As we bid farewell to the year 2024 and look forward to the beginning of 2025, I write this brief note for the winter Newsletter of the IUCr with best wishes to the people who make up this scientific family.

2024 has been a busy year in terms of scientific meetings of our regional associations, all of them very successful, the last and most recent being the Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA) meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The regional impact of the IUCr is one of the most effective ways to bring the IUCr closer to the scientific societies related to structural science. Once again we have witnessed the awarding of a Nobel Prize directly related to structural science and macromolecular crystallography. Our community has produced some very creative videos with ingenious ideas for the crystallization competitions that are held in many countries. The new EC Outreach Committee is overseeing support for proposed outreach initiatives around the world. We have also boosted the prominence and leadership of women scientists in our community resulting in an impact on global science.

The reorganization of staff in our Chester office is being completed successfully, both in the editorial, administrative and outreach sections, with Kezia Bowman now looking after the IUCr Newsletter and the addition of Harriet Jackson in the office. There are great expectations for an increase in our editorial strength with the addition of the new Head of Publishing Strategy, who is expected to join the Chester editorial team in the new year.

The Executive Committee met virtually on 12 November, and the Finance Committee will meet virtually on 18 December. The Finance Committee will meet in person in Lund, Sweden, on 24-25 March 2025, just after the annual meeting of the Journals Management Board, which will take place in Chester on 20-21 March. It is a priority for the Executive Committee to return the activity levels of our journals to those in 2019 and to recover their capacity to produce the resources to cover the funding of our projects, especially the support to young scientists and the promotion of structural science in less developed geographical areas. In this endeavor, it is also important that the Finance Committee is able to identify the most productive and secure investments for the future of our financial health.

2025 will be a year of consolidation of the organization of the Congress and the 27th General Assembly in Calgary, Canada. As with every congress, the participation and support of our commercial partners will be very important in order to be able to organise a commercial exhibition as attractive as our scientific congress. It is important that no participation is hampered by bureaucratic or other issues, and we will strive to facilitate the widest possible participation and, in particular, to promote the presence and influence of younger researchers.

All IUCr Commissions are proposing members of the International Programme Committee (IPC) and selecting the more attractive speakers for the Plenary and Keynote Lectures, as well as the most appealing Microsymposia, showing the impact of crystallography and structural science in solving the challenges of the present and future of our planet.

The International Science Council (ISC) Elections for the shortlist of candidates for renewal of the ISC Governing Board will take place in Oman, in the framework of the Muscat Global Knowledge Dialogue and Third ISC General Assembly, in January 2025. The IUCr will be represented by our Vice-President Professor Graciela Díaz de Delgado.

Following its inaugural meeting, the IUCr Early Career Scientist Division (ECSD) met on 18 November 2024, and several decisions were taken to develop this important division of IUCr. The first elected Chair and Co-chair were Rebecca Clulow (ECA) and Orbett Alexander (AfCA). Kara Zielinski (ACA) was nominated as a member of the Division to serve on the International Program Committee (IPC). Actions were planned to increase the visibility of the new IUCr Division in the existing communities and to organize meetings for young scientists in the field of structural sciences. All of the initial group are actively producing new ideas and developing the framework and networks to have a major impact on the present and the future of IUCr.

As usual, I end this letter with deep gratitude to all those who form and make our organisation work, the Regional Associates, the IUCr Commissions and Committees, Editors, Co-editors, referees and authors of our journals, our Chester staff and all individual structural scientists, women and men.

Thanks to IUCr Newsletter Editor Mike Glazer, and his team, and thanks to all contributors for making possible, as with every issue, a new issue that continues to be the reference communication for our community.

Thank you all for helping to keep the momentum of the IUCr going, wherever you are in the world.

Enjoy the holiday season with your families, colleagues and friends!

Best wishes for the best personal and professional development in 2025.

