The IUCr Newsletter is distributed to 587 libraries and 15,000 crystallographers and other interested individuals in 39 countries. Feature articles, meeting announcements and reports, information on research or other items of potential interest to crystallographers should be submitted to the editor at any time. Submission of text by electronic mail and graphics, slides or photographs by express mail is requested. Items will be selected for publication on the basis of suitability, content, style, timeliness and appeal. The editor reserves the right to edit. Cost of distribution in Australia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, and The Netherlands is borne by crystallographic associations or institutions or by individual crystallographers in these countries. Address changes or corrections and requests to be added to the mailing list should be addressed to the editorial office. If you would like to see a copy of the IUCr Newsletter in your college or university library, send the address to the Newsletter office so that we can add it to our mailing list.

William L. Duax
Editor

Patti Coley
Newsletter Design & Production

Jane Griffin
Assistant Editor

Sally Lunge
Copy Production

Send Contributions to: W.L. Duax
Hauptman-Woodward Med. Research Inst.
73 High St., Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
Tel.: 716-856-9600 FAX: 716 852-4846
e-mail: patti@hwi.buffalo.edu


Matters pertaining to Advertisements should be addressed to W.L. Duax or P. Coley at the above address. In Japan, contact Prof. Yohio Mitsui, Dept. of Bio Engineering, Nagaoka U. of Technology, Nogaoka, Niigata 940-21, Japan, FAX: 81-258-46-8163.

On the Cover: Please see page 14

Contributors: F. Allen, C. A. Beevers, H. Berman, P. Bourne, S. Chacko, L. Cranswick, Z. Derewenda, D. Dorset, B. Etschmann, S. Fortier, E. Gilbert, R. L. Harlow, R. Pomas Hernandez, N. Kato, F. J. Lahoz, M. McBride, I. Olovsson, E. Pohl, H. Powell, C. H. Schein, K. Suwinska, K. Trueblood, M. Vickers, M. Wiener, A. Wlodawer.

The IUCr Newsletter (ISSN 1067-0696; coden IUC-NEB) Volume 5, Number 3. Published quarterly (4x) by the International Union of Crystallography. Members receive the IUCr Newsletter by virtue of their membership in the IUCr. Second Class postage rates paid at Buffalo, NY and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Please send changes of address to IUCr Editorial Office, c/o Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 73 High St., Buffalo, NY 14203 USA.

Table of Contents

Letter from the President

Letters to the Editor

Editorial

IUCr Activities

Regional Affiliate News

Meeting Reports

Notices, Awards, Elections

Web Wise

Books

Milestones

Crystallographic Resources

Future Meetings

Meetings Calendar

Index to Advertisers

Letter from the President


Crystallography - image and reality

As crystallographers we have taken great pride in the spectacular successes in our field over the years. These have been liberally rewarded with Nobel Prizes and other forms of public recognition. Nevertheless, there has always been a tension involving those who see crystallographers as mere technicians who determine a set of xyz's and then go on to the next structure. Even funding bodies are not immune from this view!

It is undeniable that image is important, especially when so many of us depend on public money to make our work possible. It is then incumbent on us to tell the public what we do, and why. Preferably in plain language! This will be one of the special concerns of the IUCr in 1998, as we mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Union. A group headed by Professor Henk Schenk (Netherlands) is developing ideas to celebrate the achievements of the past and point to the exciting prospects there are for the future. We urgently seek your input into this.

It seems to be part of the human condition to want to place people in neatly-labelled boxes. One of the strengths of crystallography is that it crosses boundaries, and those who are sometimes labelled as crystallographers are also chemists, physicists or biologists - sometimes all three! I can think of few, if any, other groupings with such breadth. Of course, science is dynamic and some areas shrink as others expand, but I hope we all take great pride in the achievements of our colleagues over this wide range.

Thinking of the future, there are clearly very exciting times ahead. A glance at the special feature on 3rd generation synchrotron facilities (Science, August 29) gives but one example. There are concerns, however. Our discipline (if that is the right word) depends on rigorous methodology, which determines the kinds of questions that can be answered. With many new researchers entering the field, especially from the biological sciences, the teaching of crystallographic methods becomes all the more important. I worry that if we neglect the fundamentals, the quality of what we do may suffer, even as the opportunities expand. As we celebrate the achievements, then, it is important still to promote the method.

Letters to the Editor

Virtually all journals publishing macromolecular structures now subscribe to the rules of the Commission on Biological Molecules of the IUCr (Acta Cryst.(1989) A45, 658), which require concurrent Protein Data Bank (PDB) deposition of the coordinates, with a possibility of putting them on hold for up to one year (four years for the primary data). Recently, I found papers not accompanied by coordinates in Cell, Nature, Nature Structural Biology, and Biochemistry. Letters to the editors of the former two journals went unanswered, while those of the latter produced responses and deposition of the coordinates. If the major journals which publish crystal structures would agree not to accept papers from authors who published there previously, and did not deposit the coordinates, the problem would disappear. If we write to the editors when we spot the problems, maybe they will act. The current policy may have outlived its usefulness. Delay in the release of coordinates is in most cases unnecessary, and often counterproductive. What justification is there for delays in releases of 19 sets of coordinates of lysozyme currently showing hold status in the PDB? The two common explanations for withholding coordinates are the desire of the original team to have time for full interpretation of their results, or the need to protect commercially valuable information. Modern methods of structure interpretation make the first argument largely obsolete. The commercial argument is perhaps valid for research supported by companies, but should not be invoked for results of research supported by public agencies. Since the funding agencies have adopted IUCr recommendations, it is unlikely that they will disallow holds unless these recommendations get changed. I would like to urge a change in the rules governing deposition of the coordinates, such that the maximum time of the hold would not exceed three months from the date of publication for the coordinates, and 1 year for the original data. This short delay in data release would still allow the authors exclusive time to analyze the results.

A. Wlodawer

Dear Bill,

I noticed in Chris Gilmore's write-up on P7 of the IUCr Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 2, that one of the events for Glasgow is listed as a "whiskey" tasting. I think most of the Scots would be rather disappointed that is isn't a "whisky" tasting (without the "e"), as that is the product from Scotland. "Whiskey" usually comes from Ireland or America.

Harry Powell

Dear Harry,

Let's hope that "A whiskey by any other name tastes as fine!"

Dear Dr. Duax:

With great pleasure I report that the full Acta Crystallographica collection is on its way to Cuba. Some issues are already on the library shelves of the Center of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (CQF) in Havana, along with some books on crystallography and structure-activity studies kindly provided by the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Inst. (Buffalo, NY).

