AMERICAN CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION Number 2 Summer 2012 Femtosecond X-Ray Diffraction American Crystallographic Association ACA HOME PAGE: www.amercrystalassn.org Table of Contents 2 President’s Column What’s on the Cover 3 News from Canada - page 40 4 ACA Balance Sheet 5 From the Editor’s Desk IUCr Partners with AIP UniPHY Errata 6 News from Argentina Contributors to this Issue / Bruker Awards 8 Puzzle Corner 9-10 Book Reviews 11-20 ACA History The Early Days of the ACA David Sayre (1924 - 2012) 21 AIP Inside Science 22 ACA Corporate Members 23-31 Candidates for ACA Officers and Committees for 2012 32 ACA Trueblood Award to Tom Terwilliger ACA Fankuchen Award to Richard Dickerson 34-35 Carl Branden Award to Helen Berman AIP Andrew Gemant Award to Lisa Randall Golden Mouse Award to Crystallographic iPhone app Awards Available / Travel and Fellowships 36 Scientific Controversies and Crystallography 37 Big Data Initiative 38 ACA 2012 Student Award Winners 39 ACA 2012 Exhibitors and Sponsors / ACA 2013 - Hawaii - Preview 40 Future Meetings / Index of Advertisers What’s on the Cover ACA RefleXions staff: Please address matters pertaining to ads, membeship, or use of Editor: Connie Rajnak [email protected] the ACA mailing list to: Editor: Judith L. Flippen-Anderson [email protected] Marcia J. Colquhoun, Director of Administrative Services Copy Editor: Jane Griffin [email protected] American Crystallographic Association Book Reviews: Joe Ferrara [email protected] P.O. Box 96, Ellicott Station Historian: Virginia Pett [email protected] Buffalo, NY 14205-0096 Photographer: Peter Müller ................................... [email protected] phone: 716-898-8692; fax: 716-898-8695 Puzzle Corner: Frank Fronzcek [email protected] email: [email protected] Deadlines for contributions are: February 1 (Spring), May 1 (Summer), August 1 (Fall) and November 1 (Winter) ACA RefleXions (ISSN 1058-9945) Number 2, 2012. Published four times per year in the spring, summer, fall and winter for the membership of the American Crystallographic Association, Inc., P.O. Box 96, Ellicott Station, Buffalo, NY 14205-0096. Membership in the ACA includes a non-deductible charge of $1.75 from membership dues to be applied to a subscription to the ACA Newsletter. Periodicals postage paid at Buffalo, New York. POST- MASTER: Send address changes to ACA, P.O.Box 96, Ellicott Station, Buffalo, NY, 14205-0096. President’s Column Summer 2012 Presidents Column On another front, the ACA Council has agreed to begin a stra- tegic planning process. No one can remember if this has been Well, here’s another update on done since the original founding. This will give all the ACA what happening with the ACA. stakeholders a chance to review everything from our mission First of all, I hope you are look- statement to operations procedures, and to both set and steer a ing forward as much as I am to course that serves our membership well into the future. Members the upcoming meeting in Boston will have ample opportunities to get involved in the process and July 28-August 1. The organizers there will be vote(s) by the members to formalize the plan when have got a real show set up for you, the time comes. and the mood is set to celebrate the century of progress since Max On the financial front, I can report that we are on track toward von Laue and the father-son Bragg our goal of having reserve funds approximately equal to one year’s team founded the field of x-ray worth of operating expenses. However, we are also well aware crystallography. Plus, Beantown that one bad year could put us in serious trouble so please do is great place to be in the summer. your part as a member by keeping your dues current and getting The 2013 meeting is set for Honolulu, which was very well at- involved. One good way to get involved is by helping us grow tended when we last had a meeting there, so get your grass skirts the membership. One other piece of financial news is that we and longboards ready. now have a Donate Now button on the website (found under the awards button on the top menu bar). It would be great to be able There have been some other interesting developments that I to raise the honorarium connected to our major awards and, if also want to share with you. First of all, the first steps have been you have been enjoying the living history articles in RefleXions taken to establish a Latin American Division of the ACA, to go you might consider supporting the new ‘History Fund’ that will along with the Canadian Division. This would allow formal be used to help record our heritage, including recording of spe- participation in the ACA of all crystallographers in the