1. A picture of Sine Larsen

There is a picture of Sine Larsen, shovel in hand and a broad smile on her face, celebrating the ground-breaking for the first building for the Partnership for Structural Biology, the CIBB. This is the perfect image of Sine – she is in the midst of things as Science Director at the ESRF, joining forces with the ILL the EMBL and the IBS to strengthen life science in Grenoble and indeed in Europe as a whole. She is smiling, ever positive and seeing possibilities where others might only see challenges and she is preparing for hard, manual labour. If she had not been stopped, she would have dug out the entire foundations by herself. She was not afraid of work, coming from hardy, Danish farmer's stock.

Figure 2. Sine breaking ground for the first building for the Partnership for Structural Biology (CIBB).

Those of us who were there that day with her also know that she was in a hurry. Not because she really needed to finish the foundations before sundown, but because this was the 8th of June 2004 and she was loath to miss the transit of Venus across the face of the sun that was taking place concurrently. Sine was first and foremost a scientist, and regardless of the fact that her chosen fields were crystallography and chemistry, her curiosity was boundless and this chance to take part in a scientific once-in-a-lifetime event was not one she was willing to miss, so she finished her digging and had us all enjoy the celestial happening.

Starting her career as an inorganic chemist and then switching to structural biology gave her an ideal background for someone so integral to the IUCr. She knew how diverse structural science is, and she took great pride in having published in most of the IUCr journals, if not all.

Sine was long in the service of the IUCr. She was appointed General Secretary and Treasurer in 1995, following the death of her predecessor, Asbjörn Hordvik, and she was then elected and reelected to that same post 1996, 1999 and 2002, serving ten years as GS&T and on the Executive Committee of the IUCr. In 2008, she was elected President of the IUCr and served another six years on the Executive Committee, first as President and then as Immediate Past President. For us who worked with her, there are precious memories of her no-nonsense competence, her energy, her enthusiasm and her great hospitality when she would host lavish dinners for the entire Finance Committee during our meetings in Copenhagen.

She had a rare combination of scientific, managerial and people skills that made her singularly well suited for our community. Seemingly effortless, she would navigate the crowds at the gatherings during Congress and General Assembly. She knew everyone and remembered the names of everyone, stopping for a quick word. She saw people and made people felt being seen, whether they'd be IUCr staff, university professors or young and hopeful graduate students.

Sine was kind and considerate, but she was no softie. In her capacities as scientific director at the ESRF and as general director at the MAX IV synchrotron in Lund as well as during her work for the IUCr, she showed that she was capable of making hard decisions when needed. She did not take on executive duties in order to become loved. That happened anyway.

She is much missed. The crystallographic community is poorer without her.

Malcolm Cooper, Convenor, IUCr Finance Committee.

3. Sine at the ESRF

Professor Sine Ydun Larsen came to Grenoble, France in 2003 to take up her role as ESRF Director of Research for Chemistry, Life and Medical Sciences and Soft Matter Science. She stayed until late 2009, when she decided to return to her position as Professor at the University of Copenhagen. During this period of almost seven years, she worked side-by-side with Dr Francesco Sette, who was serving as Director of Research for Physical Sciences until the end of 2008, while Professor W. G. Stirling was ESRF Director General (DG). For the remainder of her time at the ESRF, Sine worked with Dr Harald Reichert, who became Director of Research for Physical Sciences in early 2009, and with Francesco who started to serve as DG.

Figure 3. Sine on the footbridge of the Experimental Hall, ESRF. Photograph by E. Bouy.

This was a very exciting time at the ESRF, and many projects that were crucial to ensure the full exploitation of the facility and to prepare for the future benefitted enormously from Sine's work: her enthusiasm, scientific knowledge, and ability to listen and to inspire contributed decisively to the ESRF of today, and to forging a new generation of ESRF users and scientists – especially in the biological sciences, soft matter research and novel cultural heritage disciplines based on synchrotron radiation.