These books were donated in memory of Dr. Benjamin Post by his wife Mrs. Janet Post. I would like to thank Ben Post's family for this kind action. I would also like to thank the ACA and PolyCrystal Book Service for preparing and shipping the journals and congratulate you and our enthusiastic colleague Hector Novoa de Armas for efforts to make it possible.

The Acta Cryst. journals are finally in Cuba and available to our scientific community. Ben Post's journals could not have a better destination.

Ramon Pomes Hernandez

Dear Bill

I'd like to correct a factual error in the report of the Seattle microsymposium on "25 Years of the PDB", which states that I predicted more than 600,000 structures in the PDB by 2010 [IUCr Newsletter, Volume 5, No. 2. 1997, page 14]. Actually this prediction applied to the Cambridge Structural Database. The prediction for the PDB by 2010 was over 120,000 if present trends continue.

Frank Allen

Editorial


All the Crystallographic News that's fit to print

This newsletter goes to 16,000 crystallographers in 39 countries. It should contain crystallographic news for all 39 of those countries. As you read it you may be wondering why your country or continent is under represented. We can't print the news unless we get it. If the US and the UK seem over represented this is in part because the ACA and the BCA produce quarterly Newsletters that provide a source of information on crystallography in the US and UK. We try to extract highlights from these and other newsletters that will be of interest to crystallographers everywhere. However, many national newsletters are not written in English and we are woefully deficient in our foreign language skills.

We invite all crystallographic newsletter editors to send condensed and/or translated versions of items they think most newsworthy to us for inclusion in this newsletter. We invite all National Crystallographic Associations to appoint one of their members to be a reporter to the IUCr Newsletter of national activities including election of officers, annual meeting announcements and reports, awards received by their members and general news of crystallography and crystallographers in their country. We also invite individual crystallographers throughout the world to send news items and articles about crystallographic meetings they organize or attend. The content of the article is of greater importance then the quality of the English writing since we will be editing the material. We also urge members of all of the commissions of the IUCr to submit articles containing commission plans, policies and projects so that the entire community is aware of your activities.

We want to express our appreciation to Fernando Lahoz for providing a summary of organizational aspects and recent activities of the Spanish Crystallographic Association that appears in this issue.

At the Seventeenth European Crystallographic Meeting the European Crystallographic Association held its first official election of officers:

President Carmelo Giacovazzo

Vice-President Joel Bernstein

Secretary Paul Beurskens

Treasurer: Sybolt Harkema

Additional Members: Frank H. Allen, Maria A. Carrondo,

Peter Paufler

The organization of the ECA will almost certainly contribute to the continual growth and success of future ECM meetings and be a source of crystallographic news from Europe.

IUCR Activities


Glasgow 1999

The XVIIIth IUCr Congress and General Assembly will be held at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) Aug. 4-13, 1999. The SECC is situated 15 minutes from the Glasgow Airport and five minutes from the main rail stations, on a superbly landscaped site on the banks of the River Clyde, about half a mile from the city centre. The scientific program will cover all aspects of crystallography with a focus on new and exciting developments and results. Suggestions for the program should be sent to J. Howard (j.a.k.howard@durham.ac.uk; FAX: (44)191-384-4737). Satellite meetings in connection with the Congress and General Assembly, will include Synchrotron Radiation, Structural & Dynamic Aspects of Molecular & Ionic Solids Using Neutrons, Cambridge Structural Database, and Crystallographic Computing School. The Organizing Committee is chaired by C.J. Gilmore (U. of Glasgow), and the Program Committee by J.A.K. Howard (U. of Durham). Current Congress sponsors include Glasgow Dev. Agency, IUCr, U. of Glasgow, Oxford Cryosystems, Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board, British Crystal-lography Assn, Dept. of Chem. at the U. of Glasgow and Pfizer Central Res.

Important dates: Summer 1998 -Circulation of the second announcement, containing registra-tion details, Feb. 1999 - deadline for abstract sub-mission, June 1, 1999 - deadline for reduced registration rate and accommodation bookings.

For more information, please consult the website at: http://www chem.gla.ac.uk/iucr99/. General inquiries can be sent to: G. Houston, Crystal@glasconf.demon.co.uk or C. Gilmore, iucr99@chem.gla.ac.uk.

Seattle Through Young Eyes

The following are excerpts from reports of students who received travel support from the Australian Crystallographic Assn to attend the IUCr XVII Congress and General Assembly.

The presentation in which P. Barnes (Birkbeck College, London) illustrated not only the importance but the necessity of using complementary techniques in the study of cement and ceramic chemistry was excellent. The lecture included a video journey, a la Star Trek, down the pore of a zeolite. Also memorable was the session in which eight Nobel Prize winners (Brockhouse, Deisenhofer, Hauptman, Karle, Kendrew, Lipscomb, Michel and Shull) answered questions ranging from `Do you have any advice for young scientists?' and `Did you expect to win the Nobel Prize?' to `If you had the chance again, would you still go into science?' I attended sessions on `Surface, Interfaces and Thin Films' and `Fibre Diffraction', areas of which I previously knew little. Lectures on negative thermal expansion, high pressure studies and giant magnetoresistance also proved fascinating. The conference gave me the chance to meet a large number of people, to exchange ideas, put some faces to well known names and to explore topics which I perhaps would not have encountered otherwise.

-Elliott Gilbert, Australian Nat'l U.

It was great being able to mingle with some absolute legends. Of particular interest were A. Beevers and the inventor of the 4-circle diffractometer, T. Furnas.

-B. Etschmann, U. of Western Australia

Regional Affiliate News


Spanish Crystallographic Association

The Spanish Crystallographic Association (formally called Grupo Especializado de Cristalografía, GEC) unites Spanish crystallographers and scientists working on all aspects of crystallography. GEC, which was formed in 1978 under the auspices of the Royal Spanish Societies of Chemistry and Physics has almost two hundred active scientists dealing with subjects as diverse as phase transitions, small and macromolecular structures, aperiodic crystals, and new structure solution methods. In 1988, due in part to the efforts of a group of senior crystallographers led by Dr. Sagrario Martínez, the GEC expanded its efforts. Since then the GEC has been editing a periodic bulletin containing information about national and international meetings, new hard and software, new books, journals and current projects, and notes on the activities of the different research groups. The two most significant activities of the GEC are the biannual Crystallographic Schools for postgraduate students, which cover all aspects of crystallography (1990: Single crystal diffractometry; 1992: Powder diffraction, 1994: Macromolecular crystallography, 1996: Molecular Modelling) and the annual GEC Meetings. These are usually three-day meetings, with lectures by local and international speakers, poster sessions and round-table discussions of controversial crystallographic topics (industry and crystallography, crystallography and student curricula, scientific politics and crystallography, new hardware and future crystallography, etc.) The size of the meetings has been growing,: at the last one more than 50 posters were presented and the number of active participants exceeded 100 people. In 1997 the GEC Meeting was not held so that GEC members could use travel money to attend the European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM-17) held in Lisbon. Fortunately, 66 participants of the ECM-17 meeting came from Spain, most of them being members of the GEC.