western cial lectures and making more historical documents available hemisphere. We expect to have an interim Latin American Di- on our web site. vision Council member appointed soon and are hoping to have one of our ACA scientific meetings somewhere in Latin America Let’s all find some way to contribute to the special festive in the next few years. Send your ideas in to us about potential celebrations of a hundred years of x-ray crystallography. The locations. ¡Es bueno! C’est bien! It’s good! view from the shoulders of our own giants is indeed spectacular. George Phillips At the spring council meeting. Back row: Canadian representative - David Rose, CEO - Bill Duax, Past-president - Tom Koetzle, Secretary - Patrick Loll, YSSIG representative - Jamaine Davis. Front row: Administrative manager - Marcia Colquhoun, CFO - S. N. Rao, Vice-president - Cheryl Klein Stevens, President - George Phillips. Inset lower right: IUCr representative - Marvin Hackert. 2 News from Canada Summer 2012 failed expression or crystallization trials. This year, it was struc- News from Canada ture after beautiful structure, a testament to how much structural This was a special anniversary for biology has progressed in the region. Particularly noteworthy the regional BHT meeting, the 20th was that two of the new faculty members at the meeting were Annual Meeting. BHT (Buffalo- graduates of the region (Howell lab in this case); there were so Hamilton-Toronto) now extends far many new investigators that only 3 could speak this year, with beyond its original locations, including another 2 or more postponed until next year’s meeting. participants from Rochester, London, The slate of featured trainee speakers included Carter Mitchell Guelph, Kingston and Waterloo. Apart (Gulick lab, Buffalo), John Whitney (Howell lab, Toronto), Yu from the first 3 years or so, the meeting Seon Chung (Guarné lab, Hamilton), Tianjun Sun (Davies lab, has been held at McMaster University Kingston), Caroline Delorme (Allingham lab, Kinsgton), Sara in Hamilton, due to its central location Andres (Junop lab, Hamilton). New faculty speaking this year (and excellent hosts). were Jeff Lee, Oliver Earnst and Jason Maynes (all from Toronto). Each year the meeting has featured morning technical sessions As always, the meeting was sponsored by a number of loyal from an international expert. Early speakers included the late Herb vendors, who do so much to support the crystallographic com- Hauptman at the second meeting in Buffalo. As befits a special munity: Art Robbins, Bruker, Formulatrix, FortéBio, Hampton anniversary meeting, this year’s visiting speaker was one of the Research, Molecular Dimensions, Norton and Rigaku, as well as founding fathers of macromolecular crystallography, Michael the Canadian Light Source. Before braving the rush-hour traffic, Rossmann. Michael’s contributions to our field are almost too we enjoyed a wine&cheese reception sponsored by Rigaku and Art numerous to list. For the BHT, he gave a wonderful overview of Robbins. We can only imagine what the next 20 years will bring! the history and background of Molecular Replacement (complete Finally, I’d like to welcome Gerald Audette as the new Cana- with a physical demonstration of crystallographic versus non- dian Division Secretary, joining Michael Murphy in steering that crystallographic symmetry). For us old-timers it was a terrific Division. Thanks to Pawel Grochulski for his contributions, and walk down memory lane, while for the younger members, it was to John Allingham for standing for election – I’m sure you will a stimulating exposure to one of the great pioneers of our field. be called on next time! It is pleasing to see the Division taking Speaking of inspiring, the afternoon session featured superb an active role in the ACA annual meeting session planning, and I talks from trainees and new investigators in the region. Twenty hope more Canadians will be inspired to join us at the meetings. years ago, most of these talks consisted of progress reports on David Rose corporate member Supper Spindle Goniometer Protein Wire Model Stage Heads Bender The Supper Spindle Stage is Our Standard Goniometer The Supper Protein Wire used for the Examination of Heads are made with Model Bender is a Device Crystals which have been Stainless Steel X-Y Capillary Tubes for Easily Making α-carbon Crystal Growth mounted on a Goniometer Micropositioners Micropositioners and Two Backbone Models of Chambers Head. The Spindle Stage is Arcs or X-Y-Z Goniometer The largest selection Protein Molecules by The smallest available Designed to be used with Heads of Stainless Steel. 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