Sine was instrumental in stabilizing the structural biology programme at the ESRF, which, since the late 1990s, was starting to fully exploit undulator radiation to study protein crystals with exceptionally large unit cells and increasingly smaller size. Under her leadership, and in close collaboration with the neighbouring institutes EMBL Grenoble and the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS), the ESRF led the way to today's modern macromolecular crystallography (MX) with outstanding innovations: the realization of the first fully automated MX beamlines with robotic sample changers, ultra-high-precision micro- and mini-diffractometers, large-area silicon-based 2D detectors, and advanced automated control of crystal harvesting, alignment, data collection and processing. This orders-of-magnitude increase in throughput and performance brought unprecedented quality to MX data and set a new standard for MX worldwide. This has led to reliable and massive contributions to the Protein Data Bank (PDB), a reliable and a highly sought-after commercial service for pharmaceutical companies, and a fantastic science-based cooperation among structural biology users with the introduction of the MX beamtime Block Allocation Groups (BAGs) concept. These advances were pivotal in shaping what MX is today, and led directly to the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry in 2009 (structure of the ribosome), 2012 (structure of the cell-membrane G-protein-coupled receptors, GPCRs) and 2024 (AI-assisted protein structure prediction). During this period, Sine was also directly involved in the launching and expansion of the Partnership for Structural Biology (PSB), an on-campus partnership among EMBL, ESRF, IBS and the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), promoting cutting-edge science and technological pipelines for the advancement of integrated structural biology, benefitting both on-site scientists and ESRF and ILL users worldwide. This fantastic adventure, today more active than ever, supports over twenty specialized platforms covering the entire protein research pipeline: starting from protein identification, production, purification, crystallization and biophysical characterization, tostructure determination with the most advanced techniques using synchrotron X-rays, neutrons andelectron microscopy, including state-of-the-art data analysis and storage for on-site users and users worldwide. Beyond these cutting-edge technologies, the PSB has contributed to the graduation of more than 400 PhD students, the research and training of 300 postdoctoral researchers, and more than 650 publications involving several PSB partners, which in turn benefitted greatly from Sine's unparallelled ability to inspire and motivate students and young scientists. The PSB model, a pioneering framework for coordinating and optimizing resources within a local science- and technology-driven ecosystem, has become an example and a gold standard for scientific collaboration in Europe and worldwide. We are grateful to Sine for her foresight and formidable engagement at the beginning of the PSB adventure, which required uniting hundreds of people – from the ESRF, the EPN Science Campus, the user community at large and the ESRF governing bodies – to work effectively together on a complex and multifaceted project.

Similarly, immediately after the launch of the PSB, under Sine's impulse, the ESRF and the ILL created the Partnership for Soft Condensed Matter (PSCM), a new endeavour that mirrors the PSB in terms of organization and user support with research-driven technology platforms, training objectives for the next generation, and coordination of the user community. Indeed, today the PSCM continues its mission to support the soft matter research community on-site and across the user organizations of the ESRF and ILL partner countries by providing ancillary platforms to the ESRF and ILL beamlines that are required for the preparation and characterization of soft matter samples before and after X-ray and neutron experiments. Again, the continued and growing success of the PSCM can be measured by the numerous European academic institutions associated with it, and a very productive community performing experiments made possible by the expertise and infrastructure of the PSCM.

During the first decade of the new millennium, the ESRF broadened its scientific horizons to address new areas of exploitation of synchrotron radiation by developing new interest in coupling established X-ray techniques with emerging microscopy and imaging capabilities, including exploitation of beam transverse coherence. Sine provided a major impulse in this direction in activities that were just coming to life at that time. The most striking example is the development of analytical studies based on the use of X-ray and infrared spectro-microscopy in the field of cultural heritage. What was once truly in its infancy gained enormous growth, and Sine's commitment, motivation and support of the internal staff involved in this new endeavour, as well as her ability to build up a network of users in Europe, Israel and Cyprus, was simply outstanding. Much like her contributions to the PSB and the PSCM, it is also thanks to Sine's engagement, vision and ability to bring many people working together from many different disciplines that nowadays the use of synchrotron radiation has become an indispensable tool for studying the most subtle and complex issues in the analysis of precious artefacts at the ESRF, as well as at almost every synchrotron laboratory in the world.

The ESRF Upgrade Programme Phase I, whose conception began in 2004 with a first paper by Francesco Sette and José Goulon, benefitted greatly from Sine's contributions, particularly in the fields of structural biology, biomedical sciences, soft matter research, and X-ray imaging and microscopy. She contributed directly and indirectly to the process, establishing the ESRF Upgrade Programme as a reference for future synchrotron-radiation research in Europe and worldwide. This influence was evident in its inclusion as the only synchrotron-based project on the ESRFI Roadmap since its inception in 2006, and in the drafting of the ESRF Purple Book, the launch of which, in late 2007, enabled the ESRF Council to approve the funding and implementation of the ESRF Upgrade Programme in 2008, during its June meeting in Bad Zurzach (Switzerland).

A distinguished figure in the field of crystallography, with major contributions to both structural biology and structural chemistry documented in 300 peer-reviewed publications, and the recipient of the 2018 Max Perutz Prize from the European Crystallographic Association, Sine was an outstanding scientist. But Sine was much more than that, and her legacy is huge from many points of view! She was a visionary leader who made possible many outstanding developments for synchrotron-radiation research and the optimal operation of synchrotron facilities, thanks to her remarkable ability to inspire people, especially the younger generation of researchers, to unite them, to make each of them a unique collaborator, and to build mutual trust through her genuine care for others, and by giving each of us who had the privilege of knowing her, her unique smile.

The Centre for Crystallographic Studies quickly made Sine's group the largest at the department at that time. The group worked with both small molecules and proteins, on topics ranging from very fundamental to applied projects, from charge-density studies and hydrogen bonds to allosteric regulation of enzymes andprotein engineering. Sine managed to create a truly attractive and international environment for students and young researchers, with strong support for family life embedded within the spirit of the laboratory. This included a room for changing a large number of babies' diapers and a lively atmosphere late into the evening. Indeed, Sine was often so busy that if you needed to talk with her, it often became very late.