The next "X GEC Meeting" will be held in the Spring of 1998 in Andorra (a beautiful town in the centre of the Pyrenees mountains!). The main lectures will concern the topic "Beyond the crystalline state". We invite our French and Portuguese neighbors to join us at this meeting. For more information contact J.F. Piniella, e-mail: `IGCR0@cc.uab.es'. If you are interested in GEC, please e-mail `Lahoz@posta.unizar.es'.

Fernando J. Lahoz

Meeting Reports

Erice 97

At the Direct Methods Of Solving Macromolecular Structure Meeting, (May 1997, Erice) eighteen invited speakers lectured and led an intense programme of tutorials for 76 "students" from 23 countries.

Participants were provided with a comprehensive and in-depth overview of crystallographic structure determination methods for macromolecules. Direct and experimental phasing techniques were presented, highlighting their complementarities and synergies. Methodologies spanning the full crystallographic image reconstruction process - from low resolution envelope definition to high resolution atomic refinement- were discussed.

The first part of the Institute described the mathematical, computational or experimental tools currently used in structure determination and illustrated the variety and ingenuity of approaches developed to solve increasingly complex structures. Many recent developments and implementations have given older approaches a new life. A case in point is the re-implementation of Buerger's superposition approach, which is now solving protein structures. Another beautiful example concerned the traditional multiple isomorphous replacement approach where new techniques, such as site-directed mutagenesis and the use of inert gases in the preparation of heavy atom derivatives, were described. Equally impressive were the presentations of newer approaches, which take advantage of advances on the experimental front (e.g., MAD and solvent contrast variation) the mathematical front (e.g., minimal function and maximum entropy) and the computational front (e.g., simulated annealing and density modification).

The second part of the meeting focused on applications. MAD is solving larger and larger structures. With a growing protein databank and more efficient techniques, the power of molecular replacement continues to increase its presence. The use of phase information from electron microscopy images within the ME approach can attack such complex structures as membrane proteins. Shake-and-bake and the SHELX "half-baked" approaches continue to dazzle us with their successes, the culmination of which was the structure determination of a 1,001 atom protein structure on site by SHELX! Increasingly large structures, such as ribosomal particles and virus structures, are being investigated using tailor-made methods.

The Institute concluded with a series of presentations on the newest phasing methodologies and offered the promise of yet more achievements to come. Two main ideas emerged from the Institute. First, the time has passed for looking at different approaches as "competing". Much can be gained by combining the various techniques, exploiting their complementarities and synergies. Second, direct methods have often set their sights high, sometimes against the prevailing opinions of the day. This has provided us with the inspiration and motivation needed to continually re-energize and re-vitalize our field. It has also resulted in unexpected achievements, such as the ab initio structure determination of lysozyme achieved in Erice during the Institute.

Beyond the NATO ASI award, sponsors were the IUCr, the European Commission, DG XII, Office for Central and Western Europe, and Merck and Co., Rahway, USA.

Suzanne Fortier, ASI Director

An Advanced Study Institute in Electron Crystallography motivated by the rapid growth of the use of this powerful technique for studying microcrystalline materials was conducted in polluted water on the ASI on Direct Methods for Solving Macromolecular Structures, organized by S. Fortier. The presence of concurrent courses on related subjects enhanced both schools since experts on phase determination could address the electron microscopists and, the microscopists could persuade traditional X-ray crystallographers that there were other ways to derive useful structures. Cross-references to each other's techniques and points of view were made throughout both courses. In course evaluation, 48 students stated that concurrent meetings have a very positive impact. Students also praised the lab sessions where they gained `hands-on' experience. It was necessary, moreover, to exploit a variety of computer platforms (e.g. Windows-based PC's, UNIX-based workstations) in order to present these concepts in a practical way. A senior member of the direct methods school visited an electron crystallography practical and commented that the feeling `was just like the days when direct methods were new and exciting'. B. K. Vainshtein, who was to be one of the lecturers of the course. died unexpectedly in late 1996. His anticipated contribution was given by two of his colleagues: V. Klechkovskaya and B.B. Zvyagin. The published proceeding of the school will be dedicated to Vainshtein's memory and a special award in Vainshtein's memory was given to Zvyagin. Sponsorship for the ASI was obtained from NATO, Euroconf.,DG XII Office for Eastern European Countries, the IUCr, Italian Res. Council Comm. for Minerology, US Natl Science Foundation and Astra-Sweden.

Douglas Dorset

US Regional Meetings on Protein Crystallography

Highlights of the 13th West Coast Protein Crystallography Workshop (300 attendees, Mar. 1997, CA) included structures of thyroid hormone erythroporetin, T-cell and interferon receptor complexes, satellite tobacco mosaic virus at 1.8 Å resolution from space-grown crystals (S. Larson), the Ras binding domain of RalGDS, the first structure of a mitochondrial single stranded DNA binding protein (C. Yang) and the human bacteriacidal/permeability-increasing protein that consists almost entirely of b -sheets (L. Beamer).

Ehmke Pohl

ACA Newsletter, Summer 1997

Two hundred scientists at the Structural Biology Sym. (Apr. 1997, TX) discussed macromolecular determination and recognition, computational methods, and protein design. L. Beese (Duke U. Medical Center), presented a "high resolution snapshot of a polymerase in action", DNA replication by a thermophilic DNA polymerase within the crystal lattice. I. Kuntz demonstracted DOCK 4.0 (DOCK BUILDERS can be downloaded from the Internet) which "docks" one molecule to another using a simple graphics matching algorithm, and "BUILDER" with which a small molecule can be built within an active site. Crystal structures of proteins at <1Å resolution were reported by K. Krause (U. of Houston).

Catherine H. Schein

ACA Newsletter, Summer 1997

A Sym. was held in Honor of David R. Davies' 70th Birthday, (Apr. 1997) at NIH featured talks on lysozyme as a model system for examining protein stability and folding (B. Matthews), Z-DNA and mRNA editing (A. Rich), pathogenetic mechanisms in plasmacytoma development (M. Potter), the tryptophan synthase complex (E. Miles), and Trimeric G proteins: Structure, mechanism and regulation (P. Sigler). M. Perutz closed the symposium with a discussion of the early days of crystallography and his work on hemoglobin. Summaries and photographs of the symposium are at http://www-mslmb.niddk.nih.gov/davies70/.

