Report 2007-2008
1. Introduction.
SIG1 endeavours to unite and support the large and growing community of macromolecular crystallographers throughout Europe. This is currently a dynamic field with a continually high impact to science in general.
2. Past Activities.
Workshops, seminars and courses organized for the European structural biology community include:
Title: EMBO’07 – A course on Exploiting Anomalous Scattering in Macromolecular Structure Determination, EMBL, Grenoble, France, June 18-22, 2007.
Number of Participants: 40
Organizers: C. Müller-Dieckmann, G. Leonhard, D. Nurizzo, U. Ramseger, McCarthy, L. Turnbull
Sponsors: EMBO, MaxInf-2, ESRF, EMBL-Grenoble
Description: This practical course addressed young scientists who intend to apply single- and multiple-wavelength anomalous scattering (SAD & MAD) methods in macromolecular structure determination.
Title: EMBO Workshop on Integrated Approaches in Structural Enzymology – ‘The chemistry and biochemistry of catalysis by biological systems’ EMBL Hamburg, June 20 – 22, 2007.
Number of Participants: 100
Organizers: A. Schmidt, R. Wierenga, A. Mattevi, V. Lamzin, H. Oshkinat, J. Lewis.
Sponsors: EMBO
Description: The aim of this workshop was to discuss the continuously developing means for in-depth investigations of biocatalysts. Specific emphasis was given to the use of structural information from X-ray crystallography and complementary techniques for the elucidation of structure function relationships of biocatalysts.
Title: 9th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation, Manchester United Kingdom, August 13-17, 2007
Number of Participants: 300
Organizers: S Hasnain, L Johnson
Sponsors: AstraZeneca, BBSRC, British Biophysical Society, Canon Foundation, Daresbury Laboratory, Diamond, GlaxoSmithKline, Liverpool John Moores University, MRC, ProteinCrystallography.com, Manchester Metropolitan University, Marresearch, Nature, Science, Shimadzu, University of Liverpool, Wellcome trust.
Description: The meeting will address the latest advances in structural genomics, multiprotein complexes, structure based drug design, membrane proteins, metallo proteins, biological spectroscopy (CD, IR, etc), non-crystalline diffraction, XAFS, imaging, instrumentation, computational biology and radiation damage.
Title: Murnau Conference on Structural Biology of Disease Mechanisms, Murnau Germany, September 5-8, 2007
Number of Participants: 200
Organizers: D Heinz, E Conti, P Cramer, K Djinovic-Carugo, R Ficner, M Grütter, R Ladenstein, D Moras, Y Muller, M Sattler, H Stark, M Weiss, U. Wendt, R Williams, A Wittinghofer
Sponsors: Marresearch, Rigaku, Bruker, Molecular Dimensions, BASF, MicroCal, Oxford Diffraction, Jena Bioscience, Fluidigm, Sanofi Aventis
Description: The meeting focussed on the current understanding of molecular principles underlying major human diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases and diabetes from a structural point of view.
Title: HSC6 – Hercules Specialized Course on advances and new applications of Synchrotron Radiation for Structural Biology, ESRF, Grenoble, France, October 7-13, 2007
Number of Participants: 118
Organizers: S Bohic, S McSweeney, N Theyencheri
Sponsors: Marie Curie Actions, Universite Joseph Fourier, INP Grenoble, ESRF, ILL
Description: HSC6 allowed scientists interested in structure in biology to gain experience in state of the art synchrotron techniques.
Title: 10 th Heart of Europe Meeting on Bio-Crystallography, Bedlewo, Poland, Sept 27-29, 2007.
Number of Participants: 118
Organizers: Mariusz Jaskolski
Sponsors: ECA, IUCr, Marresearch, Bruker, Art Robbins Instruments, Oxford Diffraction, Sigma-Aldrich, Rigaku, Jena Bioscience, Polska, Siec Biologii Komorkowej i Molekularnej, HKL Research, Kompania Piwowarska
Description:
This meeting provides a platform for the discussion of macromolecular crystallography in Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Earstern Germany.
Title: 20th Annual User Meeting and the workshop Science at MAX IV, Lund, Sweden, October 30 – November 2, 2007.
Number of Participants: 15
Organizers: Derek Logan, Marjolein Thunnissen, Thomas Ursby
Sponsors: Marresearch, Novo Nordisk AstraZeneca MAX-lab.
Description: “#000000”>The course is aimed at PhD students and postdocs from Scandinavia and northern Europe with limited experience of MAD and SAD methods but with basic knowledge of crystallography (i.e. this is not a full macromolecular crystallography course).
Title: Training in methods for Macromolecular Crystallography, M2M-7: From Measurement to Model, EMBL Hamburg Outstation, Germany, November 21 – 28, 2007.
Participants: 20
Organizers: V. Lamzin, S. Panjikar, P.A. Tucker, M. Weiss.
Sponsors: MaxInf2, Marresearch, AstraZeneca,
Description: The course included beamline practicals, computational tutorials and/or lectures on beamline hardware, crystal handling, data collection and processing, model validation, phasing and phase improvement, model building and refinement.
Title: 6 th NCCR practical course on biomolecular modelling, Kandersteg, Switzerland, January 6 – 11, 2008.