Sine remained active until the end. She returned from a European Crystallography Meeting in 2021 inspired by the recent advances in user-accessible electron diffraction instruments and immediately got the department's potential stakeholders involved – because UCPH had to have one! In 2024, we inaugurated the department's new electron diffractometer, granted to Professor Jesper Bendix by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Sine was invited as a special guest and the instrument is named after her.

Community spirit, farming and glögg. Along with colleagues from Lund and Aarhus University, Professor Anders Liljas and Jens Nyborg, Sine was essential in establishing and maintaining a larger community of young protein crystallographers in Denmark and Southern Sweden, particularly through the CoLuAA (Copenhagen–Lund–Aarhus) annual protein crystallography meeting. This meeting series – lasting close to three decades – was centered on a strong focus on students and early researchers, and an informal inclusive atmosphere where every project was good enough for a talk. This provided an excellent training ground for young researchers in the field to present their projects and practice their presentation skills in front of a friendly audience. The meeting series also created a strong network of both young and established researchers in the field across southern Scandinavia.

Sine prioritized and managed to gather the whole group – and collaborators – for large social events which forged friendship and collaborations across generations of group members. Two traditions that stand out are the summer parties and the Christmas events. Typically, at least 100 people gathered for the summer parties, held at Sine and her husband Erik's working farm, and the weather was almost always excellent (not at all a given in Denmark). Christmases were marked by glögg parties (glögg is the Danish version of mulled wine), which took place at the department. The last Christmas glögg party was held only a couple of years ago in 2022. And even then, many years after Sine officially retired, over 50 former students and postdocs (and their students!) gathered with their families. A similar number joined many more family members, friends and former colleagues for a last goodbye – Sine's last party? – at Lillerød church on the 14 January this year. The connections she helped establish as a mentor will last many more generations. In recognition of her remarkable achievements to science and the scientific community, the University has dedicated one of its new gardens in the Niels Bohr Building, the newly inaugurated future home of several departments of the Faculty of Science at UCPH, to Sine Larsen.

This article was originally published inActa Cryst. (2025). A81, 84–88.

Rajagopala Chidambaram, one of the most distinguished crystallographers of our era, and an outstanding leader of science in India, passed away on the 4th January 2025.

Both of us have known Chidambaram for a long time. SCM met him for the first time in 1982 during the National Seminary on Crystallography in Nagpur, while SCM was still a final year Bachelor's student in college. Chidambaram then explained to SCM the beauty of understanding geometric relationships among atoms in molecules in order to understand the properties of materials. TPS met him for the first time at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc) while pursuing a PhD in physics in 1971. Chidambaram had obtained his PhD from the same department in IISc several years before. He was also the PhD thesis examiner of TPS and a frequent visitor to IISc in the following years.

Chidambaram was born in 1936 in Chennai (formerly Madras) and received his initial education in Chennai. Later, he received his PhD from the IISc, Bangalore. He once recounted a fascinating story of how he was lost as a child in Prayagraj (Allahabad) and later reunited with his family.

Chidambaram started his independent professional career in 1962 at the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET), later renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai. He initially began his work using neutron diffraction and high-pressure physics and soon established a vibrant group addressing structural analysis of materials. He initiated multiple lines of crystallographic analyses on materials using both X-rays and neutrons. By carrying out a comparative analysis of these techniques, he initially addressed questions related to hydrogen bonding by water in crystals and showed that, in the crystalline state, bent hydrogen bonds are preferred over distortion of the geometry of the H–O–H angle. He soon shifted his attention to creating high pressures on crystals and made a diamond anvil cell for the same. These studies continue at the XRD-2 beamline at the Elettra synchrotron radiation source using a similar diamond anvil cell, constructed under the India–Italy collaboration.

He rose to become Director of BARC in 1990 and later moved to New Delhi as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1993. He was appointed as the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India in 2002, a position that he held for close to 17 years. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency during 1994–1995 and was a member of the Executive Committee and later the Vice President of the IUCr during 1990–1999.

During his time as the Chairman of AEC, Chidambaram played a crucial role in the nuclear test in India in 1998. While he was the PSA, he started many new initiatives including the National Knowledge Network to improve internet connectivity in academic organizations. Another of his initiatives was to launch technology interventions through the rural technology action group (RuTAG).

Chidambaram was a great champion of structural analysis of materials using X-rays and neutrons. He hardly missed any of the annual National Seminars on Crystallography in India. He also was an extraordinarily fine gentleman. Due mostly to his affable personality, even when he found himself in the most difficult situations, he was able to steer through them with ease. For example, while he was the Vice President of the IUCr, he was denied a US visa because of his involvement in the nuclear explosion a few years before. However, he did not make a scene, and instead quietly buried the matter.

