Topics

Plenary Lectures

New Advances in Electron Diffraction: From Ab-initio Structure Solution to Refinement.
Lukas Palatinus (Institute of Physics of the AS CR, Prague)

Ab-initio Modeling in Crystallography
Bartolomeo Civalleri (Universita' di Torino)

Watching Matter in Motion: Time Resolved Studies from Synchrotrons to FELs
Marco Cammarata (CNRS - University of Rennes)

Electron Diffraction and Imaging of Protein and Pharmaceutical 3D Nanocrystals
Jan Pieter Abrahams (Universiteit Leiden)

Microsymposia

MS1. Advanced Theoretical and Experimental Methods in Crystallography

MS2. Investigating Structure-Property Relationships in Complex Molecular Systems by a Multi-Technique Approach

MS3. From Nature to Advanced Materials: Structure Characterization at the Nanoscale

MS4. New Topics in Crystal Growth Research

MS5. Nanostructures and Nanoscale Phenomena

MS6. Crystal Chemistry of Inorganic Compounds for the Understanding of Their Properties and Stability

MS7. Imaging Biomolecular Machines in Action through Cryo-Electron Diffraction and Cryo-Electron Microscopy

XXIII Users' Meeting.

 The ultimate aspiration of biology is to provide a comprehensive picture, over time and space, of the myriad of relationships between molecular structure, function and organization within bio-systems with increasing complexity level, ranging from single molecules to cells. Towards this aim, integrative approaches, which exploit state-of-the-art nano and sub-nano scale spatial resolution and unprecedented chemical sensitivity and selectivity, are required. The goal of this thematic workshop is to bring together biophysicists and biologists with scientists involved in the development of cutting-edge synchrotron-based and state-of-the art benchtop microscopies. The need for integrating the cluster of multidisciplinary synchrotron radiation based techniques with the newest laboratory approaches will be emphasized, focusing on their synergic interplay in the context of life-science.

Membrane Protein Expression/Purification

Free electron laser crystallography

Electron Microscopy

Simulations and ion channel function

Ion Channels

GPCRs

Pumps and ATPases

ABC Transporters

Featuring five parallel workshops representing a wide range of research interests, the Diamond Synchrotron Radiation User Meeting offers opportunities to hear about the latest in synchrotron research and technique developments, along with the chance to network with colleagues from Diamond and the synchrotron user community.

Workshops
• Current Issues in Energy Research
• MX and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)
• PDF Analysis: The Local Point of View of Materials Development
• Soft X-ray Full-field Imaging and Scanning Microscopy
• Transition Metal Oxides, Superconductivity and Interfaces

The aim of this workshop is to show, through lectures and practical courses, the Solutions for 3D reconstruction in Cryo-Electron Microscopy.

Methodology
The lectures will cover single particle analysis, cryo-tomography of isolated specimens and cryo-tomography of structures inside a vitreous cryo-section or lamella and cryo-CLEM. The practical courses will show to the participants how to do sample preparation (high pressure freezing, plunge freezing, vitreous sectioning and cryo-fibbing), image acquisition in cryo-EM single-particle and cryo-tomography and 3D-reconstruction.

La première école de cristallographie électronique organisée par la Sfmu en collaboration avec l’AFC se tiendra au laboratoire UMET de l’Université Lille 1 du 16 au 20 novembre 2015.

L'école porte sur la détermination des structures et des microstructures à l’échelle nanométrique par diffraction électronique dans un microscope électronique en transmission (MET). Elle concerne en particulier les développements récents associés à l’utilisation de nouvelles techniques d’acquisition et/ou d’analyse des données telle que la précession, la tomographie et la cartographie d'orientation. Les méthodes d'analyse de symétrie en faisceau convergent seront également présentées.

Objective
The aim of this workshop is to show, through lectures and practical courses, the solutions for 3D reconstruction in Cryo-Electron Microscopy.

Methodology
The lectures will cover single particle analysis, cryo-tomography of isolated specimens and cryo-tomography of structures inside a vitreous cryo-section or lamella and cryo-CLEM. The practical courses will show to the participants how to do sample preparation (high pressure freezing, plunge freezing, vitreous sectioning and cryo-fibbing), image acquisition in cryo-EM single-particle and cryo-tomography and 3D-reconstruction.

Breaking Barriers to Go Beyond Structure: Describing Functional States and Biological Context

Preliminary Program

• Biological Cutting Edge Methodologies Across Scales
  (Eva Nogales / David Baker / Xiaowei Zhuang)
• Image Analysis and Validation Strategies for Heterogeneous Samples
  (Helen Saibil / Nikolaus Grigorieff / John Rubinstein)
• Structure in the Cellular Context
  (Wolfgang Baumeister / Elizabeth Villa / Daniela Nicastro)
• Interpretation and Validation of Low-Medium Resolution Cryo-EM Structures
  (Hong-Wei Wang / Gabriel Lander / Carolyn Moores)
• Selected Poster Presentations: Recent Advances in Cryo-EM Technical Development
  (Edward Egelman)
• Strategies for Atomic Modeling of High-Resolution Cryo-EM Structures
  (Steve Harrison / Paul Adams / Axel Brunger / Frank Dimaio / Simon Jennings / Alan Brown)
• Improving Sample Preparation
  (Holger Stark / Bridget Carragher / Robert Glaeser / Lori Passmore)
• Development and Use of Correlative Methodologies
  (Grant Jensen / Kay Gruenewald)
• Selected Poster Presentations: Recent Advances in the Application of Cryo-EM Methodology
  (Yifan Cheng)