Participants: 20
Organizers: WF. van Gunsteren
Sponsors: lenovo
Description: The 6th NCCR Practical Course covered key topics in the area of computational structural biology. The course format included morning lectures by experts in the field that alternated with later afternoon to evening tutorials and discussions.
Title: 5 th International Workshop on X-ray Damage to Biological Crystalline Samples, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland March 3-5, 2008.
Number of Participants: 50
Organizers: Clemens Schulze-Briese, Elspeth Garman, Colin Nave, Sean McSweeney, Raimond Ravelli, Gerd Rosenbaum and Soichi Wakatsuki
Sponsors: MAXINF2, Bioxhit, Dectris, I3 IA-SFS, Paul Scherrer Institute
Description: This series of workshops was originally concerned with the effects of radiation damage during investigation of protein structures by X-ray crystallography. Other techniques of structural biology are now being included to ensure greater information exchange.
Title: Symposium “Synchrotrons and Lasers for Structural Systems Biology” and BIOXHIT 4th annual meeting, EMBL, Hamburg, Germany, April 16, 2008.
Organizers: G. Bricogne, K. Henrick, V. Lamzin, S. Larsen, S. McSweeney, C. Nave, A. Perrakis, M. Weiss.
Sponsors: DESY, EMBL, EU, BioXhit
Description: The topics covered crystallisation technology, synchrotron beamlines, beamline endstations and data collection, data processing and structure determination, databases and networking, training, implementation and dissemination.
3. Future/Programmed Activities.
Various workshops and meetings are currently being organized inter alia by members of SIG1.
4. Other matters:
The annual meeting of SIG1 took place at the ECM24 in Marrakech, Morocco. Because the previous Chair of SIG1, Prof. Maria Arménia Carrodo was unable to continue in this position due to other commitments this position had to be re-filled. Prof. Keith Wilson was elected as the new Chair for the next three years. The next meeting of SIG1 will be at the ECM25 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey, where the positions of SIG1 vice-chair and secretary will come up for election.
5. Five year ‘overview’, brief activity report (2004-2008)
The main activity of SIG1 involves the organization of the microsymposia and keynote speakers for the individual European crystallographic meetings. The aim is to offer a wide variety of topics to structural biologists with a view to increasing the attendance of our current and potential members at the annual meetings.
In addition individual members participate in organizing workshops and conferences of interest to European structural biologists.
6. Estimated number of active members:
SIG1 currently has 65 registered members, while annual meetings are normally attended by 20 to 30 individuals. As there is no assignment of registered ECA members to any SIG, SIG1 conversely does not check that SIG1 members are actually ECA members. The current overlap is unknown.
7. List SIG officers, name and e-mail, and specify their main function in the SIG:
SIG1 Committee:
Chair: Keith Wilson, York, United Kingdom (ku.ca1732363955.kroy1732363955.lbsy1732363955@htie1732363955k1732363955 )
Vice-Chair: Matthias Bochtler, Warsaw, Poland (lp.vo1732363955g.bcm1732363955ii@re1732363955lthco1732363955bm1732363955 )
Secretary: Wolf-Dieter Schubert, Braunschweig, Germany (ed.iz1732363955h-ztl1732363955ohmle1732363955h@sdw1732363955 )
Further members:
Mariusz Jaskolski, Posnan, Poland (lp.ud1732363955e.uma1732363955@jzsu1732363955iram1732363955 )
Victor Lamzin, Hamburg, Germany (ed.gr1732363955ubmah1732363955-lbme1732363955@rotc1732363955iv1732363955 )
Anette Hendriksen, Valby, Denmark (kd.cr1732363955c@ett1732363955ena1732363955 )
Naomi Chayen, London, United Kingdom (ku.ca1732363955.lair1732363955epmi@1732363955neyah1732363955c.n1732363955 )
Manfred Weiss, Hamburg, Germany (ed.gr1732363955ubmah1732363955-lbme1732363955@ssie1732363955wsm1732363955 )
Anders Liljas, Lund, Sweden (es.ul1732363955.syfb1732363955m@saj1732363955liL.s1732363955rednA1732363955 )
Frank von Delft, Oxford, United Kingdom (ku.ca1732363955.xo.c1732363955gs@tf1732363955ledno1732363955v.kna1732363955rf1732363955 )
Maria Arménia Carrondo, Oeiras, Portugal (tp.ln1732363955u.bqt1732363955i@odn1732363955orrac1732363955 )
Supplementary Materials.
None
Report 2006-2007
1. Introduction.
SIG1 endeavours to unite and support the large and growing community of macromolecular crystallographers throughout Europe. This is currently a dynamic field with a continually high impact to science in general. Some meetings/workshops organized by members of SIG1 include:
2. Past Activities.
Title: 8th International School on the Crystallography of Biological Macromolecules, Como, Italy, May 21-25, 2006.
Number of Participants: 202
Organizers: Anastassis Perrakis, Andrea Carfi, Stefania Di Marco
Sponsors: MAXINF2, Merck, Jena BioScience, Hamilton, Molecular Dimensions, Tecan, BIOXHIT, fluidigm, accelrys, Qiagen.