With his departure, the world of crystallography has lost a great champion. He will be missed by the crystallographic community around the world, but even more by the team of scientists that he created in India's nuclear establishment, and the Indian crystallography fraternity (see Figs. 1 and 2).   

Owing to the success of theIUCr Newsletter over recent years, the Finance Committee and Executive Committee have decided that we should appear 6 times per year. So this is the first issue of the new series. You can find the usual assortment of clips from the IUCr journals, and also meeting reports, showing just how active the field of crystallography remains.

It is particularly interesting to read Istvan Hargittai's fascinating interview with the late Richard E. Marsh (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-33/number-1/linus-pauling,-robert-corey,-richard-marsh,-and-other-caltech-crystallographers-a-1999-conversation-with-richard-e.-marsh) since it tells us much about the personalities of some of the famous crystallographers/chemists during the 1950s at Caltech. For example, it highlights double Nobellist Linus Pauling and his associate Robert Corey, and explains how their personalities diverged and how they attempted to solve the DNA problem. Richard Marsh was well-known later for pointing out published crystal structures that were simply incorrect. The main error tended to be in determining the relevant space groups (all normal crystals have symmetries that can be classified among the 230 possible space group types; determination of the space group is usually the most crucial first step in determining a crystal structure using diffraction techniques). These days, the availability of machines that appear to solve crystal structures automatically and the lack of basic knowledge of crystallography means that false structures are sometimes accepted and published. We used to refer to the offenders as PCIs (Practicing Crystallographic Idiots). As a result of Richard Marsh's analyses, several authors found themselves being "Marshed". I am glad to say that I never received this badge of honour!

A few days ago, I was invited back to University College London, where I had been a graduate student some 60 years earlier (amazing how quickly time passes). This was to participate in a film being made for the Royal Society to celebrate 80 years since the election to the Society of the first two female scientists: Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson. I was there to talk about Kathleen Lonsdale as one of her few ex-students still alive. Seeing the laboratories again after such a long time felt odd. It was a trip down memory lane. Much had changed, of course, but I could still recognize some areas where I used to work. Just as in my time, there was a great deal of clutter (unbelievably, that's how we used to work). Fig. 2, below, shows, on the left, the room where my desk had been together next to that of the late Howard Flack (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-24/number4/howard-flack-1943-2017) and, on the right, where I recognized part of a bench in the corner of the X-ray room where I once constructed my own crystal growth apparatus.

Figure 2. Laboratories at University College London where I studied as a graduate student.

In those days, there were no screens around the X-ray tubes; we relied instead on small pieces of lead wrapped around the X-ray collimator. They leaked a lot of X-rays, so we were obviously getting a fair dose of radiation. We used photographic cameras that we pushed up and pulled away from the X-ray window. The window shutter was a simple slider that one slid to ON or OFF positions. I recall once getting a full dose of the direct beam when I hurriedly slid the shutter to the open position instead of to OFF (someone had apparently already slid the shutter to the OFF position, unbeknown to me).

Figure 3. A Unicam rotating crystal camera pushed up against an X-ray window. This type of camera was used by Raymond Gosling at Kings College in London to obtain the first clear DNA photographs for Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin.

Finally, I am sorry to have to point to the latest set of obituaries: Peter Main (UK) (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-33/number-1/peter-main-19392024), Rajagopala Chidambaram (India) (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-33/number-1/rajagopala-chidambaram-19362025) and Sine Larsen (Denmark) (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-33/number-1/sine-ydun-larsen-19432025). I first met Sine when I joined the Finance Committee of the IUCr. We used to have our meetings in Copenhagen in her department. I remember the Danish sandwiches with pleasure and the invitation to her house deep in the countryside, where her husband cooked a wonderful dinner for us. Sine was a charming and intelligent person whom I shall personally miss.

References

Geday, M. A. & Glazer, A. M. (2002).J. Appl. Cryst.35, 185–190.

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 IUCr Crystal Growing Competition.

Schoolchildren were invited to convey their experiences of growing crystals through a video. The entries were judged on their creativity, aesthetic value, description of the working plan and experimental work, clarity of explanation, scientific background and safety by an international panel. This particular year we had so many incredible entries that the judges decided to award honourable mentions alongside the usual medals. The winners and honourable mentions, who receive a certificate and medal, respectively, are as follows:

Under 11 (Primary School)

Honorable Mention – Xixin Primary School, China

11-15 Age Group (Middle Forms)

Gold – IRIS School, Vietnam

Silver – V Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Andrzeja Struga, Poland

Bronze – Nexus International School Singapore, Singapore

Honorable Mention – Collège JEAN JAURES, France

Honorable Mention – Hanoi Academy, Vietnam

Honorable Mention – E.S.R.N. N°103, Argentina

15-18 Age Group (Upper Forms)

Gold – Instituto General San Martin de Jose C Paz, Argentina

Silver – Edward Dembowski Bilingual High School No. 1 in Gliwice, Poland

Bronze – Raíces de Gonnet, Argentina

Honorable Mention – GO! Atheneum Ekerenm, Belgium

Honorable Mention – Colegio San Ildefonso, Spain

Honorable Mention – Vinschool Imperia, Vietnam

Honorable Mention – Colegio de Jesus, Argentina

A special shoutout to our gold winners!