I recently attended a meeting of the Biographical Memoirs Committee of the Royal Society where a discussion was had about how to promote the Memoirs to the wider public. I was reminded that some time ago we ran an article (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/etc/articles?issue=147154&result_138339_result_page=24) on the memoirs of crystallographers who were Fellows of the Royal Society. When one considers the great successes of crystallographers since the initial work of Laue in Germany and the Braggs, father and son, in England in 1912, together with the extraordinary number of Nobel Prizes awarded for research in or related to crystallography (roughly 30), it is not surprising to find so many biographical memoirs of crystallographers in the Royal Society archives. So, for those of you who missed the earlier article, I thought it would be worth recalling that there is a wealth of interesting material available on the Royal Society website. Since that list was published in the Newsletter, we have to add the memoirs of Michael Woolfson, who died in 2019 (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2021.0018), and Louise Johnson, who died in 2012 (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2021.0038).

It is not often that a particular science suddenly has most of its basic tenets overthrown, but that is exactly what occurred 40 years ago in Crystallography. I recall how surprised (shocked?) I was to hear then that some crystals had been discovered that completely overturned the received dogma on the nature of symmetry in crystals. Like most crystallographers, I had been brought up in the belief that crystals could not have 5-fold rotational symmetry and that, according to the so-called Crystallographic Restriction Theorem, only 1 (i.e. no symmetry), 2, 3, 4 and 6-fold symmetry were allowed. Dan Schechtman’s discovery and subsequent Nobel Prize (2011) made crystallographers rethink what they thought they knew about crystal symmetry. In this issue of the Newsletter, Istvan Hargittai has written an article for us (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-32/number-4/tribute-to-the-support-groups-in-the-quasicrystal-discovery-a-40-year-anniversary) recording some aspects of that discovery and how it came to be in collaboration with others at the time. Today, the existence of so-called quasicrystals is completely accepted, and numerous papers and books have been written on this subject. However, this is mainly of an academic nature since quasicrystals have yet to find much application, and the Restriction Theorem still applies to most crystals that we study. Quasicrystals belong to a class of crystals known in general as aperiodic crystals, where the usual concept of periodicity (i.e. repetition of atoms or molecules to define what we call the crystal structure) breaks down in three dimensions. However, when one considers periodicity occurring in a higher dimension (mathematicians have no problem with this!), typically in a 6-dimensional space, quasicrystals then become understandable as a projection down onto our 3-dimensional world. So, when we think of what a crystal means, we have to revise previously held views. See, for example, https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/etc/articles?issue=151351&result_138339_result_page=17. It is interesting to note that some clever scientists, such as Roger Penrose and, especially, the crystallographer Alan Mackay at Birkbeck College London, had already been playing around with these ideas long before the discovery of quasicrystals. I recall, as a young PhD student, attending lectures by Alan, who taught us how to draw different crystal shapes, and he introduced some rather unusual thoughts on crystal symmetry, but I have to admit that I did not appreciate his ideas at the time!

Crystallography has been (and still remains) one of the most multidisciplinary sciences that links together frontier areas of research and has, directly or indirectly, produced the largest number of Nobel Laureates throughout history (up to 29 Prizes for 48 Laureates now). It is therefore not surprising that the recent Nobel Prizes for Physics and Chemistry in 2024 once again highlight the groundbreaking advancements made in the field of crystallography. This time, the award was given for the development of methods to predict protein structures using methods of machine learning.

Crystallographers were among the first scientists to recognize the importance of collecting data on crystal structures. The subsequent explosive growth has been caused by the accumulation of huge amounts of data and the growing ability of computers to store them. Data mining has appeared as the tool of choice when extracting hidden patterns and new knowledge from data by using computing power and applying new techniques of machine learning. This has been aided by such precedent discoveries in computer science as neural networks (1943), clustering, genetic algorithms (1950s), decision trees (1960s) and support vector machines (1980s). Even if the key algorithms used in data mining today were known in mathematics as early as the beginning of the last century, data mining is still a young field of science with the rapid evolution of methods and tools and the explosive growth of computational possibilities. Partly for this reason, it is very difficult to find a unified terminology and presentation within the huge amount of specialized literature, like in handbooks on data mining. Therefore, to navigate between tasks, algorithms and their applications as used in crystallography, the new edition of International Tables for Crystallography (Volume C: Mathematical, Physical and Chemical Tables) will include two new chapters: 'Data mining. I. Machine learning in crystallography' and 'Data mining. II. Prediction of protein structure and optimization of protein crystallizability'.