Conference Topics

• Electrochemistry/physics/chemistry of solid/liquid interfaces
• Metal, oxide, thin film and mineral surfaces
• Liquid/gas and solid/liquid interfaces
• Biosensors and surface functionalization
• Polymer and carbon surfaces, interfaces and devices
• Catalytic and environmental studies
• Structure and chemistry of domain interfaces and grain boundaries
• Nanomaterials and nanopatterning
• Scanning probe and high resolution electron microscopy
• Surface analysis using synchrotron techniques
• Optical spectroscopy of surfaces
• Ion beam analysis and modification
• Other relevant surface studiesÂ

This is the 23rd World Forum on Advanced Materials, also known as PolyChar 23. This conference follows a large number of PolyChar conferences that have come before it and have established a measure of excellence and a special culture of friendship and collaboration for this forum. These include recent PolyChar conferences in Rouen France, Siegen Germany, Dubrovnik Croatia, Gwangju Korea, and most recently PolyChar 22 was held in Stellenbosch South Africa in 2014. This is the first time after over ten years that conference is returning to the U.S.

PolyChar has a tradition of having a day long short course before the start of the conference. The short course is a set of lectures by experts in the field describing different aspects of interest to the participants of PolyChar. This year the short course is set for May 11, 2015, and includes the following presentations:

1. Holger Schönherr, Germany, Microscopy
2. Brett P. Fors, USA, Photochemistry in Polymer Science
3. Witold Brostow, USA, Friction, Wear and Scratch Resistance
4. Bernhard Blümich, Germany, Solid State NMR.
5. Dirk Schubert, Germany, Rheology & Processing
6. Jean-Marc Saiter, France, Glass Transition and Glass Transition Temperature
7. Jean-Michel Guenet, France, Scattering
8. Kevin Menard, USA, Dynamic Mechanical Properties
9. Sven Henning, Germany, Micromechanics

The CSSB Spring School will provide an introduction to advanced biophysical approaches for Structural Systems Biology.Â

• Courses in sample preparation and analysis, advanced microscopy, single particle analysis, structure determination at atomic resolution and modeling of structure and dynamic of complexes.
• It will allow young researchers (experienced students, PhD students and postdocs) to view challenging problems from interdisciplinary scientific topics like Infection Biology from various methodical angles. Â

The material will be presented in form of lectures, demonstrations and practical work.

ICXOM23 will bring together scientists in the fields of X-ray microanalysis and those involved in optical instrumentation developments which will extend the reach of microanalysis. Although synchrotron radiation will be at the heart of the conference, since electron microscopy offers a different view of materials, the conference also welcomes contributions of recent developments in that field.

Topics Include

• Optics for microanalysis
• Scanning microscopy
• Full-field imaging
• Coherent Imaging
• PEEM
• Electron microscopy
• Microdiffraction
• Data analysis
• Detectors

Deep Sequencing Meets Structural Biology

The scientific topics to be covered in ICSG 2015 include:

• Deep sequencing for modeling and refinement of macromolecular structures
• Membrane protein structure and function using complementary methods
• Technological advances in XFEL, Cryo-EM, NMR, SAXS, MS, MX and macromolecular complexes
• Combining low and high resolution data and modeling for structural biology
• Synergistic use of 3D structures and deep sequencing to realize personalized medicine
• Protein design and deep sequencing
• Cancer, antibiotic resistance and drug discovery

In order to widen the opportunities for younger researchers, we have organized satellite workshops before ICSG 2015 (during the day on June 7, 2015). These include:

• Cryo-EM developments for structural biology [Sponsored by FEI]
• PHENIX: Automated determination of molecular structures
• HKL3000: From X-ray diffraction images to structure determination in minutes
• Approaches to the translation of deep sequencing data into three-dimensions
• Protein expression and characterization workshop
• Proteopedia: A Scientific Wiki Bridging the Rift Between 3D Structure & Function

Five oral presentations will be chosen from the posters, and six poster prizes will be awarded, so be sure to submit your abstracts by April 15, 2015!


Invited Speakers will include:

Keynote Speakers:
Shamil Sunyaev - Harvard Medical School
Janet Thornton â€" EMBL/EBI - The FEBS National Lecturer

Speakers:
Arie Admon â€" Technion, Haifa
Lucia Banci - CERM, University of Florence
Pamela J. Bjorkman â€" CalTech, Pasadena
Samir K. Brahmachari - CSIR-Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology, Delhi
Susan Buchanan - NIDDK, NIH, Bethesda
Mark Gerstein - Yale University, New Haven
Wayne Hendrickson - Columbia University Medical Center, New York
Yvonne Jones - University of Oxford
Luhua Lai - Peking University, Beijing
Michael Levitt â€" Stanford University
Michal Linial â€" The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Abraham Minsky - Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
John Moult - IBBR, University of Maryland, Rockville
Nathan Nelson - Tel Aviv University
Stefan Raunser - MPI of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund
Monica Roth - Rutgers University, Piscataway
Dinakar M. Salunke â€" Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Gurgaon
Eran Segal - Weizmann Institute of Science
Philip Selenko - Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP Berlin)
Sachdev Sidhu - University of Toronto
Rotem Sorek - Weizmann Institute of Science
Jan Steyaert - VIB, Flanders, Brussels
Dan Tawfik - Weizmann Institute of Science
Gunnar von Heijne - Stockholm University
Soichi Wakatsuki - Stanford University
Shigeyuki Yokoyama - Genomic Sciences Center, RIKEN Yokohama Institute
Ada Yonath - Weizmann Institute of Science
Mingjie Zhang â€" Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Organised by the IOP Electron Microscopy and Analysis Group (EMAG)

The bi-annual conference series 'Microscopy of Semiconducting Materials' has a long tradition in focusing on the most recent advances in the study of the structural and electronic properties of semiconducting materials by the application of transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The latest developments in the use of other important micro-characterisation techniques including scanning probe microscopy and X-ray topography and diffraction will also be featured.

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