IRIS School crafted their crystal in honor of Teacher’s Day in Vietnam (20 Nov) as a heartfelt tribute to their teacher.

Watch their contributionhere.

Instituto General San Martin de Jose C Paz crystallised a Hello Kitty to celebrate 50 years of Hello Kitty!

Watch their contribution here.

Many thanks to all those who took part. Once again, the quality of the entries was extremely high, making the decisions difficult for the judges. 

As with all IUCr journals, the Editorial Board ofJournal of Applied Crystallography evolves as members complete their terms and the field of applied crystallography in its broadest sense expands.

Our most recent editorial on the scope of the journal introduced Louise Dawe (Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) as an additional Teaching and Education Editor (Daweet al. 2022). Since then, three new Co-editors, Sabrina Disch (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany), Jozef Keckes (Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria) and Parthapratim Munshi (Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi, India), have joined the Editorial Board, usually to replace retiring members.

The current scope ofJournal of Applied Crystallography is

In this issue, we are delighted to welcome eight new Co-editors (Fig. 1) toJournal of Applied Crystallography to help cover the growing number of submissions and the ever-broadening scope of articles in applied crystallography and structural science that we aim to publish.

Professor René Guinebretière is a member of the Institut de Recherche sur les Céramiques, IRCER UMR CNRS, of the University of Limoges, France. His field of research is materials physics (materials science in general) and the associated X-ray characterization techniques, with expertise in ceramics, defects, diffuse scattering, X-ray diffraction and X-ray optics. He carries out his research mainly on synchrotron radiation sources.

Dr James K. Harper is a Research Consultant at US Synthetic and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He brings to the Editorial Board a much desired expertise in NMR with extensive knowledge of its relevance to crystallography and complementarity to diffraction techniques. He also brings a valuable industrial connection in his present consultancy role with US Synthetic, a major producer of synthetic diamond tools for oil and gas companies.

Professor Venkatesha R. Hathwar is an Assistant Professor and Programme Director of Physics in the School of Physical and Applied Sciences at Goa University, India. He has expertise in single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction,Rietveld refinement, charge-density analysis using high-resolution X-ray data, synchrotron data, and high-pressure data. He is presently applying this expertise to the study of photo-luminescent and photo-catalytic materials, phase transitions, and hybrid functional materials for energy applications. He also has expertise in the analysis of weak intermolecular interactions and structure–property correlations using quantum crystallographic methods.

Professor Dr Karolina Jurkiewicz is a faculty member in the August Chełkowski Institute of Physics of the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. She works in materials science with research interests in topics related to X-ray characterization of the atomic-scale, molecular and supramolecular structure of non-crystalline materials, nanomaterials, and disordered and amorphous-like phases, specifically structure–synthesis–property relationships in functional materials, extreme-pressure diffraction synchrotron studies and structural transformation of materials. She also has experience in synchrotron X-ray diffraction and pair-distribution-function analysis as well as computer simulations and structure modeling.

Dr Thomas J. Lane leads the Photobiology Group (PBIO) of the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) at DESY in Hamburg, Germany. He has expertise in time-resolved crystallography and artificial intelligence applications for protein structures, and he has worked with the industry to apply this knowledge to advance drug discovery.

Professor Adrian Mancuso is currently the Director of Physical Sciences at Diamond Light Source in Didcot, UK. He has expertise in methods and instrumentation at XFEL and synchrotron facilities across a range of disciplines, focused mainly on exploiting spatially coherent X-rays to observe the structure and dynamics of matter.

Dr Florian Meneau is the manager of the Cateretê beamline for the Coherent Scattering Group in the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) in Campinas, Brazil. His main research interests lie in synchrotron techniques and instrumentation. He is already well versed in the demands of editing, having served as one of the Guest Editors of the SAS2022 special issue ofJournal of Applied Crystallography.

Professor Katharine Page is an Assistant Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA, and a Joint Faculty Member in the Neutron Scattering Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. She has broad experience in neutron scattering science, facilities and techniques, with expertise in materials chemistry and structural science over a wide range of complex material systems of technological interest, especially energy materials.

With the expanded Editorial Board, nearly all IUCr geographical regions will be represented, and the range of expertise needed to address the interests of cutting-edge applied crystallographic and structural science research will be significantly enhanced. We look forward to working with all Co-editors, both ongoing and new, to increase the impact and reach ofJournal of Applied Crystallography. Short biographies of all the Editors and Co-editors can be found by clicking on their photographs on the editor web page:https://journals.iucr.org/j/services/editors.html.

To close, we thank the recently retired Co-editors, Trevor Forsyth (Lund University, Sweden), Václav Holý (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic), Dhananjai Pandey (Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India), Arwen Pearson (University of Hamburg, Germany) and Dmitri Svergun (EMBL, Hamburg, Germany) for their invaluable contributions to the Editorial Board over many years.