Susan Chacko

ACA Newsletter, Summer 1997

The 27th Mid-Atlantic Protein Crystallography Meeting (May 1997, VA) attracted 151 registrants. M. Word (Duke U.) presented results of packing analysis in high resolution protein crystal structures, facilitated by new software developed at Duke. The approach involves van der Waals contact analysis only after calculated positions of hydrogen atoms are included. Several errors in high resolution determination were identified, many including Asn and Gln residues. Parallel workshops focused on data collection and refinement. G. Sheldrick described meaningful anisotropic refinement with SHELX97 (http://linux.uni-ac.gwdg.de/SHELX) using data to 1.5 Å or higher. The free R factor should decrease at least by 1% to validate the calculation, the results should be chemically meaningful and main chain carbonyl oxygens should vibrate perpendicular to the peptide plane. E. Dodson described the use of REFMAC, the maximum likelihood refinement package that is now a part of the CCP4 suite (you can ftp the new suite from ftp.ccp4.db.ac.uk). J. Navaza discussed new ideas that are being implemented in AMORE, the Molecular Replacement suite that has solved many problems that have aged in the depths of our drawers. Other highlights of the meeting included a workshop on "Cryo-crystallography and Data Collection" and Z. Otwinowski presented a lecture on data collection and reduction, centering around an exposition on the use of the DENZO/SCALEPACK software package. Many of the meetings sixteen sponsors exhibited their products during the meeting.

Zygmunt Derewenda & Michael Wiener

ACA Newsletter, Summer 1997

BCA-Spring 1997

At the BCA Spring meeting at the U. of Leeds, the Biological Structures Group held sessions on Structure and Mechanism of Enzymes, Protein/Nucleic Acid Interactions and Hot Structures. The Chemical Crystallography Group series of talks on Area Detectors in Chemical Crystallography: Experiences, Opportunity and Challenge began with a plenary lecture by J. Helliwell and covered topics ranging from "Systematic Data Errors" (N. Alcock) and "Badly Defracted Crystals" (H. Powell) to "Coping with the Flood (of CSD entries)" (J. Davies), "Comparing Area and Single Point Detectors" (M. Legge) and "The Use of the Whole Diffraction Patterns" (M. Hursthorne). The Industrial Groups organized sessions on combining other analytical techniques with traditional X-ray diffraction including neutron diffraction (P. Barnes), wide angle (T. Ryan) and small angle scattering (I. Hanley), Raman spectroscopy (H. Gleeson) and computer graphic modeling.

The Industrial Group Awards were presented to B. Belling in recognition of his contributions to diffraction at Harwell and to A. Bowen in recognition of his work in residual stress. Bowen died before receiving his award and the IG has renamed its plenary lecturers the Alun Bowen Industrial Lecture. P. Barnes delivered the inaugural lecture which was followed by a session on Process Production and Application that included presentations on cement production (R. Beilman), semi conductor based opto electronic devices (M. Helliwell), blades for aero-engines (C. Small) and polymorphism in pharmaceutical manufacture (C. Frampton).

BCA Newsletter, June 1997

Notices, Awards, Elections


The Dupont Powder Challenge

The structures of micro-crystalline compounds can sometimes be solved directly from their synchrotron powder diffraction patterns. However, the odds decrease as peaks broaden, as unit cell dimensions and the size of the asymmetric unit increase, and as the structural symmetry decreases. Techniques derived from single-crystal methods do not work well with powder data taken on samples with these "complications". For the powder technique to be generally useful as a routine method of crystal structure analysis, new techniques for solving structures need to be found. A variety of new techniques are being explored. In an effort to determine which of these techniques might be useful for DuPont's problems, the Corporate Center for Analytical Science (CCAS) has set aside a US$ 1000 prize to the first person/group who can solve the crystal structure of HAlF 4 [Chem. of Materials, 7, 75 (1995)]. The preparation of this compound involves moderate heating of aluminum fluoride salts which contain organic cations. The peaks in the X-ray powder diffraction patterns are broad. Attempts to anneal the compound result in decomposition to AlF 3 . Neither of two high-resolution, synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction patterns on this material have produced a structure using traditional techniques available at DuPont. The challenge is now open to the crystallographic community. Two sets of data and additional details have been posted (http://www.pitt.edu/~geib/powder.html)

The correctness of any proposed model will be tested against a neutron diffraction pattern (HFBR - HRNPD), not available to the contestants. The first model which makes chemical sense (coordination numbers, bond values and bond-valence sum test) and matches the X-ray and neutron diffraction patterns [with R(Bragg) below 0.08] will be declared the winner and the authors of the model will be entitled to the US$ 1000. Proposed structural solutions should be sent to R. L. Harlow, CRD, E228/316d, The DuPont Co., Wilmington, DE, 19880-0228, USA.

Good Luck.

R.L. Harlow

Oxford Prize

Joel M. Harp (U. of Tennessee, USA) was awarded the Oxford Prize at the American Crystallographic Assn annual meeting July 1997 in St. Louis, MO.

The Oxford prize, sponsored by Oxford Cryosystems, is awarded to the presenting author of the poster at the ACA annual meeting that best depicts cryocrystallography (such as the development of new techniques, unique applications, or the analysis of systems using cryogenic conditions). The award winning poster was titled: "Protein Crystal Annealing: Overcoming Increased Mosaicity Associated with Cryocrystallography" J.M. Harp, D.E. Timm and G. Bunick, U. of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Life Science Div., Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.

Art Bienenstock Nominated

On Sept. 25, 1997, US President Clinton announced his intent to nominate Dr. Arthur Bienenstock as the Associate Director for Science at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President.

Dr. Bienenstock is the Director of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab, Stanford U. (California, USA). He received a B.S. and an M.S. in Physics from Polytechnic U. of New York and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard U.

The Associate Director for Science is one of the Administration's key positions in the area of science along with the Director of the National Institutes of Health and the Director of the National Science Foundation.

School Works

Brian Craven was pleased to relay the information that Olga Vassilya from the Ukraine was able to base two manuscripts on the work she did at the IUCr/ACA Summer Course in Crystallography in Pittsburgh in 1996. Papers describing structures she solved at the school were published in J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Transaction and Polyhedron in 1997. Brian Sheldon (U. W. Austalia) a tutor at the courses is a co-author of both papers.

Neutron Scattering Society of America

NSSA Executive Committee elected F. Bates (U. of Minnesota) President, J. Fischer (U. of Pennsylvania) Vice President and C. Majkrzak (NIST) Secretary.