Description: The school focuses on the application of X-ray crystallographic methods to the study of biological macromolecules, with emphasis on the latest developments. The programme includes lectures on protein expression and purification, crystallization, data collection and processing, synchrotron sources, phasing, phase improvement, model building, refinement and analysis of structural data.
Title: Workshop on Experimental Phasing of Macromolecules, Göttingen, Germany, Sept 7-14, 2006.
Number of Participants: 30
Organizers: George Sheldrick, Tim Grüne
Sponsors: MAXINF2.
Description:
This workshop continues the tradition of SHELX workshops in Göttingen with the emphasis this time on solving macromolecular structures by MAD, SAD, SIRAS, RIP and ab initio methods.
Title: 9. Heart of Europe Meeting on Bio-Crystallography, Teistungenburg, Germany, Sept 25-27, 2006.
Number of Participants: 120
Organizers: R. Ficner, O. Einsle
Sponsors: Oxford Diffraction, Fluidigm, GE Healthcare, Qiagen, Sarstedt, Marresearch, Rigaku, Greiner bio-one, Sartorius
Description:
This meeting provides a platform for the discussion of macromolecular crystallography in Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Eastern Germany.
Title: BioCrys2006: Fundamentals of Modern Methods in Biocrystallography, Oeiras, Portugal, October 6-13, 2006.
Number of Participants: 36 students and 19 tutors
Organizers: Maria Arménia Carrondo, Thomas Schneider
Sponsors: EMBO, MAXINF2, FEBS, IUCr, BIOXHIT, Municipality of Oeiras, British Council Qiagen, Fundacao Luso-Americana, CCDC, Corning
Description: The course focused on Macromolecular Crystallography, by developing the fundamental concepts of Crystallography and illustrate these by tutorial and practical sessions.
Title: HSC2: Structural Genomics, Grenoble, France, October 6-13, 2006.
Number of Participants: 20
Organizers: H BELRHALI, D HALL, E MITCHELL, M WALSH
Sponsors: Marie Curie Actions, Universite Joseph Fourier, INP Grenoble, ESRF, ILL, EU, Medical Research Council.
Description: High throughput techniques for protein expression, purification and nano-scale crystallisation have emerged and concurrently with this, more and smaller crystals are increasingly brought to the synchrotron..
Title: CCP4 Study Weekend, Reading, United Kingdom, January 4-6, 2006.
Number of Participants: ~300
Organizers: R.Read, P.Evans, A.Leslie, V.Lamzin, G.Langer, E.Dodson
Sponsors: CCP4, CCLRC, BBSRC
Description: Introduction to CCP4 software package with special emphasis on recently added/updated software.
Title: CCP4/MaxInf Workshop, York, United Kingdom, April 10-15, 2007.
Number of Participants: 30
Organizers: R.Read, P.Evans, A.Leslie, V.Lamzin, G.Langer, E.Dodson
Sponsors: CCP4
Description: Introduction to CCP4 software package with special emphasis on recently added/updated software.
Title: Biophysics of ligand binding to drug targets, Illkirch, France, May 14-15, 2007.
Number of Participants: 30
Organizers: A. Podjarny, D Altschuh, P Barth, A Dejaegere, P Dumas
Sponsors: Rigaku, Region Alsace, MicroCal, Chemical Computing Group
Description: Combining biophysical approaches to detect, measure and model the ligands binding to drug targets.
Title: SBNET – Swedish Structural Biology Net Meeting, Tällberg, Sweden, June 15-18, 2007.
Number of Participants: 175
Organizers: J Weigelt, P Nordlund, G Schneider
Sponsors: MicroCal, Evitra, SGC, AstraZeneca, SBNET, Karolinska Institutet, Bruker.
Description: Structural Biology in Sweden.
3. Future/Programmed Activities.
Title: 9th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation, Manchester United Kingdom, August 13-17, 2007
Organizers: S Hasnain, L Johnson
Sponsors: AstraZeneca, BBSRC, British Biophysical Society, Canon Foundation, Daresbury Laboratory, Diamond, GlaxoSmithKline, Liverpool John Moores University, MRC, ProteinCrystallography.com, Manchester Metropolitan University, Marresearch, Nature, Science, Shimadzu, University of Liverpool, Wellcome trust.
Description: The meeting will address the latest advances in structural genomics, multiprotein complexes, structure based drug design, membrane proteins, metallo proteins, biological spectroscopy (CD, IR, etc), non-crystalline diffraction, XAFS, imaging, instrumentation, computational biology and radiation damage.
Title: Murnau Conference on Structural Biology of Disease Mechanisms, Murnau Germany, September 5-8, 2007
Organizers: D Heinz, E Conti, P Cramer, K Djinovic-Carugo, R Ficner, M Gruetter, R Ladenstein, D Moras, Y Muller, M Sattler, H Stark, M Weiss, U. Wendt, R Williams, A Wittinghofer
Sponsors: Marresearch, Rigaku, Bruker, Molecular Dimensions, BASF, MicroCal, Oxford Diffraction, Jena Bioscience, Fluidigm, Sanofi Aventis
Description: The meeting will focus on the current understanding of molecular principles underlying major human diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases and diabetes from a structural point of view.