References

Dawe, L. N., García-Ruiz, J. M., Hajdu, J., McIntyre, G. J., Meilleur, F. & Stephenson, L. (2022).J. Appl. Cryst.55, 215–217.

Ekeberg, T. (2024).J. Appl. Cryst.57, 1–2.

This article was originally published inJ. Appl. Cryst. (2025).58, 1–3.

CCDC Free Virtual Workshops

Registrations are open for a new series of free virtual workshops — a series of hands-on guided training sessions where you learn how to use different components of the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) software. These sessions are open to beginners and more experienced users of the CSD software.

The format is90 minutes and Show One, Try One, Explore More:

    •Show One: a guided demo of the software by the CCDC tutors.
    •Try One: hands-on examples for you to try, with CCDC tutors on hand to help.
    •Explore More: learning outcomes recap, challenges and quizzes.

In the upcoming workshops, you will learn how to access and search data using the CSD Python API, understand the intramolecular geometry of the molecules in your structures, and explore and visualize structures in the CSD:

    •Search and Access Structural Chemistry Data With the CSD Python API

        ◦11th March - 16:00 (GMT)/17:00 (CET)/12:00 (ET).

    •Validate Molecular Conformations With Informatics Software Mogul

        ◦25th March - 9:30 (GMT)/10:30 (CET)/17:30 (CST).

    •Introduction to Mercury and ConQuest Software To Investigate Crystal Structures With a Focus on Powder Diffraction

        ◦8th April - 13:00 (BST)/14:00 (CEST)/8:00 (EDT).

The 8th April 2025 Virtual Workshop puts the focus on powder diffraction.

More CCDC events in 2025

    •CMAC Open Days 2025

        ◦18–20 March, Technology & Innovation Centre, Glasgow, UK.

    •Cambridge Festival 2025

        ◦22nd March, Cambridge, UK.

    •4th SCI-RSC Workshop on Computational Tools for Drug Discovery 2025

        ◦8th April, Leeds, UK.

    •BCA Spring Meeting 2025

        ◦14-17 April, Leeds University, UK.

    •ICDD: PPXRD-18 – XRD Training for the Pharmaceutical Scientist

        ◦6-9 May at the CCDC office in Cambridge, UK.

    •PhD Student Science Day 2025

        ◦19th June at the CCDC office in Cambridge, UK.

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New How-To Video: search and visualize 3D structural data using WebCSD

Watch a step-by-step demonstration of how to search and visualize 3D structural data using WebCSD — the online platform of the CSD. You will learn how to draw a substructure query using WebCSD’s intuitive sketcher, add 3D parameters with constraints (e.g. distances and angles), and see the tools available for exploring an entry’s 3D structure.

Free On-Demand Online Training

Pharmacophore Searching 101 — Introduction to CSD-CrossMiner

CSD-CrossMiner is software that allows you to build pharmacophore queries and simultaneously mine the CSD, the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and your proprietary structural data to quickly identify off-target effects, alternative scaffolds, similar binding sites, interaction motifs, bioisosteres and more.

Start learning today!

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The 8th European Conference on Crystal Growth (ECCG8) was organized by the Institute of High-Pressure Physics, the Physics Faculty of Warsaw University, Ensemble3 and the Polish Society for Crystal Growth (PTWK). The event occurred in Warsaw from 21st to 25th July 2024. Mike Leszczynski, president of PTWK, Dorota Pawlak, president-elect of PTWK, and Andrzej Wysmolek served as chairs of the conference.

The number of participants was 191, one of the highest scores of ECCGs. The largest group of participants was from Poland (59), Germany (29) and France (19). Despite the European character of the conference, 32 participants were from non-European countries (12 from Japan).

At the conference, we had 6 plenary talks, 19 invited talks, 104 contributed talks and 58 posters.

The sessions were as follows:

S1. Fundamentals of Crystal Growth and Modeling

S2. Semiconductor Single Crystals and Films

S3. Crystals for Energy Production, Saving and Storage

S4. Crystals for Optics

S5. Crystals and Films for Sensors and Detectors

S6. Crystallization for Food and Pharmaceutical Production

S7. Growth of Nanocrystals

S8. Growth of 2D-materials

S9. Bio-crystallization

S10. Characterization and Defects in Crystalline Materials

S11. Bulk Crystal Growth

The conference showed many new trends in the crystal growth area. The most important one is the significant progress in the modeling of physical phenomena responsible for the growth of perfect and non-perfect crystalline materials. The applications of artificial intelligence were often mentioned, however, rather concerning future research.

The VI Latin American Crystallographic Association Meeting (LACA) and its satellite events took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, last September. After careful planning and setting of the goals for the event, which included transitioning to a meeting held in English and a strict gender equity and diversity statement to fulfill, the event was able to bring together 126 researchers from 21 countries in 3 continents (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Ireland, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela), who presented over 130 works.