Web Wise


Genetic Websites

Genetic Engineering News, which is published monthly has a column entitled "http: Genetic News" written by Kevin Ahern. It is a rich source of information on websites related to Biotechnology, including analytical computing tools, searchable or downloadable data base information, FTP delivery of usable software, news, and response to user enquiries. All the links to URL's listed in the column and posted to Ahern's website http://www.orst.edu/~ahernk/bsj.html.

Typical entries include the following:

The Dictionary of Cell Biology - http://www.mblab.gla.ac.uk/~julian/Dict.html

Cell - http://www.cellpress.com/. The Positions Available section has one of the largest on-line collections of faculty and post-doctoral jobs.

New Scientists Planet Science: Sciencejobs - http://www.sciencejobs.com. An excellent site for locating a job in science; almost all of the postings are in the UK.

Welcome to Biotech - http://biotech.chem.indiana.edu/. The best collection of biotechnology information and an excellent collection of information about medicinal plants.

Macromolecular Websites

A compendium of web site addresses useful to macromolecule crystallographers appears in Current Biology (Vol. 6 #12, p. 1542, 1996). It included addresses for biological software including:

Geneworks and PC/GENE (http://www.oxmol.com/prods/).

PCR primer design programs at the PCR Jump Station (http://www.apollo.co.uk/a/pcr/#pcrs) and (http://www.embl-heidelberg.de/).

Phylogenetics relationships (http://www.).

Structural biology and The Protein Databank software (http://pdb.pdb.bnl.gov/software.html).

Free software archives at Johns Hopkins U. (http://www.bis.med.jhmi.edu/Dan/software/biol-links.html) at Indiana U. (ftp://ftp.bio.indiana.edu/) and the European Bioinformatics Inst. (http://www.embl.ebi.ac.uk/software.software.html).

The software descriptions in the archive at the EBI are fully searchable (http://www.bis.med.jhmi.edu/Dan/software/software.html).

Internet on a CD: Nexus Library & Virtual WWW

Many nations do not have access to the internet, putting their scientists at a disadvantage, the equivalent of living in the electronic stone age. This is especially so in crystallography where access to the latest scientific software and the resource sharing technology the internet enables is extremely important. A CD is being developed for PCs running DOS and Windows that contains a variety of freeware, shareware and crystallographic utility software normally obtained via the internet. Also included is background information on the internet including sample crystallographic and academic web pages to create a simple, crude "Virtual WWW" so that people who have never seen this technology can get an idea of what it is about. 20 "test" CDs are available free by contacting Lachlan at the following address. Recipients are under an obligation to "eventually" produce and submit a Web page containing information on their labs for the Crystallographic Nexus Web page.

An existing Web page of this type is X-ray Lab, Chemistry Div., Natl Center for Scientific Res. (CNIC), Havana, Cuba: http://www.unige.ch/crystal/stxnews/nexus/cuba/library/software.htm, The contents of the CD are available at http://www.unige.ch/crystal/stxnews/nexus/library/software.htm

Contact L. Cranswick at: lachlan@melbpc.org.au.

Lachlan Cranswick

The Structural Biology in Europe Newsletter is on line at http://www.biodigm.com./strube.htm. The Drug Discovery and Structural biology meeting calendar can be found there. Appropriate meetings and courses can be advertised at no charge.

Books In Brief

ORTEP-III: Oak Ridge Thermal Ellipsoid Plot Program for Crystal Illustrations, by M.N. Burnett and C. K. Johnson (ORNL, 1996, 169 pages, $5.00 paperbound) is technical report number ORNL-6895, available for a total shipping and handling charge of $5.00 (US) from Polycrystal Book Service. Information on printing a copy directly from the World Wide Web is available at http://www.ornl.gov/ortep/ortep.htmp, along with information about obtaining the updated program.

Physics Over Easy: Breakfasts with Beth and Physics by L.V. Azaroff (World, 1996, 256 pages, $28 hardbound, $18 paperbound). The evolution of physics over the past four centuries is related in sixteen conversations between a crystallographer and his wife, Beth. By asking questions, she insists on sufficient clarity so as to make difficult subjects understandable. Each `breakfast' topic can be read in less time than it takes to eat the meal!

Javanische Batik: Methode Symbolik-Geschichte by A. Haake (Schaper, 1984, 128 pages, $30). Many beautiful hand-crafted crystallographic textiles were displayed by Annegret Haake in the Art and Crystallography Exhibit at the IUCr Meeting in Seattle. Her book on Javanese batiks describes (in German) geographical origins, fabrication methods including some chemistry of the Javanese dyes, many photographs and schematics of batik patterns, some crystallographics symmetries encountered, and most importantly to world travelers, how to recognize geniune art distinguished from cheap, mass produced textiles.

Dorothy Hodgkin and Linus Pauling - A Tribute. At the Montreal ACA meeting in 1995, J. Glusker, K. Trueblood and D. Marsh organized a session of talks, reminiscences and tributes to Hodkin and Pauling. Trueblood has assembled written versions of the talks as well as photos of Hodgkin and Pauling and made them available through Polycrystal Book Service for $5.00( US)

An introduction to X-Ray Crystallography, by M. M. Woolfson, (2nd edition, 402 pages, $37.95) is a comprehensive text of fundamental principles and theory. The subject matter ranges from crystallographic principles to diffraction processes to the collection and interpretation of data and structure determination. The text is illustrated by carefully worked examples of problems with solutions at the end of each chapter for undergraduate or graduate students and the serious X-ray crystallographer. This second edition includes FORTRAN listings for 12 computer programs, the source codes for which can be downloaded on the WWW, and sections covering synchrotron radiation, image plates and Laue methods for proteins.

Introduction to X-ray Powder Diffractometry, by R. Jenkins & R.L. Snyder, (John Wiley & Sons Inc. 1996, 403 pages, $79.95) covers basic crystallography, production of X-rays and instrumentation. The chapters on sample preparation, data collection and reduction, phase identification, databases and quantitative phase analysis give a clear and comprehensive guide of how to find out which crystalline phases are in the sample. There are diagrams and flow charts to illustrate the steps in data reduction and phase identification respectively as well as tables which show the effect of errors. Descriptions of what lies behind commercial software for finding peak positions and identifying crystalline phases are helpful. Historical descriptions add interest without obscuring the main focus. -Mary Vickers

Polycrystalline Thin Films: Structure, Texture, Properties and Applications II edited by H.J. Frost, M.A. Parker, C.A. Ross and Elizabeth A. Holm [ISBN: 1-55899-306-1], Vol. 403, MRS Symposium Proceedings. $65.00 (US). Polycrystalline films have properties that are different from those of a bulk polycrystal and of a single crystal film. The volume focuses on film deposition and processing techniques which allow the fabrication of films with innovative microstructures and technologically relevant properties.