Title: S-SAD diffraction data phasing of macromolecule single crystals from home and Synchrotron X-ray sources”
Organizers: Maria Arménia Carrondo, Pedro Matias, Daniele de Sanctis
Sponsors: BIOXHIT
Description: Teach state of the art methods and protocols in the collection, processing, scaling
and phasing of S-SAD diffraction data from crystals of macromolecules aimed at obtaining the best possible interpretable map prior to model building.
Title: 4th International PhD Student Symposium, Göttingen Germany, Sept. 12-15, 2007.
Organizers: H Al-Hashimi, N Ban, R Beckmann, K Gardner
Sponsors: Merck, Miltenyi Biotec, Ewald Innovationsbiologie, Fermentas, Sarstedt.
Description: HSC6 will allow scientists interested in structure in biology to gain experience in state of the art synchrotron techniques.
Title: HSC6 – Hercules Specialized Course on advances and new applications of Synchrotron Radiation for Structural Biology, ESRF, Grenoble, France, October 7-13, 2007
Organizers: S Bohic, S McSweeney, N Theyencheri
Sponsors: Marie Curie Actions, Universite Joseph Fourier, INP Grenoble, ESRF, ILL
Description: HSC6 will allow scientists interested in structure in biology to gain experience in state of the art synchrotron techniques.
Title: 6TH NCCR Practical course on biomolecular modelling, Kandersteg, Switzerland, January 6 – 11, 2008.
Organizers: WF. van Gunsteren
Sponsors:
Description: This course is directed to PhD students and postdocs from experimental structural biology groups wishing to learn more on biomolecular modelling.
4. Other matters:
Due to other commitments, Prof. Maria Arménia Corrondo, the current Chairperson of SIG1, has decided to step down from this position as of September 2007. SIG1 will therefore elect a new chair at its annual meeting on August 26, 2007 during the ECM24 in Marrakech, Morocco.
Supplementary Materials.
None
Chair: Maria Arménia Carrondo, Lisbon, Portugal,
Vice-Chair: Matthias Bochtler, Warsaw, Poland / Cardiff, United Kingdom
Secretary: Wolf-Dieter Schubert, Braunschweig, Germany
Further members:
Mariusz Jaskolski, Posnan, Poland
Victor Lamzin, Hamburg, Germany
Anette Hendriksen, Valby, Denmark
Naomi Chayen, London, United Kingdom
Manfred Weiss, Hamburg, Germany
Report 2005-2006
(1) Current Executive Committee
The current members of the Executive Committee are:
Chairperson: Anders Liljas (Molecular Biophysics, Lund University, Box 124, Getingevaegen 60, 221 00 Lund, Sweden, es.ul1732363955.syfb1732363955m@saj1732363955lil.s1732363955redna1732363955 )
Vice-Chairperson: Michael Kokkinidis (rg.ht1732363955rof.b1732363955bmi.11732363955latsy1732363955rc@di1732363955nikko1732363955k1732363955 )
Secretary: Wolf-Dieter Schubert (ed.fb1732363955g@tre1732363955buhcs1732363955.rete1732363955id.fl1732363955ow1732363955 )
Ordinary Members:
Victor Lamzin (ed.gr1732363955ubmah1732363955-lbme1732363955@rotc1732363955iv1732363955 )
Sine Larsen (kd.uk1732363955.ik.s1732363955cc@en1732363955is1732363955 )
Mariusz Jaskolski (lp.ud1732363955e.uma1732363955.lats1732363955yrk@z1732363955suira1732363955m1732363955 )
Naomi Chayen (ku.ca1732363955.lair1732363955epmi@1732363955neyah1732363955c.n1732363955 )
The term of Anders Liljas (chair) and Michael Kokkinidis (Vice-chair) will end August 8, 2006 (see below).
(2) Preparations for the next ECM
SIG1 sees its major responsibility in organizing up-to-the-minute micro-symposia for the ECA annual meetings. It has actively supported the organizers of the ECM 23 in Leuven as regards the biological microsymposia. Members of the SIG are involved as chairs or co-chairs with the meeting in Leuven.
(3) Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of SIG1 generally coincides with the ECM or IUCr meetings. This yearfs meeting will take place during the lunch-time break on August 8 at the ECM in Leuven. Lunch will be provided – kindly sponsored by Molecular Dimensions.
The term of office (3 years) of the chair, Anders Liljas and the vice chair, Michael Kokkinidis will end as of this day. Anders Liljas has decided not to stand again, while Michael would be happy to continue as vice-chair. SIG1 will therefore need to fill both positions during its annual meeting.
(4) Workshops and Meeting
Several workshops and meetings have been organized by the European macromolecular community. As an important source of funding for these activities, MAXINF2 started on December 1, 2004 (www.ccp4.ac.uk/maxinf/) and the European Structural Biology Forum, ESBF, (www.imb-jena.de/ESBF).
- Murnau conference on Structural Biology. September 15–17, 2005, Murnau (Germany).
- 1st ESF and MAXINF2 Course on Membrane Proteins, Oeiras, (Portugal) September 19-26, 2005.
- 8th Heart of Europe Bio-Crystallography Meeting, Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) September 29 – October 1, 2005.
- M2M-05: From Measurement to Model, Hamburg, (Germany) November 9, 2005.