The first chapter, written by D. W. M. Hofmann and L. N. Kuleshova, introduces readers to the concept, terminology and overall scheme of machine learning as it is used today. Then, the main tasks of machine learning, such as clustering, anomaly detection, classification, regression and summarization (dimensionality reduction), are characterized and specified in relation to actual problems of crystallography. For example, together with an overview of clustering algorithms and methods of similarity detection (also known as pattern recognition), several important applications of crystal structure clustering are described. Clustering of polymorphs defined at non-ambient conditions reveals significant structural changes and the need to take into account additional descriptors (temperature and pressure) during Crystal Structure Prediction.

The presented mathematical concept behind the tasks of classification and regression is illustrated using examples drawn from crystal-density estimation and force-field development. The new approach for the refining of the model and parameters of a force field allows one to handle any types of atoms including metals and ions, and to take into account external conditions. It helps improve significantly the predictability of Crystal Structure Prediction, which belongs one of the high level primary goals of machine learning.

The summarization (dimensionality reduction) task is illustrated in the chapter by calculation and prediction of solubility, the property that is of crucial importance for pharmaceutical developments and drug discovery, as are estimates of the crystal energy for monitoring the stability of proposed new drugs.

The importance of the anomaly (outlier) detection task is also highlighted. Since all methods of machine learning are very sensitive to data quality, they can easily detect anomalies and outliers. An accurate analysis of any outliers is very often worthwhile as it can indicate the kinds of problems present: erroneous data, or the inefficiency or unsuitability of the models. Furthermore, several cleansers have been developed for use during data pre-processing in addition to the two cleansers used at present in the Cambridge Structural Database, the first of which, enCIFer (CCDC, 2016), checks the syntax of the data, while the second, PLATON (Spek, 2016), checks the reasonableness of the structure and, for instance, annotates the records of structures that contain large voids. It is also illustrated how the data cleansers develop during machine learning work within the algorithms and how they can be used for database cleansing. The removal of anomalous data from a dataset often results in a significant increase in the accuracy of data-mining procedures.

The second chapter, written by A. Kloczkowski et al., is dedicated to the application of machine learning techniques to extract predictive information from the protein, DNA and RNA databases. Mining for information in biological databases involves various forms of data analysis such as clustering, sequence homology searches, structure homology searches, examination of statistical significance, etc. In particular, the data mining of structural fragments of proteins from known structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) significantly improves the accuracy of secondary structure prediction. Accordingly, in the chapter, an original method (fragment data mining, FDM) is discussed. The method mines the structural segments from the PDB and utilizes structural information by matching the sequence of these structural fragments with the aim of improving the prediction of secondary structure. Consequently, further improvements are discussed that combine FDM with the classical GOR V secondary structure prediction method. This one is based on information theory and Bayesian statistics, coupled with evolutionary information from multiple sequence alignments. The newer and more accurate approach for secondary structure predictions is also introduced: the SPINE-X method based on a machine learning methodology to predict secondary structures by mining protein sequences and structures. The obtained results strongly suggest that data mining can be an efficient and accurate approach for secondary structure prediction in proteins. The last part of this second chapter discusses applications of data mining to the problem of optimizing protein crystallization conditions. Machine learning can be used to improve the yield and quality of protein crystals, and thus aid in solving protein structures by X-ray crystallography. There is a vast amount of data for protein structures, sequences and crystallization conditions that can be mined to aid in structure prediction and structure determination.

We hope that the methods and concepts presented in these chapters will make data mining and machine learning more accessible to the general practitioner in crystallography, and allow new applications in the field and the discovery of non-trivial and scientifically relevant knowledge.

These early view chapters are freely available for a limited time.

References

Spek, A. (2016). PLATON, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.

CCDC (2016). enCIFer, Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, UK.

Two scientific papers have been published detailing the findings from the 7th Crystal Structure Prediction (CSP) Blind Test (here and here). To coincide with these publications, the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) has released a CSP Blind Test database containing 171,679 entries from 207 different landscapes.

CSP predicts the most likely crystal structures to form from a given molecule, based on its 2D chemical structure. Most methods use informatics and computational science techniques. Predicting more stable structures leads to many benefits including improved manufacturing processes, patent protection and breaking, and the potential discovery of new improved materials. For more on this subject, click here.

Seven target systems of varying complexity featured in the 7th CSP Blind Test.