Surface/Interface and Stress Effects in Electronic Materials Nanostructures edited by S.M. Prokes, Robert C. Cammarata, K.L. Wang and A. Christou. Vol. 405 MRS Symposium Proceedings. $73.00 (US). The volume addresses the importance of surface and stresses, particularly in the realm of decreasing structure size, where surface-to-volume ratio increases significantly. Topics include materials characterization-X-ray and strain measurements.

Most items can be ordered from Polycrystal Book Service, PO Box 3439, Dayton, OH 45401, USA. Tel and FAX: 513 223 9070.

Milestones

Arne Magnéli (1915-1996)

Arne Magnéli died on Jul. 22, 1996 at the age of 81. He grew up in Stockholm and started his research career as a structural chemist at the U. in Stockholm under the guidance of Arne Westgren, the doyen of X-ray crystallography in Sweden. Later he joined Gunnar Hägg in Uppsala, where Magnéli made important contributions in the development of a crystallography department with an international reputation. In 1953 Magnéli became professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the U. of Stockholm and built a very active research group in Solid State and Structural Chemistry. His earlier research on molybdenum and tungsten oxides was expanded during his time as professor, 1953-1980. New methods and subjects were introduced by his many students and collaborators. Many foreign researchers were also attracted to his lab. Magnéli was elected as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1970, where he made many important contributions, in particular as secretary in the Nobel Committees of Physics (1966-73) and Chemistry (1966-1983). He was a member of both the National Committees of Chemistry and Crystallography and for several years was Chairman in these committees. Magnéli was elected to the Executive Committee of the IUCr in 1972 and was its President from 1975-78. Magnéli worked energetically for the free circulation of scientists and during his IUCr presidency -at the time of the cold war-strove to allow researchers from the Eastern Countries to attend the IUCr Congress; he even threatened to move the General Assembly to another country. Even after his retirement he played an active role in the research activities of Stockholm U. He made many friends through the combination of his gentle manner, cultural interests (not least in music), intellectual fervor and humor. until his sudden and unexpected death he remained full of energy and new ideas.

Ivar Olovsson

(Science International nº63 Dec. 1996)

Ryozi Uyeda (1912-1997)

Ryozi Uyeda died of hepatic cancer on July 2, 1997. He was born Oct. 1, 1912 graduated Toyko U. in 1934 and worked as Research Assistant under Prof. Seiji Nishikawa the Father of Japanese Crystallography. He became Prof. of Physics (1994) at Nagoya U. and received a Doctor of Science degree from Tokyo U. for his work in Epitaxial Growth of Evaporated Metal Thin Films. In 1975 he moved to Meijo U. as Professor until 1984, and Guest Professor until 1986. His main areas of research were electron diffraction and microscopy and crystal growth of thin films and ultra-fine particles. He received world-wide recognition for his work on moire patterns in electron-micrographs, the discovery of the so-called critical extinction voltage and morphological studies for fine particles of metal and metallic oxides. He published more than 100 scientific papers in pure and applied physics and instrumentation and wrote articles in several academic books. For these accomplishments, he was awarded several prizes and medals from academic and public circles. He was an honorary member of Japanese Physical Soc., Soc. of Applied Physics, Crystallographic Soc. and Soc. of Electron Microscopy. He served the IUCr as a member of the Crystallographic Apparatus (1957-1976) and Electron Diffraction Commissions (1963-1972) and as a Co-editor of JAC (1969-1976). He was a very good teacher and encouraged many students and young scientists. He maintained interest in growing flowers and playing tennis for more than 75 years! He published a book titled "ZATSUBUNN-SHO" (1982), which was a collection of his essays on science, education, and his hobbies.

Norio KatoVerner Schomaker (1914-1997)

Verner Schomaker possessor of one of the most critical and wide-ranging scientific intellects of our time, died in Pasadena, CA on Mar. 30, 1997 of pancreatic cancer. He was at once friendly, open, uncommonly generous and extremely bright. He was, to those who were privileged to work with him or otherwise benefit from his insights, simply without peer as a one-on-one teacher. He is best known for his contributions in electron and X-ray diffraction. His most important contribution in the early days of electron diffraction was to the development of techniques for the visual interpretation of the scattering of electrons by gas molecules. At least one of his papers became a "Citation Classic" in the Science Citation Index of 200 papers. A native of Nebraska, he earned a BS from that state's University in 1934 and a MS in 1935. He then moved to Pasadena, where Pauling quickly recognized his uncommon qualities. After receiving a PhD in 1938, he went up the academic ladder in Chemistry at Caltech (taking time out for war-time research from 1942 to 1945). He received the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry in 1949, and served as ACA President in 1961-62. In 1958 he left academic work to join the Union Carbide Research Inst. He joined the faculty of the Dept. of Chem. at the U. of Washington in Seattle, serving initially for 5 years as Chair, during an important time for faculty growth. He became Prof. Emeritus in 1984. After his retirement, he was also a Faculty Assoc. at Caltech, dividing his time about equally between Pasadena and Seattle. His family has requested that donations in his memory be made to the Verner Schomaker Memorial Fund, c/o California Inst. of Tech., Office of Donor Relations, Mail Code 105-40, Pasadena, CA 91125. The fund will be used to support student research.

Kenneth Trueblood

ACA Newsletter, Summer 1997

Sir John Kendrew

We were saddened to learn of the death of Sir John Kendrew on Aug 25, 1997. Many crystallo-graphers young and old, including Vasundara Srinivasan (shown here) enjoyed his talk on crystallography and the Nobel Prize as well as the pleasure of his company at the IUCr Congress in Seattle in 1996.

Crystallographic Resources


Structural Informatics

The subject of this year's ACA Transactions Symposium was the development of specialist databases that combine the information stored in primary archives, such as the Protein Data Bank and the Cambridge Structural Database, with biological data about the molecules of interest.

The Protein Kinase Resource (PKR; http://www.sdsc.edu/kinases/) is one example of this type of highly specialized resource. The PKR, a joint project of the San Diego Supercomputer Ctr. and the Chem. Dept. of the U. of California, San Diego, covers in great detail a single protein family important in signal transduction. The database contains multiple sequence alignments and family classification based on sequence, structure annotation, comparison, and conformational analysis, and information on investigators, meetings of interest, and literature references. The PKR is a model automatically maintained database and query engine that can be used for a variety of protein families based on dictionaries for enzymology, sequence features, tables, and overall family classification, and is developed in STAR/CIF which complements the existing mmCIF dictionary.

