Introduction Have you ever seen those little About the International Year of Crystallography pictures of a molecule of your The United Nations declares 2014 as the official International Year of prescribed medication? …or a drawing Crystallography. It commemorates not only the centennial of X-ray of DNA showing two strands winding Amoxicillin diffraction, which allowed the detailed study of crystalline material, but also the 400th anniversary of Kepler’s observation in 1611 of the What do around each other? symmetrical form of ice crystals, which began the wider study of the role Molecules are too small to be seen by of symmetry in matter. New Drug Design, normal microscopy. Learn more at http://iycr2014.org X-ray crystallography is one of the DNA Studies few techniques that can visualize them About IUCr The International Union of Crystallography is a not-for- and was used to determine the first Schematic picture profit, scientific organization that aims to: and molecular structures ever known. of DNA • promote international cooperation in crystallography • contribute to all aspects of crystallography X-rays X-rays & X-ray Crystallography • promote international publication of crystallographic research have in common? How They Work • facilitate standardization of methods, units, nomenclatures and symbols • form a focus for the relations of crystallography to other sciences • X-ray beams are shot through • We calculate how the diffracted a crystal composed of the X-rays would look, if they The IUCr fulfils these objectives by publishing primary research material of interest and some of could be focused with a lens, to journals and the International Tables for Crystallography series of the X-rays diffract (veer off at obtain the molecule’s structure reference volumes, distributing the quarterly IUCr Newsletter in Crystallography! different angles) print to nearly 600 libraries and various crystallographic meetings and electronically to more than 12,000 crystallographers and other interested - the science devoted to the study of individuals in 102 countries, maintaining the online World Directory of the arrangement of atoms in matter Crystallographers, and organizing the triennial Congress and General This is an X-ray diffraction pattern from a protein crystal. Hundreds of these diffraction patterns are Assembly. needed to determine a protein structure. The Visit www.iucr.org for more information X-ray study can also reveal information about the drugs that bind to the proteins. The protein is About ACA chemically bound to a cancer-preventive nutrient. We’re Celebrating! (Journal reference: Crichlow, Fan, Keeler, Hodsdon, and Lolis, The American Crystallographic Association Inc. is Biochemistry, (2012) vol. 51, pgs. 7506-7514) also non-profit, scientific organization of over 2,200 members in more than 60 countries, focused in North and South America. The organization aims to: Where They Work • promote interactions among scientists who study the structure • X-rays, CAT scans, and • DNA studies for Crime of matter at atomic (or near atomic) resolution Mammograms: Diagnostic imaging Investigation • advance experimental and computational aspects of crystallography and treatment of diseases • Understanding diseases: Sickle and diffraction • Insulin, Penicillin, and more: cell anemia, thyroid gland Visit www.amercrystalassn.org for more information Development of medicine diseases, stomach ulcer, phobias, • Airport Security: Scanning diabetes, hypertension, and more luggage and freight cargo • Identifying minerals in oil industry Brochure prepared by S. Narasinga Rao and designed by Vanessa Reitz (vjreitz.prosite.com) Highlights of the Many Nobel Prizes See a complete list of winners at iucr.org/people/nobel-prize Awarded to Crystallographers Linus Pauling Alpha-helical Venki Ramakrishnan, Tom Steitz Herbert Hauptman & Jerome Karle Dan Shechtman structure of Clifford Shull & Bertram Brockhouse & Ada Yonath Francis Crick, James Watson & Maurice Wilkins Direct mathematical methods of Discovery of proteins, nature of Electron diffraction and Studies of the structure and Wilhelm Röntgen Created DNA model: double-helical structure determining crystallized materials quasicrystals Discovery of X-rays chemical bonds for biological information storage neutron diffraction function of the ribosome 1901 1954 1962 1985 1994 2009 2011 DNA Structure Roger Kornberg Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt Studies of the Huber & Hartmut Michel & Arieh Warshel molecular basis First membrane protein Development of sophisticated of eukaryotic 1914 1915 1962 1964 1976 1988 that is essential to 2003 2006 computer simulations for 2013 photosynthesis transcription Max von Laue Sir William H. & John Kendrew & Max Perutz Dorothy Hodgkin William Lipscomb complex chemical processes First demonstrated Sir William L. Bragg Hemoglobin: Transport Structures of The structure of Peter Agre X-ray diffraction First atomic protein, which led to cholesterol, boranes, illuminating & Roderick through crystals crystal structure the understanding of penicillin, vitamin problems of MacKinnon Sickle Cell Anemia B12, and insulin chemical bonding Discoveries concerning channels in cell membranes Additional Important Contributors to Crystallography Arthur Patterson David Harker The Patterson Applied Patterson’s Function (equation) map to identify gives a map of the planes and sections vectors between on different axes in atoms molecular structures.