- Molecular Modelling for Macromolecular Crystallographers (MM4MX), Diamond Light Source, Oxfordshire (United Kingdom) October 25-, 2005)
- Winter school on Soft X-rays in Macromolecular Crystallography, Seefeld (Austria), March 22-25, 2006. Funded by MaxInf2
- Workshop on phasing/refinement, Barcelona (Spain) March 2-5, 2006. Funded by MaxInf2
- 8th International School on the Crystallography of Biological Macromolecules, Como (Italy) May 21-25, 2006, Funded by MaxInf2.
(4) Plans for 2006/07
Planned Workshops/Meetings include:
- SHELX MAXINF Workshop on experimental phasing of Macromolecules, Göttingen (Germany) September 7-14, 2006.
- 5th International NCCR Symposium on new trends in structural biology, Zurich (Switzerland) September 15-16, 2006
- The First African Structural Biology Conference, The Wilderness (South Africa), October 24-27, 2006.
- 9th Heart of Europe Crystallography Meeting, Göttingen (Germany) September
(5) Other Topics
none
Report 2004-2005
(1) Current Executive Committee
In a meeting held at ECM22 in Budapest, Thomas Schneider resigned from the Secretary position. Wolf-Dieter Schubert (German Research Center for Biotechnology, Braunschweig, Germany) was elected Secretary for the next three years.
Current members of the Executive Committee are:
Chairman: Anders Liljas (es.ul1732363955.syfb1732363955m@saj1732363955lil.s1732363955redna1732363955 ),
Vice-Chairman: Michael Kokkinidis (rg.ht1732363955rof.b1732363955bmi.11732363955latsy1732363955rc@di1732363955nikko1732363955k1732363955 ),
Secretary: Wolf-Dieter Schubert (ed.fb1732363955g@tre1732363955buhcs1732363955.rete1732363955id.fl1732363955ow1732363955 ),
Ordinary Members: Victor Lamzin (ed.gr1732363955ubmah1732363955-lbme1732363955@rotc1732363955iv1732363955 ),
Sine Larsen (kd.uk1732363955.ik.s1732363955cc@en1732363955is1732363955 ), and
Mariusz Jaskolski (lp.ud1732363955e.uma1732363955.lats1732363955yrk@z1732363955suira1732363955m1732363955 ).
(2) Preparations for the next ECM
The major responsibility of this SIG is to organise up-to-the-minute micro-symposia for the ECA annual meetings. Because there is an IUCr meeting in 2005, and hence no ECM, there has been no need for us to actively organise a program. However, many members of the SIG have contributed as chairs or co-chairs to the Florence IUCr meeting.
(3) Workshops and Meetings
Several workshops and meetings have been organized by the European macromolecular community. As an important source of funding for these activities, MAXINF2 started on December 1, 2004. The main sources of funding in the reporting period were MAX-INF and MAX-INF2 (www.ccp4.ac.uk/maxinf/) and the European Structural Biology Forum, ESBF, (www.imb-jena.de/ESBF).
- Workshop eFrontiers and Challenges in Structural Biologyf, Hamburg, Germany, September 15-18, 2004. Organized by M. Bolognesi (Genova), S. Cusack (Grenoble), V. Lamzin (Hamburg), J. Sussman (Rehovot), E. Weckert (Hamburg), M. Wilmanns (Hamburg). Supported by EMBO, ESBF, SPINE, BIOXHIT.
- Workshop eStructural Proteomicsf, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany, October 16-19, 2004. Organized by Eileen Furlong (EMBL, Heidelberg) and Naama Barkai (Rehovot). Supported by ESBF, EMBO/EMBL.
- Workshop eMolecular structure and dynamics by NMR and diffraction studiesf, Frankfurt University, Germany, November 12-14, 2004. Organized by the Magnetic Resonance Centre of Frankfurt University. Funded by ESBF
- Course eFundamentals of modern methods in biocrystallographyf, BioCrys2004, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Oeiras, Portugal, November 19-26, 2004. Organized by Maria Armenia Carrondo (ITQB Oeiras, Portugal) and Thomas R. Schneider (FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology). Funded by MAX-INF.
- Workshop on eEvolving methods in macromolecular crystallographyf, Erice, Italy, May 12-22, 2005. Organized by Randy J. Read (Cambridge) and Joel Sussman (Rehovot). Supported by IUCr, EU.
- Practical course in eExploiting anomalous scattering in macromolecular structure determination, ESRF & EMBL Outstation, Grenoble, France, June 15-21, 2005, Organized by W. Shephard, D. Nurizzo, U. Ramseger (ESRF), H. Berhali (EMBL), J.-L. Ferrer (CEA), A. Labrador (CELLS), M. Walsh (MRC). Funded by MAX-INF2 and EMBO.
(4) Plans for 2005/06
Planned European Workshops and Meetings include:
- Course eMembrane Proteins – the rocky road from gene to structuref, at Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Oeiras, Portugal. September 19-24, 2005. Organized by Margarida Archer and So Iwata. Supported by ESF, IUCr and MAX-INF.
- Murnau Conference on eStructural Biology of Molecular Recognitionf, Murnau, Germany, September 15-17, 2005, Organized by Dirk W. Heinz (Braunschweig), Ulrich Wendt (Frankfurt), Manfred Weiss (Hamburg).