Montevideo's municipal building, the School of Chemistry of the Universidad de la República and the Institut Pasteur of Montevideo were the chosen venues. From September 20th through to the 22nd, the VI LACA school was held, dedicated to an introduction to Quantum Crystallography for the first time in Latin America. With the help of Dr Christian Jelsch (CNRS) and Lorraine Malaspina (Bern University), together with Dr Bernardo Lages (UFMG) and Camila Batista (USP), 32 participants from 14 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, United States, France, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland and Uruguay), including researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, were introduced to the basics of Quantum Crystallography.

Official VI LACA School picture. Top row, left to right: Víctor García, Elizabeth Olave, Maite Martirena, Robert Burrow, Nahum Ramírez, Ivanna Cabrera, Esteban Garcia, Juan Manuel Rey, Federico Mesa and Yonathan Parra. Second row, left to right: Mauricio Fuentealba, Vania Artigas, Bruna Santiago, Isadora Vieira, Rosario López, Tamara Quesada, Teresa Garcia, Manuel Vivas, Pedro Santiago, Jonathan Herrera, Michelle Herrera, Kersty Krupskava and Santiago Valiero. Third row, left to right: Silvina Pagola, Bernardo Rodrigues, Christian Jelsch, Santiago García-Granda, Camila Batista and Lorraine Malaspina. Bottom row, left to right: Santiago Pioli, Pollyana Firmino, Alessandra Costa, Lucas Machado, Pedro Marcon, Paulo de Souza and Hellen Guimarães.

Starting on September 23rd until the 26th, the venue moved from the School of Chemistry to Montevideo's Municipal Building Conference Center, where 126 researchers met to share their latest results and discuss the new frontiers in structural science. The VI LACA meeting was organized by Dr Natalia Alvarez (chair), Ivana Aguiar, Leopoldo Suescun and Daniel Ariosa from the Universidad de la República, and Dr Alejandro Buschiazzo, Felipe Trajtenberg and Nicole Larrieux from the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo. On the other hand, the international scientific committee was made up of researchers of different research interests considering the members of LACA and other countries that are keen to become members: Dr Valeria Fuertes and Dr Carlos López (Argentina), Dr Beatriz Guimarães and Dr Eduardo Granado (Brazil), Dr Mauricio Fuentealba (Chile), Dr Mario A. Macías (Colombia), Dr Bryan Moncada (Costa Rica), Lic. Ingrid Benítez (Guatemala), Dr María del Jesús Rosalez Hoz and Dr Vojtech Jancik (Mexico), Dr Natalia Alvarez and Dr Leopoldo Suescun (Uruguay), and Dr Alexander Briceño (Venezuela). The committee was specifically asked to come up with an exciting program for the meeting and the revision and edition of the book of abstracts available on the event's webpage (https://www.laca2024.pedeciba.edu.uy/).

The event was supported by the Universidad de la República, the Basic Sciences Development Program, the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), the Latin American Crystallographic Association, the Structural Biology Center of Mercosur, the Uruguayan Network of Crystallography, Uruguay's Ministry of Tourism and the Municipal Government of Montevideo. The various institutions that provided financial support include: the International Union of Crystallography, the University of the Republic, the Basic Sciences Development Program, the Municipal Government of Montevideo, the International Center for Diffraction Data (ICDD), the Foundation for the Progress of Chemistry, Rigaku Inc., Bruker Inc., the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center (CCDC), the Structural Biology Center of Mercosur and DECTRIS. All of whom made it possible for the event to be a success.

The event featured 3 plenary talks, 12 semi-plenary talks, 21 invited 20-minute talks, 8 selected 15-minute talks, 20 selected 10-minute talks, as well as 55 presentations in poster format divided into two sessions. The plenary lecturers Professor Michael Zawarotko from the University of Limerick, Ireland; Professor Richard Garrat from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and Professor Louise Dawe from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada, ensured the discussion of different and exciting topics. Keynote lecturers included: Professor Santiago Garcia-Granda, Universidad de Oviedo and the IUCr; Robert Hanson, St Olaf College (USA); Julia Torres, Universidad de la República (Uruguay); Silvina Pagola, Old Dominion University (USA); Andrey Nascimento, Sirius, LNLS (Brazil); Alejandro Buschiazzo, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo (Uruguay); Maria Cristina Nonato, São Paulo University (Brazil); Gabriela Aurelio, Laboratorio Argentino de Haces de Neutrones (Argentina); Florencia di Salvo, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina); Peter Spackman, Curtin University (Australia); Nikolay Gerasimchuk, Missouri State University (USA); and Javier Ellena, São Paulo University (Brazil). Sessions concerning Crystal Engineering, the characterization of minerals, X-ray technique applications in heritage and industry applications, medicinal chemistry, SAXS, Neutron and synchrotron radiation, functional materials, structural biology, and Crystallographic Education and Engagement took place during the event.