BioChemGraph - CSD data linked to PDBe, ChEMBL, and other sources via UniChem

In the era of data-driven biology, integrating information from different resources is essential yet often challenging. The BioChemGraph project addresses this challenge by creating infrastructure that consolidates structural, functional, and biochemical annotations for small molecules and their targets from key resources: the Protein Data Bank (PDB), the ChEMBL database and the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). For more on this subject, click here.

Crystal structure of ABL kinase (PDB code 2hyy) in complex with imatinib. The simple report available as bioactivity_report_simple.tsv shows the mean pChEMBL value of 6.998, calculated from all available bioactivity data for this complex in ChEMBL. The full dataset can be accessed in bioactivity_report_full.tsv.

How to compare the packing of your polymorphs

Polymorphism is the ability of a compound to crystallize into multiple forms, which is important for pharmaceuticals since different polymorphs can affect a drug's bioavailability and efficacy. Comparing polymorphic structures can be complex, but tools like Crystal Packing Similarity and Structure Overlay in Mercury can help identify differences and similarities by examining packing environments and conformations. For more on this subject, click here.

Check out all of CCDC's latest blogs here.

New video: unlock crystal structure secrets with Mercury

This 5-minute video demonstrates how to use the Powder Pattern Simulator in Mercury. The Simulator is compatible with both CSD entries and structures in CIF format. Users with a CSD-Core license or higher (such as CSD-Materials, CSD-Discovery or CSD-Enterprise) have access to the option of adding a second wavelength in the simulation. Watch here, or below.

Events

In 2024, we hosted six free virtual workshops, attracting over 650 attendees from 61 different countries. Over 200 attendees achieved a perfect score of 100% on the post-workshop test. Thank you to everyone who joined us! We are preparing more virtual workshops for next year, with confirmed dates on the 11th and 25th of March and the 8th of April 2025.

The topics for these workshops will be announced soon, so please keep an eye on the events page of our website for updates or sign up for the CCDC newsletter to be the first to receive event announcements.

If you would like to suggest topics for our workshops, webinars and CSDU online training modules in 2025, please email us at hello@ccdc.cam.ac.uk.

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Want to learn more about CCDC events, blogs, case studies and software updates? Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.

In November 2024, the Institute for Protein Research (IPR), the Research Center for Crystalline Materials Engineering (RCCME) and the Comprehensive Research Organization for Science and Society (CROSS) successfully hosted the Japan-Taiwan Bilateral Seminar on Crystallography: “Frontiers of Crystallography.” The event was held at the FUJI Hall, located in the EI (Emergent/Innovative) Engineering Building at Nagoya University, and brought together around 30 participants from Japan and Taiwan.

The Japan-Taiwan Bilateral Seminar on Crystallography, originally established in 1990, was temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic but has now resumed. With the goal of advancing crystallography in both Japan and Taiwan and fostering ongoing personal connections, leading researchers were invited to engage in research exchanges.

In the opening remarks, Professor Kurisu from Osaka University and Professor Nei-Li Chan from National Taiwan University, who have maintained a close relationship over 20 years, provided their experience on the bilateral relationship. Professor Hasegawa from Nagoya University also introduced RCCME, highlighting the structural science conducted at the center. The scientific session featured high-level presentations by eight young researchers in fields such as structural biology, MicroED and functional small molecules, as outlined below:

    (1) Naruhiko Adachi, Japan. "Setup and operation of 3DED/microED experiments at KEK and Tsukuba     University."
    (2) Yu-Yuan Hsiao, Taiwan. "Structural analysis of TREX1: From catalytic property identification to     inhibitor development."
    (3) Kazuki Kawahara, Japan. "Structural biology of the type IV pillus from enteric bacterial pathogens."
    (4) Shih-Ming Lin, Taiwan. "Calcium-dependent modulation and lectin domain function in the activation     of Vibrio campbellii α-hemolysin."
    (5) Toshiyuki Sasaki, Japan. "Tailoring structural analysis of functional small-molecule crystals with X-    ray and electron diffraction methods depending on crystal properties."
    (6) Chyuan-Chuan Wu, Taiwan. "Structural basis of mitochondrial DNA degradation machinery."
    (7) Yuya Hanazono, Japan. "Structural analysis of amide protons using high-resolution neutron     crystallography."
    (8) Wen-Ting Lo, Taiwan. "Structural basis of class II phosphoinositide 3-kinase regulation and     pharmacological inhibition."