- Workshop on eStructure and Function of Large Molecular Assembliesf, Erice, Italy, June 9-18, 2006. Organized by M. Rossmann (West Lafayette) and V.V. Mesyanzhinov (Moscow)
(5) Other Topics
We would like to ask all members of the MCSIG to check that they have actually paid their ECA membership dues. The ECA needs the small income from this source to remain operational.
Report 2003-2004
(1) Current Executive Committee
Chairman: Anders Liljas (Molecular Biophysics, Lund University, Box 124, visiting address: Getingevaegen 60, 221 00 Lund, Sweden, es.ul1732363955.syfb1732363955m@saj1732363955lil.s1732363955redna1732363955 )
Vice-Chairman: Michael Kokkinidis (rg.ht1732363955rof.b1732363955bmi.11732363955latsy1732363955rc@di1732363955nikko1732363955k1732363955 )
Secretary: Thomas R. Schneider (ti.cr1732363955if-mo1732363955fi@re1732363955dienh1732363955cs1732363955 )
Ordinary Members: Victor Lamzin (ed.gr1732363955ubmah1732363955-lbme1732363955@rotc1732363955iv1732363955 )
Sine Larsen (kd.uk1732363955.ik.s1732363955cc@en1732363955is1732363955 )
and Mariusz Jaskolski (lp.ud1732363955e.uma1732363955.lats1732363955yrk@z1732363955suira1732363955m1732363955 ).
(2) Preparations for ECM-22 in Budapest (www.ecm22.mtesz.hu)
Suggestions for topics for the ECM22 were collected during the meeting of the MC-SIG at ECM21 Durban. Subsequently, the MC-SIG has been heavily involved in the definition of the programme of ECM22 in Budapest. With important help from Vilmos Fulop and in close collaboration with the Programme Committee, eight Microsymposia and two Plenary lectures were organized.
(3) Workshops and Meeting
Several workshops and meetings have been organized by the European macromolecular community. The main sources of funding were MAX-INF (www.ccp4.ac.uk/maxinf/) and the European Structural Biology Forum, ESBF, (www.imb-jena.de/ESBF).
- Aminoff symposium in connection with the Aminoff prize to Axel Br?nger, Stanford, and Alwyn, Jones, Uppsala. Royal Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden. September 11-12, 2003. Organized by Anders Liljas (University of Lund). Funded by the Royal Academy
- SHELX Workshop. University of G?ttingen (Germany). Sep 18-23, 2003. Organized by George M. Sheldrick and Thomas R. Schneider (both University of G?ttingen). Funded by MAX-INF.
- Training in methods for Macromolecular Crystallography. EMBL, Hamburg (Germany). November 6-13, 2003. Organized by Victor S. Lamzin, Alexander N. Popov, Paul A. Tucker (all EMBL Hamburg). Funded by EMBO and MAX-INF
- Workshop on ‘Validation of Macromolecular Structures and Structure Determination Steps’ at ELLETRA (Trieste, Italy). December 1, 2003. Organized by Kristina Djinovic. Funded by ESBF.
- CCP4 Study Weekend on Model Building and Refinement at The University of Leeds (U.K.). January 4-5, 2003. Organized by Martin Noble (University of Oxford) and Anastassis Perrakis (NKI, The Netherlands). Funded by CCP4 and MAX-INF.
- 2nd MAX-INF Integration workshop. March 5-6, 2004. Lund University, Sweden. Organized by Marjolein Thunnissen, Lund. Funded by MAX-INF.
- MAX-INF Workshop on phasing and refinement at CESCA IBMB Barcelona (Spain). March 18-23, 2004. Organized by Isabel Us?n (IBMB Barcelon) and Garib Murshudov (York University, U.K.). Funded by MAX-INF.
- High Resolution Drug Design Meeting in Bischenberg (France). May 13-16, 2004. Organized by Alberto Podjarny (IGMBC, CNRS, Illkirch, France). Funded by MAX-INF.
- Practical course on automated structure solution at NKI (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). May 25 – June 1, 2004. Organized by Anastassis Perrakis (NKI, The Netherlands). Funded by EMBO
- A day on high throughput methods for structural biology at the Tropeninstitut Amsterdam (The Netherlands). June 2, 2004. Organized by David Egan and Anastassis Perrakis (NKI, The Netherlands).
(4) Plans for 2004/05
Planned Workshops include:
- Conference ‘Structural Biology at Crossroads’ at EMBL Hamburg, Germany. 15-18 September 2004. Funded by EMBO, SPINE, BIOXHIT, ESBF.
- Workshop on ‘Comparison of Structural Information from NMR spectroscopy and crystallography’ at Frankfurt University, 12-14 November, 2004. Organized by Heinz Rueterjans. Funded by ESBF.
- Course on “Fundamentals of modern methods in biocrystallography” at Instituto de Tecnologia Qu?mica e Biológica, Oeiras, Portugal. 19-26 November 2004. Organized by Maria Armenia Carrondo (ITQB Oeiras, Portugal) and Thomas R. Schneider (IFOM, Milano, ITaly). Funded by MAX-INF, SPINE, and IUCr.