IUCr president Santiago Garcia-Granda, vice-president Graciela Díaz de Delgado, and executive community member and LACA liaison Cristina Nonato were available, and had a great opportunity to share ideas and discussions. Several IUCr journal co-editors were also present, and most of them were involved in the evaluation of the young researcher presentation IUCr prizes and participated in lively discussions. Co-editors present at LACA2024 included Michael Zawarotko (IUCrJ); Louise Dawe (Acta B); Florencia di Salvo, Nikolay Gerasimchuk and María del Jesús Rosales Hoz (Acta C); Richard Garrat (Acta D); Graciela Díaz de Delgado, Natalia Alvarez, Alexander Briceño, Miguel Delgado, Florencia di Salvo, Javier Ellena, Vojtech Jancik and Leopoldo Suescun (Acta E); and Cristina Nonato and Alejandro Buschiazzo (Acta F). The meeting also had Professor Rosales Hoz's presentation of the Acta C Special Issue -Crystallography in Latin America: a vibrant community.

The main goal of the meeting was to help as many young researchers as possible and we are proud to share that the VI LACA meeting was able to support 29 young researchers through travel bursaries sponsored by the IUCr, the ICDD and the CCDC, coupled with the allocation of 23% of the funds received from registration fees to this end.

VI LACA meeting and school bursary recipients. First row, left to right: Elizabeth Olave, Paulo Nunes, Lucas Machado, Pedro Salgado, Pollyana Firmino, Gabriel Pessoa, Sergio Rincón, Juan Rey, Kevin Salamanca, Esteban Garcia and Zaighum Abbas. Middle row, left to right: Kristal Varela, Bruna Rotta, Ivanna Cabrera, Teresa Garcia, Tamara Quesada, Rosario López, Manuel Vivas and Mauro Difeo. Bottom row, left to right: Kersty Barrios, Paulina Rossi, Michelle Herrera, Ely Sepúlveda and Hellen Guimarães. Absent from the photo: Ivan Polcowñuk, Micaela Campo, Esteban Asto, Belén Arcentales and Mayra Padrón.

Several prizes were awarded by the end of the meeting to young researchers who presented outstanding works in different areas of structural sciences. IUCr prizes were awarded to Joaquín Dalla Rizza from the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Hellen Ferreira Guimarães from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and Esteban Garcia from the University of Manitoba in Structural Biology, Structural Chemistry and Applied Crystallography, respectively.

IUCr prizes delivered at the closing ceremony of LACA2024. From left to right: Dr Alejandro Buschiazzo delivering the Structural Biology Prize to Joaquín Dalla Rizza, IUCr vice-president Professor Graciela Díaz de Delgado delivering the Structural Chemistry prize to Hellen Ferreira Guimarães and IUCr president Professor Santiago Garcia-Granda delivering the Applied Crystallography prize to Esteban Garcia.

The CCDC sponsored two prizes delivered to Ely Sepúlveda from the Universidad Industrial de Santander and Juan Manuel Rey from the Universidad de Buenos Aires.

CCDC prizes delivered to Ely Sepúlveda by CCDC champion Professor Javier Ellena (left) and Juan Manuel Rey by CCDC champion Professor Natalia Alvarez (right).

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) also sponsored a prize that went to Zaighum Abbas from the Universidade de São Paulo. The last prize, sponsored by the ICDD, was awarded to Manuel Vivas from the Universidad de Córdoba.

Zaighum Abbas receiving the PDB prize from Dr Alejandro Buschiazzo (left). Manuel Vivas receiving the ICDD prize from ICDD representatives Miguel Delgado and Leopoldo Suescun (right).

On Friday September 27th, three parallel satellite workshops took place dedicated to the use of CCP4 software, CCDC tools and the ICDD PDF5+ database. The CCP4 workshop was ministered by Charles Ballard, Robert Nicholls and Lucrezia Catapano. The CCDC workshop was ministered by Florencia di Salvo, Javier Ellena and Natalia Alvarez, with the online participation of Andrew Peel, Ilaria Gimondi and Yinka Olatunji-Ojo. The ICDD workshop was ministered on site by Graciela Díaz de Delgado, Miguel Delgado and Leopoldo Suescun, and had the online participation of Thomas Blanton.

Not all of it was science and seriousness: relaxed times were shared in watching the sunset from the panoramic viewpoint at the top of the Municipal building, pizzas and beers were enjoyed at The End Bar for the welcoming cocktail, and lets not forget the amazing conference dinner at El Milongón where after one hour of an artistic show portraying local dances and music we enjoyed dancing until hours that I will not confess. The excitement and commitment of the participants was such that the room for the last keynote lectures the next morning was at the same capacity as the previous mornings.

All in all, we are confident that several interesting science discussions took place and new collaborations were established, including crazy plans such as a regional crystal growing competition that may take place this year. We were honored to host the meeting, are thankful to all participants for their role in making this a success and hope to meet you all soon at the VII LACA meeting to be held in Fortaleza, Brazil, in October.

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