At the end of the scientific session, Professor Nakagawa from Osaka University provided an overview of the upcoming AsCA 2025 conference, which will be held in Taipei next year and co-organized by Japan and Taiwan. In his closing remarks, Professor Sugiyama, President of CrSJ, highlighted the longstanding bilateral relationship in crystallography and underscored the importance of continued collaboration. Following the symposium, a banquet was held in Nagoya University’s cafeteria, where participants enjoyed lively discussions over beer and wine. This meeting showcased the strong ties built over three decades, with knowledge and camaraderie passed from generation to generation. We believe this symposium will contribute to the success of AsCA 2025.

Pioneers in non-ambient X-ray diffraction

While most X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements are performed under ambient conditions (i.e. room temperature, ambient pressure), many processes, e.g. geological, catalytical or industrial ones, occur under non-ambient conditions. Non-ambient parameters, such as temperature, pressure, humidity or different gas atmospheres, can significantly alter a material’s structure, property or reactivity. Since many of these changes are reversible, or occur stepwise with multiple intermediates, in situ investigation of materials under non-ambient conditions is an essential tool in establishing a detailed understanding of a material’s properties.

When we introduced the HTK 10 High-Temperature Chamber at Anton Paar back in 1964, we made our mark in the history of non-ambient X-ray diffraction. The HTK 10 High-Temperature Chamber was capable of heating samples up to 1600°C in order to study their structural changes by X-ray diffraction during heating.

Prior to this, non-ambient X-ray diffraction of various materials was mainly done with homemade equipment, and there was no real commercial heating chamber available on the market. This changed when we entered the market 60 years ago. Since then, our knowledge and experience in X-ray diffraction - especially under non-ambient conditions - has steadily grown. This has led to our current broad portfolio of non-ambient X-ray diffraction attachments for studies between -190°C and +2300°C under different atmospheres (dry and humid) and pressures, as well as mechanical or electrical loads. Along with this complete portfolio, we also create customized solutions for our customers - something that has made Anton Paar the market leader in non-ambient XRD.

This year, we’re proud to announce the launch of the HTK 1500 High-Temperature Chamber, the new benchmark of environmental heaters for high-temperature X-ray diffraction. The HTK 1500 allows for homogeneous heating of all types of sample materials, including crystalline powders and bulk samples, up to 1500°C. This makes it the only true environmental heater available on the market that reaches such high temperatures without any compromises in precision. The temperature sensor is located directly beneath the sample in a protective ceramic holder, guaranteeing highly repeatable and reliable temperature measurements. A fast and easy switch between reflection and transmission modes, by the use of a capillary extension, makes the HTK 1500 suitable for air-sensitive and organic powders and liquids. Sample spinning is also provided, which is crucial for improving data quality by overcoming preferred orientation. The sample carriers are made of chemically inert alumina, minimizing the risk of reactions with samples, even at high temperatures. A user-friendly slider for the sample holder allows for quick and reproducible sample exchange.

The HTK 1500 is completely compatible with Anton Paar’s XRDynamic 500 X-ray diffractometer. This combination offers high automation, including stage recognition, stage and sample alignment and realignment during heating, and easy connection of cooling water, vacuum, and gas lines. The seamless integration into the XRDynamic 500 control software ensures a user-friendly experience for high-temperature X-ray diffraction analysis.

https://www.anton-paar.com

info@anton-paar.com

The first edition of the Polish Crystal Growing Competition for Schools organized at the Institute of Physics of the University of Silesia in 2014 was inspired by Dr Hanna Dąbkowska, a member of the IUCr Commission for Crystal Growth. The competition immediately gained great popularity and, since 2014, has been held every year.

Over 220 participants from 45 different towns participated in this year's 11th edition of the competition, sending over 300 good-quality crystals.

The event was co-financed by the Silesian Voivodeship - Co-organizer of the European City of Science, Katowice 2024.

Traditionally, the jury selected three winners and distinguished over 20 works. The award ceremony occurred on June 13, 2024, during the "Crystals: order, beauty and utility" conference at the Institute of Physics of the University of Silesia in Katowice.