A database dedicated to providing structural information about HIV protease (HIV PR; http://www-fbsc.ncifcrf.gov/HIVdb/) - has been created at the Nat'l Cancer Inst. and contains structural data for three PR variants, namely HIV-1, HIV-2, and simian immunodeficiency virus PRs. The HIV PR database will be a source of all available structures in a unified and fully annotated format. The "Informal," part of the database contains information about both the protein and inhibitors present in the complexes of HIV PR, as well as the original sets of coordinates. Descriptions of the complexes, database-unique labels, PDB names, descriptions of the inhibitors, and references are in the main table which is the gateway between the more detailed information about the PRs and the data on inhibitors. The latter includes chemical formulas, two-dimensional and three-dimensional models, detailed description of the compounds, and conditions of the K i measurements. The "Analytical," part of the database is organized either by services giving access to various tools or by results of specific analyses. When completed, this part of the database will provide tools for the analysis of the structures.

One of the first specialist structural databases, the Nucleic Acid Database (NDB; http://ndbserver.rutgers.edu/) was established as a resource for the nucleic acid community. Data are organized in a searchable relational database that contains primary information about the crystallographic experiment and information about geometric features. The NDB includes an illustrated atlas of nucleic acid structures with crystal packing pictures, bibliographic references, and standard dictionaries for nucleic acid components. The NDB is a test bed for new database and information technology including the use of mmCIF as its exchange format. More recently, the NDB Project has transferred its technologies for archiving and querying nucleic acid structures to create a more general tool called Protein Finder. Protein Finder enables the user to search for structures contained in the PDB and to interactively create reports based on the PDB file. These are but a few examples of the value-added databases that continue to emerge as scientists combine their interests in particular research areas with new computer technologies.

H. Berman, P. Bourne and A. Wlodawer

A Crystallographic Museum

A small museum in the Chem. Dept. of the U. of Edinburgh was begun by A. Crum Brown, who was Prof. of Chem. in Edinburgh from 1869 to 1908. Crum Brown had very wide chemical interests (organic and physical chemistry, and mathematics) and a great interest in crystallography. The most surprising exhibit in the museum is a model of the structure of Rock Salt made from knitting needles held together by balls of colored wool. The structure is exactly that finally proved by the Braggs in 1914, and it shows that Crum Brown recognized the ionic nature of the structure, whereas most chemists at the time believed in a molecular structure. Other objects of crystallographic interest are a fine collection of single crystals by Goldberg of Heidelberg, cardboard models of crystal forms by Krantz, an optical goniometer by Fuess, Haüy models showing crystal forms with the faces stepped to illustrate the unit cell theory of crystal structure, and several sets of the Beevers-Lipson strips. The latter were used for many years in X-ray Crystallographic Labs for the calculation of Fourier maps. A complete list of the contents of the Museum can be obtained by writing to C. Beevers at the Museum.

-C. Arnold Beevers

Crystallographic Resources

The Inorganic Crystal Structure Database

The Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) contains more than 43,000 references including atomic coordinates to "all" inorganic structures. It is an essential tool for inorganic crystallographers, and of interest to many other scientists and teachers. The Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe (FIZ, the distributors of the database), and the Institut Max von Laue-Paul Langevin Grenoble (ILL) are planning to make ICSD available on the WWW. A demonstration server is already operational on www.ill.fr/dif/icsd.

Sweet Suite and Free

In 1994 the CCP14 (Collaborative Computational Project No. 14) in Powder and Small Molecule Single Crystal Diffraction began to assemble the best and most commonly used freely available programs and to write the linking software to combine them into a single, integrated user-friendly suite. The suite is freely available to academic users as a series of executables, compiled and linked for a variety of commonly used operating systems. The current CCP14 suite consists of thirty two programs. The CCP14 staff are available to answer questions. Users can contact CCP14 by e-mail (ccp14@dl.ac.uk). Full details can be found on the WWW starting from URL: http//www.dl.ac.uk/CCP/CCP14/intro.html.

The Materials Research Society has produced a CD-ROM containing the entire contents of the Journal of Materials Research for 1996 and an 11 year Cumulative Index. For more information: http://www.mrs.org/publications.jmr.


On the Cover

The cover illustration shows the relationship between the surface of a crystal as seen by atom force microscopy and the underlying supramolecular structure.

The crystalline solid of 2,5-diketopiperazine (DKP) contains supramolecular "tapes", defined by the Rs(2,2)(8) motif of hydrogen bonds between each DKP and two adjacent DKPs. Tapes are oriented with their long axes parallel and pack as "decks of tapes," which form crystalline surfaces that are: 1) non-polar (010) with exposed -CH2- groups; 2) strongly polar (001) with exposed cis-amide groups; and 3) weakly polar (-101) with the plane of the DKP rings exposed. Crystals of DKP imaged by atomic force microscopy reveal how differences in the polarity of these surfaces influence their kinetics of growth, and crystal topography. The large terraces, comprised of hydrophobic -CH2- groups of DKP, intersect with polar step-faces where steps are monomolecular in height (5.6-5.9 Å). The rates of crystal growth reflects the difference in hydrogen bond interactions at the different surfaces. The six - fold difference in the rates of crystal growth orthogonal to the step-faces result in step-edges of different morphology.

Aspects of this work were reported this year at the ACA meeting in St. Louis, at ECM17 in Lisbon and the 10th Int'l Symposium of Organic Crystal Chemistry in Poland. The research team led by Tayhas Palmore included Mary McBride, Armando Durazo, Jr and Marilyn Olmstead at the U. of California, Davis and Terry Land and James De Yoreo at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

Future Meetings


X-ray Synchrotron Radiation

An Int'l Conference on X-ray Synchrotron Radiation Research, Nov. 17-20, 1997, being organized by the ESRF will focus on third generation synchrotron radiation sources and magnetism, high pressure, biology, imaging and topology and soft condensed matter. A parallel sym. on Structural Biology will take place on Nov. 19-20 and will focus on virus structures, time-resolved crystallography, DNA-replication, transcription, translation and repair and membrane proteins. For information, contact Conf. Secretariat, ESRF, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France; e-mail: sr50@esrf.fr.

Biophysical Society 1998

Mary Barkley, Program Chair for the 1998 Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society is planning the program for the meeting in Kansas City, Feb. 22-26. The overall theme of the meeting is structure as it relates to function and the use of X-ray and NMR and other techniques in biophysics. She is attempting to incorporate structural elements into each symposium to present an integrated picture of the symposium topic. Further information is available at mdb4@po.cwru.edu.