(5) Other Topics
We would like to ask all members of the MCSIG to check that they have actually paid their ECA membership dues. The ECA needs the small income from this source to remain operational. To register, go to: http://www.ecanews.org -> Membership/Registration, to pay, go to: http://www.xray.cz/eca/invoice.htm.
SIG #1 Report 2002-2003
July 2003
From: Thomas R. Schneider, MCSIG Secretary
(1) Elections for the Executive Committee
In a meeting held at the IUCr-XIX in Geneva, Keith Wilson resigned from the Chairman office. Anders Liljas (Molecular Biophysics, Lund University, Box 124, Getingevaegen 60, 221 00 Lund, Sweden, es.ul1732363955.syfb1732363955m@saj1732363955lil.s1732363955redna1732363955 ) was elected Chairman for the next two years by open discussion. The other current members of the Executive Committee are: Vice-Chairman: Michael Kokkinidis (rg.ht1732363955rof.b1732363955bmi.11732363955latsy1732363955rc@di1732363955nikko1732363955k1732363955 ), Secretary: Thomas R. Schneider (ed.gd1732363955wg.ca1732363955-inu.1732363955xlehs1732363955@srt1732363955 ), Ordinary Members: Victor Lamzin (ed.gr1732363955ubmah1732363955-lbme1732363955@rotc1732363955iv1732363955 ), Sine Larsen (kd.uk1732363955.ik.s1732363955cc@en1732363955is1732363955 ), and Mariusz Jaskolski (lp.ud1732363955e.uma1732363955.lats1732363955yrk@z1732363955suira1732363955m1732363955 ).
(2) Preparations for ECM-21 in Durban (www.ecm21-africa.co.za)
The MC-SIG has been heavily involved in the definition of the programme of ECM21 in Durban. In close collaboration with the Programme Committee, ten Microsymposia and two Plenary lectures were organized.
(3) Workshops and Meeting
Several workshops and meetings have been organized by the European macromolecular community. The main sources of funding were MAX-INF (www.ccp4.ac.uk/maxinf/) and the European Structural Biology Forum, ESBF, (www.imb-jena.de/ESBF).
- Integration Workshop at PSI Villigen (Switzerland). August 16-17, 2003. Organized by Clemens Schulze-Briese (PSI, Switzerland). Funded by MAX-INF.
- ISGO Workshop “Automation of X-ray Structure Determination for Structural Genomics” at BESSY II, Berlin (Germany). October 8-9, 2002. Organized by Victor Lamzin (EMBL-Hamburg, Germany), Uwe Mueller (BESSY, Germany), Tom Terwilliger (Los Alamos, USA). Funded by MAX-INF.
- Data Collection Course at MRC Cambridge (U.K.). December 2-6, 2002. Organized by Phil Evans and Andrew Leslie (both MRC Cambridge, U.K.). Funded by MAX-INF.
- Course on “Fundamentals of modern methods in biocrystallography”, BioCrys2002. at Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Oeiras, Portugal. 10-19 October 2002. Organized by Maria Armenia Carrondo (ITQB Oeiras, Portugal) and Thomas R. Schneider (University of G?tingen, Germany). Funded by MAX-INF and the the EU Human Potential High-Level Scientific Conference Programme.
- CCP4 Study Weekend on Experimental Phasing at York University (U.K.). January 3-4, 2003. Organized by Neil McDonald (Cancer Research, UK), Airlie McCoy (Cambridge, UK). Funded by CCP4 and MAX-INF.
- Winter workshop on phasing with soft X-rays in Bressanone (Italy). February 25-27, 2003. Organized by Kristina Djinovic Carugo (ELLETRA, Italy). Funded by ESBF.
- Seventh International School on the Crystallography of Biological Macromolecules in Como (Italy), May 10-14, 2003. Organized by Keith Wilson (York University, U.K.) and Kristina Djinovic Carugo (ELLETRA, Italy). Funded by MAX-INF.
- Workshop on “Current trends in structure-aided drug design” in Lund (Sweden). May 22-24, 2003. Organized by Salam Al-Karadaghi (Lund University, Sweden). Funded by ESBF and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
- EMBO course on Structure Determination using 3 rd Generation Synchrotrons at ESRF Grenoble (France). June 17-25, 2003. Organized by Raimond Ravelli (ESRF, France). Funded by EMBO and MAX-INF.
(4) Plans for 2003
Planned Workshops in 2003
- SHELX Workshop. University of G?tingen (Germany). Sep 18-23, 2003. Organized by George M. Sheldrick and Thomas R. Schneider (both University of G?tingen). Funded by MAX-INF.
- Training in methods for Macromolecular Crystallography. EMBL, Hamburg (Germany). November 6-13, 2003. Organized by Victor S. Lamzin, Alexander N. Popov, Paul A. Tucker (all EMBL Hamburg). Funded by EMBO and MAX-INF
- Aminoff symposium in connection with the Aminoff prize to Axel Br?nger, Stanford, and Alwyn, Jones, Uppsala. Royal Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden. September 11-12, 2003. Organized by Anders Liljas (University of Lund). Funded by the Royal Academy.
5) Future Funding
As the MAX-INF grant has been extremely useful for supporting the workshop activities, a follow-up project (MAX-INF2) is coordinated by Marjolein Thunissen (University of Lund, Sweden). The grant application was submitted to the European Union in April 2003.