It was held under the patronage of the dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Professor Danuta Stróż, and director of the Institute of Physics of the University of Silesia, Professor Sebastian Pawlus.

During the conference, lectures were given by invited outstanding specialists from national research centers, such as the Institute of High Pressures of the Polish Academy of Sciences (UNIPRESS) and the Institute of Molecular Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

At the awards gala, there was a presentation of the winners and participants distinguished in the competition and an award ceremony.

The conference ended with a poster session of the winners and authors of distinguished works, during which awards for the best poster were presented.

The conference and the competition awards gala took place during Crystal Week, part of the celebrations organized by an Academic Consortium of seven public universities as part of the European City of Science 2024, a title awarded to Katowice by the European Commission.

The Polish Crystal Growth Society and the Crystallography Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences provided the patronage of the competition.

Joanna Ajdukiewicz, Teacher - Agata Bladoszewska, 1st Bilingual Secondary School named after Edward Dembowski, Gliwice, 1st place, C₆H₈O₇.

Wiktor Januszkiewicz, Teacher - Maria Rogozińska, Szymczak XXXV General Secondary School with Bilingual Departments named after Bolesław Prus, Warszawa, 2nd place, K(Al,Cr)(SO₄)₂·12H₂O.

Bruno Głogowski, Teacher - Agnieszka Cacek, Primary School No. 221 with Integration Departments named after Barbara Bronisława Czarnowska, Warszawa, 3rd place, KAl(SO₄)₂·12H₂O.

Crystal35, the 35th Biennial Conference of the Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (SCANZ), was held from 27th to 29th October 2024 in Fremantle, Western Australia. The Crystal meetings tend to be held in the state where the SCANZ president resides, and this was no different, bringing us back to Western Australia for the second time in seven years for a meeting organised by Professor Charlie Bond and a team of local and interstate crystallographers and structural biologists. Crystal35 was held in Fremantle (Walyalup, the local Nyoongar peoples’ name for the area), a seaside suburb of Perth. While close to Perth and Perth airport, Fremantle is a charming destination full of narrow streets lined with heritage buildings, close to historical and functioning dock areas, with great access to well-known local breweries and cafes.

Once again, the meeting was an excellent size for networking and scientific discussions with 128 attendees, and was a fantastic opportunity to catch up with much of the Australian and some of the New Zealand crystallographic community. Despite being a significant distance, the meeting was attended by a small contingent of New Zealand crystallographers, as well as international speakers from Japan, Singapore and South Africa. The organising committee of Charlie Bond, University of Western Australia (UWA), Chair; Mihwa Lee, University of Melbourne; Stephen Moggach, UWA; Joel Haywood, Curtin University; Rhys Grinter, Monash University; Stephanie Boer, ANSTO; Gemma Turner, UWA; Luke Smithers, UWA; and Crystal Cooper, UWA, developed a vibrant and diverse program with 21 invited speakers and a series of concurrent sessions with speakers selected from abstracts.

Highlights of the program included the 1987 Fund Lecture by Professor So Iwata (Kyoto University); the awarding of the 2023 and 2024 Sandy Mathieson Medals to Professor Neeraj Sharma (UNSW) and Professor Jack Clegg (University of Queensland), respectively; and the awarding of the 2024 Lawrence Bragg Medal to Professor Jenny Martin (University of Queensland and Griffith University). Professor Iwata also gave an excellent talk on time-resolved (4D) structure analysis of membrane proteins and its application to drug discovery. This included a discussion of the structures of membrane proteins, mainly G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and transporters, and investigation of the complex structures of the receptor sites, which can be used for drug discovery.

Left to right: Professor Charlie Bond, SCANZ President, presenting the Bragg Medal to Emeritus Professor Jenny Martin, the 2024 Sandy Mathieson Medal to Professor Jack Clegg and the 2024 Sandy Mathieson Medal to Professor Neeraj Sharma. Photos by Chris Sumby.

