22 June 2023 ESRFnews

PSB Symposium: Dynamics in structural biology 6 7 July 2023 Since its inception, structural biology has sought more detail at ever-improved resolutions. Methodological developments have since allowed structural analyses of macromolecular assemblies of increasing size and complexity. However, in order to fully understand the mechanistics and dynamics of complex cellular machineries, it is of crucial importance to place these interdisciplinary results  in an appropriate biological context using information from all resolution levels, from atomic detail to cellular and higher levels of organisation. The fourth edition of the PSB biennial Symposium aims to illustrate how big biological questions can be resolved in structural biology through the application of interdisciplinary methodological approaches.

X-ray and neutron science: International student summer programme 3 29 September 2023 Taking place on the EPN campus, which hosts the ESRF and the ILL, in Grenoble, France, the ESRF/ILL International Student Summer Programme on X-Ray and Neutron Science is aimed at undergraduate students. It consists of a four-week experimental project embedded in a research group at ESRF or ILL, together with a series of introductory lectures on the principles and applications of X-ray and neutron science (including magnetism, materials science, soft matter, structural biology and imaging); in evenings and at weekends, there will be excursions into town or the nearby mountains. Undergraduate students from any university of a member or scientific associate country of the ESRF or ILL are eligible.

Advanced methods for ambient crystallography at the ESRF EBS 21 23 November 2023 This two-and-a-half day workshop will cover the different practical and theoretical aspects of room-temperature data collection and structure determination on the first day, followed by practicals at the beamlines and data processing on the following days. Its aim is to train doctoral students, postdocs and scientists in the emerging fields of serial time-resolved crystallography and room-temperature sample preparation and data collection at a fourth generation synchrotron source. A total number of 10 participants will be selected: the deadline for applications is 15 August. There is no registration fee and meals and accommodation during the workshop will be provided free of charge. Bursaries are available to cover travel expenses.

EVENTS

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arkadiy Simonov has been awarded this year s WH and WL Bragg Prize for outstanding early-career crystallographers by the International Union of Crystallography. Based at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, and a long-term user of the CRG SNBL beamline BM01, as well as the ESRF beamlines ID23-1, ID22, ID15B, ID11 and ID28, Simonov established the first general approach for the refinement of the diffuse scattering contribution to single-crystal diffraction patterns, resulting in the development of the leading codes for data reduction (MEERKAT) and 3D-∆PDF refinement (YELL). He applied his methodology to a range of systems, establishing a series of proofs-of-concepts and solving a number of crucially important outstanding problems in the field of complex materials.

Dimitri Argyriou, the associate director for in-kind management at the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden, is shortly to become the next director of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, US. Argyriou s primary research has involved neutron and X-ray scattering to understand emergent behaviour in complex oxides and novel superconductors. As director of science at the ESS, he led the development of the scientific case to support the start of its construction. He has also been chief research officer at Ames National Laboratory in Iowa, US, and a staff scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, US.

Michael Krischhas become the ad interim ESRF director of research for the life sciences, chemistry and soft matter science. Krisch is a solid-state physicist who has had a particular interest in the magnetic and electronic structures and dynamics of materials, extreme pressures and temperatures, and X-ray instrumentation. Having been at the ESRF since its beginning in 1988, he was head of the ESRF Instrument Support and Development Division (ISDD) from 2015 to 2019. He was then appointed scientist in charge of the ESRF s ID17 biomedical beamline until 2022. He then worked in the office of the director general, following up EU and international science and innovation programmes.