(6) Other Topics
We would like to ask all members of the MCSIG to check that they have actually paid their ECA membership dues. The ECA needs the small income from this source to remain operational. To register, go to: http://www.ecanews.org -> Membership/Registration, to pay, go to: http://www.xray.cz/eca/invoice.htm.
SIG #1 Report 2001-2002
July 2002
From : Thomas R. Schneider, MCSIG Secretary
Keith S. Wilson, MCSIG President
At the Krakow meeting, the following officers were elected for the next three years:
Chairman: Keith S. Wilson (University of York, U.K., (ku.ca1732363955.kroy1732363955.lbsy1732363955@htie1732363955k1732363955 ),
Vice-Chairman: Michael Kokkinidis (Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, FORTH, Heraklion, Greece, (rg.ht1732363955rof.b1732363955bmi.11732363955latsy1732363955rc@di1732363955nikko1732363955k1732363955 ),
Secretary: Thomas R. Schneider (University of Goettingen, Germany, (ed.gd1732363955wg.ca1732363955-inu.1732363955xlehs1732363955@srt1732363955 ).
To ensure continuity, three Ordinary Members of the Executive Committee were elected: Victor Lamzin (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg, Germany, (ed.gr1732363955ubmah1732363955-lbme1732363955@rotc1732363955iv1732363955 ), Sine Larsen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark, (kd.uk1732363955.ik.s1732363955cc@en1732363955is1732363955 ), and Mariusz Jaskolski (lp.ud1732363955e.uma1732363955.lats1732363955yrk@z1732363955suira1732363955m1732363955 A Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland).
This SIG sees its major responsibility in organising up-to-the-minute micro-symposia for the ECA annual meetings. Since there is an IUCr meeting in 2002, there has been no need for us be active in organising a program. However, many members of the SIG have contributed as chairs or co-chairs
to the Geneva IUCr meeting.
The European macro-molecular community has organised a series of workshops and discussion meetings. This has been greatly helped by specific EU funding for MAXINF, a training program coordinated by Dr Colin Nave of Daresbury Laboratory. Other important sources of funding included EMBO and CCP4.
The following workshops and Courses were run:
Workshop ‘Methods in Crystallography’
November 2001, EMBL Hamburg, Germany
Funded by MAXINF
CCP4 Study weekend ‘High Throughput Structure Determination’
January 2002, University of York, U.K.
Funded by CCP4 & MAXINF
CCP4 Refinement Workshop
April 2002, University of York, U.K.
Funded by CCP4 & MAXINF
EMBO Practical Course ‘Automated Macromolecular Structure Solution’
May 2002, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
Funded by EMBO & MAXINF
SIG #1 Report 2000-2001
July 3, 2001
From Maria Armenia Carrondo
The activities developed by the MCSIG during 2000/2001 centred on three mainitems:
- Involvement with the definition of the scientific programme of ECM 20 in Krakow and its satellite meeting in Krynica;
- Participation on the organisation of the ECA Prize;
- Participation in the MAXINF EU network, which is funded to organise courses, workshops and short exchange visits for those working in Macromolecular Crystallography in Europe.
As instigated for the ECM19 meeting in Nancy, the MCSIG assisted the Organising Committee of ECM 20 in the definition of topics and names for symposia, plenary lecturers and session lecturers in Krakow. Mariusz Jaskolski, a member of the MCSIG, is a member of the programme committee of ECM20, and he and K S Wilson, the MCSIG chairman, organised meetings at Nancy where extensive discussions of the programme took place. They were later followed by email discussions that shaped the final macromolecular program of the ECM20. Mariusz Jaskolski was also responsible for setting up an ECM20 satellite meeting at Krynica (close to Krakow) on “High throughput methods forstructure determination”. This is being organised by Szymon Krzywda
(Poznan), Marek Brozozowski (York), and Krzysztof Lewinski (Krakow).As described in last years report, during the MCSIG meeting in August 1999in Glasgow, a strong point of debate was centred on devising ways of getting funds to organise meetings, such as the Como meeting and also the continuing existence of satellite meetings associated to ECMs. This idea was later formalised and extended to other activities such as teaching and integrating (university research-industry) workshops and methods-based schools and was presented in the form of a network to the European Union. This network is coordinated from Daresbury, currently by Colin Nave, and integrated representatives from synchrotron sites, university software and research groups, pharmaceutical companies and equipment manufacturers. Among the participants there were many MCSIG members. This network was funded from the end of 2000. It has already supported the May 2001 meeting in Como for about 180 people, and a collaborative workshop on synchrotron data collection software between the ESRF, SRS and Cambridge. Two more COMO meetings are planned. The MAXINF network has also supported EU participants attendance at a data collection workshop at Daresbury and a MAD workshop at ESRF. Most importantly for the ECA, MAXINF was able to provide funding of 20 KEuros for the Krynica satellite meeting. It should be noted that the MCSIG has now been running for three years. At the Krakow meeting, it is therefore appropriate to have elections for replacements of at least one of the current offices of the MCSIG.
Maria Armenia Carrondo , MCSIG Secretary
Keith Wilson , MCSIG President