Professor Sharma was the 2023 recipient of the Sandy Mathieson Medal, awarded for distinguished contributions to science involving X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction and/or imaging by a researcher within 15 years of the award of their PhD (https://scanz.iucr.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/155791/Mathieson-Recipientsv2.pdf). Professor Sharma investigates the structure and function of batteries using synchrotron and neutron diffraction techniques, and gave us a talk spanning from fundamental battery science through to analysis and testing of commercial batteries, including batteries that had been subjected to a proximal explosion. Furthermore, Professor Clegg presented his team’s recent work on flexible or bendy crystals, which helps rewrite some of the conventional wisdom of crystalline materials as being brittle and inflexible. Professor Clegg also showed the scope of potentially flexible materials, including the use of advanced single-crystal synchrotron measurements to understand the mechanism of bending and the location of the stored forces in these crystals.

The final named lecture, given on the final day of the meeting, was the Bragg Medal award for distinguished contributions to science involving X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction and/or imaging by Professor Martin. Professor Martin gave an engaging presentation starting from William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg and spanning her time in crystallography, including the early use of scientific computing, cakes inspired by crystallography and structural biology, and her contributions to gender equity and diversity in SCANZ and the IUCr.

A diverse group of keynote lecturers provided excellent coverage of all aspects of crystal growth and structure determination, including talks titled “CryoEM structures of the multimeric secreted NS1, a major factor for dengue hemorrhagic fever” (Professor Shee-mei Lok, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore), “Predicting crystal growth and morphology from accuracy to speed” (Professor Julian Gale, Curtin University), “Crystal engineering with multicomponent crystals” (Professor Delia Haynes, Stellenbosch University, South Africa) and “TRAPped in an elevator: amino-sugar uptake and utilisation by bacteria” (Professor Renwick Dobson, University of Canterbury, New Zealand).

Two excellent poster sessions were held, one at lunch on Sunday and the second in the evening on Monday, with 42 posters displayed over the course of the three days. Lots of discussion took place as presenters vied for five poster prizes, which were awarded at the close of the conference. Other highlights included the Rising Stars session, a lunchtime session hosted by beamline scientists from the Australian Synchrotron on the new beamlines (MX3, ADS and BioSAXS) coming online as the BRIGHT program reaches completion. The Rising Stars of the conference were Dr Charles Bayly-Jones (Monash University), Dr Isabelle Jones (Curtin University and UWA), Dr Katherine Davies (The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Melbourne University), Dr Hunter Windsor (UNSW) and Dr Rebecca Frkic (Australian National University).

The Rising Star session presenters bookended by the session chairs Dr Joel Haywood and Dr Josie Auckett (left), and the poster prize recipients with Dr Crystal Cooper and Professor Charlie Bond (right). Photos by Chris Sumby.

Crystal35 also provided an opportunity for a SCANZ business meeting. The focus of the meeting was changes to the SCANZ constitution to complete some steps to modernise it and to provide greater structure, certainty around the council terms, timing between Crystal meetings, and the addition of a new standing committee for outreach. The leadership of SCANZ now passes to the new president, Professor Chris Sumby (the author of this article) from the University of Adelaide, with the new vice-president being Professor Emily Parker (Professor of Chemical Biology at Victoria University of Wellington and Science Advisor to the MBIE - Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in New Zealand), and a committee comprising Professor Charlie Bond (past president), Associate Professor David Turner (secretary), Professor Jack Clegg (treasurer), Dr Michelle Miller (newsletter editor), and committee members Dr Lauren Macreadie, Dr James Hester and Professor Stephanie Gras. Further representation also comes via the National Committee for Crystallography (NCCr) representatives in Australia and New Zealand. At present, this includes Professor Kurt Krause from Otago University, the New Zealand NCCr representative, with the Australian role vacant.

Crystal35 was bookended by two excellent social events, with an informal mixer at the Ball & Chain, a restaurant and bar attached to the conference venue, on the Saturday night and a conference social at the Gage Roads Brewing Company on the Tuesday night. Many participants also took the opportunity to visit Rottnest Island, a 25-minute ferry ride from Fremantle, to see quokkas, a small wallaby-like marsupial, and to experience the stunning scenery of this protected nature reserve.

Clockwise from top left: Little Creatures brewery in Fremantle (photo: Chris Sumby), the pre-conference mixer at the Ball & Chain (photo: Charlie Bond), the conference venue (the Esplanade Hotel) (photo: Chris Sumby) and the conference social at Gage Roads Brewing Company (photo: Charlie Bond).