Polish Recognition

The Xth International Symposium on Molecular Recognition and Inclusion will take place June 2025, 1998 in Warsaw, Poland. The general topic will be Pure and Applied Chemistry and Physico-Chemistry of Intermolecular Interactions at the Supramolecular Level. J.-M. Lehn is the honorary chair of the Int'l Program Committee and J. Lipkowski is the Local Chair. A preliminary list of speakers include the following: M. Blackburn (UK), M. Caruthers (USA), A. Collet (France), P. Dervan (USA), G. Desiraju (India), Yu. A. Dyadin (Russia), C. Helene (France), L. Jen-Jaconson (USA), M. Lahav (Israel), T. Mak (Hong-Kong), J. De Mendoza (Spain), R. Nolte (Netherlands), D. Reinhoudt (Germany), H. J. Schneider (Germany), S. Shinkai (Japan), F. Toda (Japan).

Kinga Suwinska

Calendar

A selection of future meetings. Extensive lists appear regularly in J. Applied Crystallography and the BCA Newsletter. Corrections and new listings are invited by the Editor.

NOVEMBER 1997

6-8 ® Pittsburgh Diffraction Conf. Athens, GA, USA. Contact: http://www.uga.edu/~biocryst/pdc97.html.

17-21 ® Highlights in X-Ray Syn-chrotron Radiation Res. Grenoble, France. Contact: e-mail: sr50@esrf.fr.

21-23 ® Crystallography at High Pressure. The Next Steps. Grenoble, France. Contact: D. Häusermann, High Pressure Group, ESRF, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France; FAX: 33 4 76882542.

JANUARY 1998

6-9 ® 7th Joint Magnetism & Magnetic Materials-Intermag Conf. San Francisco, CA, USA. Contact: D. Suiters or A. Landsbaum, Conf. Coordinators, 655-15th St. NW, Ste 300, Washington, DC 20005, US; FAX: 202 3476109; e-mail: maganetism@courtesyassoc.com.

FEBRUARY 1998

22-26 ® 1998 Biophysical Soc. Annual Meeting. Kansas City, MO. Contact: mdb4@po.cwru.edu

APRIL 1998

6-9 ® BCA Annual Spring Mtg. St. Andrews, Scotland. Contact: P. Lightfoot, School of Chem., U. of St. Andrews, Purdie Bldg, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9ST; e-mail: pl@st-and.ac.uk.

MAY 1998

26-29 ® 7th European Conf. on Non-Destructive Testing. Copenhagen, Denmark. Contact: B. Larsen, 7 CNDT, Copenhagen 1998, Park Allé 345, DK-2056 Brondby, Denmark; FAX: 4543 962636.

24-29 ® 1st National Crystal Chemical Conf. Chernogolovka, Russia. Contact: atom@kon.icp.ac.ru

28-7 ® 27th Crystallographic Course: Implications of Molecular and Materials Structure for New Technologies. Erice, Italy. Contact: http://www.geomin. unibo.it/min/erice/erice.html

JUNE 1998

1-6 ® Int'l Summer School on Crystal Growth (ISSCG-10). Rimini, Italy. Contact: R. Fornari CNR-MASPEC Inst., FAX: 39 521 269206 43100, e-mail: fornari@maspec.bo.cnr.it; http://wwwmaspec.bo.cnr.it/CG/school_cg.html

14-20 ® 4th Int'l School & Sym. on Synchrotron Radiation in Natural Science. Jaszowiec, Poland. Contact: S.K. Lawniczak-Jablonska, Inst. of Physics, PAS, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02 668 Warsaw, Poland. FAX: 48 22 430926; e-mail: synchro @ifpan.edu.pl; http://info.ifpan.edu.pl/pelkay/issrns_98.html.

20-25 ® Xth Int'l Sym. on Molecular Recognition and Inclusion. Warsaw, Poland. Contact: ismri-10@ichf. edu.pl.

JULY 1998

7-9 ® Microscopy Conf. & Exhibition (MICRO 98). London, UK. Contact: meetings@rms.org.uk.

13-17 ® IUPAC MACRO 98: 37th Int'l Sym. on Macromolecules. Gold Coast Queensland, Australia. Contact: Macro 98 Australia, Chem. Dept. U. of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld. 4072, Australia. FAX: 61 7 365 3628.

18-23 ® ACA'98. Washington D.C. USA. Contact: ACA Office; FAX: 716 852 4846, e-mail: aca@hwi.buffalo.edu, http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/ACA/

26-31 ® Twelfth Int'l Conf. on Crystal Growth (ICCG12). Jerusalem, Israel. Contact: ICCG12, c/o Int'l Travel and Congresses Ltd, PO Box 29313, Tel Aviv 61292, Israel; FAX: 972 351 60604.

AUGUST 1998

9-15 ® 17th General Mtg Int'l Mineralogical Assn (IMA '98). Toronto, Canada Contact: A.J. Naldrett, Dept Geology, U. Toronto, Toronto M5S 3B1, Canada; e-mail: ima98@quartz.geology. utoronto.ca.

16-20 ® 18th European Crystallo-graphic Mtg (ECM-18). Prague, Czech Rep. Contact: kuzel@karlov. mff.cuni.cz.

21-22 ® Leopoldina Meeting "Can Crystal Structure be Predicted". Dresden Germany. Contact: A. Nelles, Deutsche Akad. der Naturfors. Leopoldina, POB 11 05 43, D-06019 Halle, Germany; e-mail: nelles@leopoldina.uni-halle.de.

22-25 ® 6th European Powder Diffraction Conf.(EPDIC-6). Budapest, Hungary. Contact: T. Ungar, Dept. Gen. Physics, Eotvos, H-1445 Budapest, POB 323, Muzeum krt 68, Hungary; e-mail: ungar@ludens.elte.hu.

MAY 1999

22-27 ® ACA '99. Buffalo, NY, USA. Contact: ACA Office; FAX: 716 852 4846; e-mail: aca@hwi.buffalo.edu, http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/ACA/

AUGUST 1999

4-13 ® 18th IUCr Gen. Assembly and Int'l Congress of Crystallography. Glasgow, Scotland. Contact: http://www chem.gla.ac.uk/iucr99/

For information contact: J. Lipkowski or K. Suwinska (Sym. Secretary), Inst. of Physical Chemistry, Polish Acad. of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, PL-01 224 Warsaw, Poland, FAX: 0048 22 63 52 76, e-mail: ismri-10@ichf.edu.pl or klatrat@ichf.edu.pl.