course will be organized with lectures in the mornings and interactive practicals and tutorials in the afternoons. Evening lectures will address two main important topics within Structural Biology, one covering studies of membrane proteins and the other the beginning of use of free electron lasers in macromolecular Crystallography.
Participants will be limited to 36, aimed primarily at people at the beginning of their crystallographic research activity as PhD students or others. Selected applicants are invited to present a poster during the course.

Why a summer school named after Professor Ke Hsin Kuo?

Professor Ke Hsin Kuo (1923 - 2006) was a prominent electron microscopist and crystallographer. He attended Zhejiang University in the early 1940's. After studying and working in Sweden for ten years, he returned to China in 1956 and introduced electron microscopy to materials science research there. His discoveries of icosahedral, octagonal and decagonal quasicrystals in 1980’s and 1990’s placed him among the most influential electron microscopists and crystallographers in the world. Professor Kuo was also instrumental to the introduction of cryo electron microscopy to China. He served as President of the Asian Society of Electron Microscopy, President of the Chinese Society of Electron Microscopy, and Member of the Commission on Electron Diffraction of the Internal Union of Crystallography. Over the years, he trained more than 120 graduate students, most of them are currently active in scientific research. This school series is a tribute to Professor Kuo as a remarkable human being, a great scientist and a loving mentor.Â

The subject of the school series will alternate between biology and materials science.

• Â First School:
• • Â Beijing Workshop of Cryo Electron Microscopy in Structural Biology
  • Â Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, July 14 - 16, 2008
• Â Second School:
• • Â In-situ Electron Microscopy of Nanomaterials
  • Â Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, July 15 - 17, 2009
• Â Third School:Â
• • Â International Workshop of 3D Molecular Imaging by Cryo Electron Microscopy
  • Â Institute of Biophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing, China,August 8-12, 2010
• Â Fourth School:
• • Â International electron microscopy Symposium on Materials
  • Â Institute of Metal,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shenyang, China,July 11-15,2011
• Â Fifth School:
• • Â International Workshop of 3D Molecular Imaging by Cryo Electron Microscopy
  • Â University of Science and Technology of China,Anhui,China,September 7-12, 2012

Applications of Precession Electron Diffraction

14th - 15th September 2012Â

Materials Science Centre, The University of Manchester  Â

Precession electron diffraction has become an important tool for electron crystallographers, with applications in conventional crystallography, texture mapping and both real and reciprocal space tomography. This satellite school to EMC 2012 will concentrate on all aspects of precession and its applications. Â

Through both lectures and practical classes this school intends to give delegates first-hand experience of using the technique.

Scope

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, biological crystals and PV devices and equipment. A textbook containing slides selected form the lectures will be available 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.

The new researcher in the field of crystal growth, as well as the advanced ones, are encouraged to attend.

Informal discussion of student research through posters is planned during the extended coffee breaks. In addition, several social activities will provide many opportunities for discussions.

17th International Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy ICCGE-17

August 11-16, 2013Â Warsaw, Poland
The 17th International Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy (ICCGE-17) will be held in Warsaw, Poland on August 11-16, 2013. The venue will be the main campus of the University of Warsaw established in 1816, which is Poland's largest and finest university. The main campus of the University consists of palatial-style buildings as well as a very modern glass-steel library, with a roof garden. This unique atmosphere will help to make the participation in the conference both comfortable and fruitful. ICCGE-17 will provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of recent research and development activities in all aspects of bulk crystal growth and epitaxial thin film growth, with sessions including fundamentals, experimental and industrial growth processes, characterization and applications. The technical programme will include both oral and poster sessions, as well as plenary and invited talks to provide a complete picture of the latest developments in the field. The official language of the conference will be English. The conference proceedings will be reviewed and published in a special volume of Journal of Crystal Growth.

Scope of the School

Crystallography is a mature scientific discipline, which has contributed, in the recent past, to the development of drugs, to the understanding of the biological activity of proteins and nucleic acids, to the comprehension of the unique properties of crystals at the nanometer scale for diagnosis and drug-delivery and to shedding light on complex hierarchical organic-inorganic composites such as bone and enamel.
The purpose of the 2012 International Insubria Summer School is to explore the multiple aspects of crystallography: the world of crystallization, the more traditional and advanced experimental andcomputational techniques and other complementary methods, which will be specifically focussed to the applications on health- and bio-sciences.
A full intensive week will be organized under the guide of internationally recognized experts in the field.

Introduction

The Electron Crystallography School â€" new methods and applications will be held at Arrhenius laboratory in Stockholm University, Sweden in June 16-20, 2012. We have invited several world-wide renounced experts in the field to give lectures covering the basics of electron crystallography as well as the frontier developments in the recent years. The topics include general crystallography, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction methods (electron diffraction tomography and precession electron diffraction) and structure solution methods using the electron data. The school also features lab sessions both on the TEM and computers to help the students get practical experiences of applications of the methods.  Students interested in learning the basics of electron crystallography and new methods recently developed are encouraged to apply. The deadline for registration is April 30, 2012. Financial support will be provided to a limited number of Ph.D. students to cover the registration fee and part of the travel expenses. The deadline for the application of financial support is March 31st, 2012.  The "International Symposium on Electron Crystallography and X-ray diffraction - from Materials Sciences to Structural Biology” will follow immediately after the Electron Crystallography School at Arrhenius laboratory in Stockholm University June 20-22, 2012. All are also welcome to join the symposium.

Invited Speakers

1. Enrico Mugnaioli, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany 2. Paul Midgley, Cambridge University, UK 3. Jan-Pieter Abrahams, Leiden University, NL 4. Holger Klein, Institut Néel, CNRS et Université J. Fourier, France 5. Lynne McCusker, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland 6. Lukas Palatinus, Institute of Physics, The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech republic 7. Xiaodong Zou, Stockholm University, Sweden 8. Peter Oleynikov, Stockholm University, Sweden 9. Sven Hovmöller, Stockholm Universtiy, Sweden 10. Junliang Sun, Stockholm Universtiy, Sweden