Wednesday, October 28, 2009

NMR Books


Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Liquid Crystals

edited by Ronald Dong (University of British Columbia)
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: World Scientific; September 2009
Language: English
ISBN: 978-981-4273-66-4
http://www.worldscibooks.com/materialsci/7310.html

World Scientific: "This edited volume provides an extensive overview of how nuclear magnetic resonance can be an indispensable tool to investigate molecular ordering, phase structure, and dynamics in complex anisotropic phases formed by liquid crystalline materials. The chapters, written by prominent scientists in their field of expertise, provide a state-of-the-art scene of developments in liquid crystal research. The fantastic assortment of shape anisotropy in organic molecules leads to the discoveries of interesting new soft materials made at a rapid rate which not only inject impetus to address the fundamental physical and chemical phenomena, but also the potential applications in memory, sensor and display devices. The review volume also covers topics ranging from solute studies of molecules in nematics and biologically ordered fluids to theoretical approaches in treating elastic and viscous properties of liquid crystals. This volume is aimed at graduate students, novices and experts alike, and provides an excellent reference material for readers interested in the liquid crystal research. It is, indeed, a reference book for every science library to have."

Friday, October 23, 2009

Pacifichem 2010


The International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies, December 15-20, 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, http://www.pacifichem.org/

NMR Spectroscopy of Polymers (Symposium #12) Peter Macdonald, University of Toronto

Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics - Recent Advances in NMR (Symposium #43) Mitsuhiko Ikura, Ontario Cancer Institute

Advances in Solid-State NMR of Biological Molecules (Symposium #58) Michèle Auger, Université Laval

Solid-State NMR Methods and Applications in Inorganic Materials (Symposium #228) Scott Kroeker, University of Manitoba

Monday, October 19, 2009

ACS: National Chemistry Week 2009


ACS Publications celebrates National Chemistry Week 2009, October 19-24, by providing one-week free access to the ACS Symposium Series Online including Advances in Chemistry books. Don't miss this opportunity to browse and download many attention-worthy review articles free of charge.

Among most recent NMR titles are "Modern NMR Spectroscopy in Education" (Eds. D. Rovnyak and R. Stockland, 2007), and "Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy of Inorganic Materials" (Ed. J.J. Fitzgerald, 1999).

Friday, October 9, 2009

51st ENC: nominations for the Laukien Prize


The Laukien Prize was established in 1999 to honor the memory of Professor Gunther Laukien, a co-founder of Bruker BioSpin. The Laukien Prize carries a monetary award of $20,000 funded by Bruker BioSpin and is intended to recognize cutting-edge experimental NMR research with a high probability of enabling beneficial new applications. The Prize recipient will also deliver the opening Plenary lecture at the ENC conference.

Nominations for the Laukien Prize are now being accepted. The award will be announced at the next ENC.

The nominated work should be published within the last three years. In some special cases, the award may be for cumulative achievements over a longer period. Nominations should be submitted by October 30.

For more information and for the list of past Laukien Prize recipients
http://enc-conference.org/Default.aspx?tabid=31

51st ENC
April 18-23, 2010, Hilton Hotel, Daytona Beach, FL
Talk abstracts deadline January 12, 2010
Poster abstracts deadline March 12, 2010
http://www.enc-conference.org/

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Feature article in Physics Today


Clare Grey and Robert Tycko have published an article in the September issue of Physics Today introducing solid-state NMR spectroscopy to a broader audience, and reviewing recent NMR applications in biochemistry and materials sciences. This article is an easy read about a complicated topic with many colour figures and diagrams, which your students may find useful in their studies.

Clare P. Grey and Robert Tycko, "Solid-state NMR in biological and materials physics," Physics Today 62 (2009) 44-49.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3226855

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

MOOT XXII Symposium


Dear All,

Registration for MOOT XXII in Ottawa is still open and will be so until Wednesday, October 14. This is the deadline for having final numbers for caterers, banquet etc.

No more oral presenation will be accepted since the program is filled up with very interesting talks. Poster presentations will be accepted all the way to the end and the program will updated as they come.

The Suraj Manrao Traval Award will contribute three 50$ awards for the best three posters from graduate students. Great many thanks to Suraj!

Check the website www.mootnmr.org for all information regarding maps how the get around and updates of the program.

If people are interested in gathering someplace for dinner and drinks on Friday night please let me know and we can arrange something.

I am looking forward to see you all in Ottawa in less than a couple of weeks,

Yves

Friday, October 2, 2009

Professor Laurance Hall (1938-2009)


Professor Laurance Hall, an NMR pioneer credited with building the first clinical MRI instrument in Canada, died on August 28, 2009 in Cambridge, UK aged 71.

From the Telegraph (Oct.1, 2009): "... It was during this period that Hall began to pursue his pioneering work on NMR – an interest which he took with him, on completion of his doctorate, to Canada. An eloquent and extremely enthusiastic lecturer, he easily impressed senior professors, soon securing a research post in Ottawa, and later one in Vancouver. At the Chemistry Department of the University of British Columbia, where he spent two decades (1963-84), he built – from scratch – the first MRI instrument in Canada. Later he installed for the country its first MRI scanner large enough to examine the entire human body – in a clinic opened by the Queen."

Read the complete obituary in
the Telegraph.

Laurance Hall reminisces about his early research career and his work at the University of Ottawa, NRC Canada, and the University of British Columbia, in the Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance, Volume 1 "Historical Perspectives", Eds. Grant & Harris, Wiley, 1996, p. 378-382.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Recognition: Lewis Kay


The University of Alberta honours Lewis Kay with the Distinguished Alumnus Award (more).

From the citation: "One of the world's leading biochemists, Kay is recognized for his cutting-edge research in biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The University of Toronto professor and researcher has been instrumental in developing new three- and four-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance methods for obtaining pictures of complex biomolecules. This revolutionary work has led to important discoveries, helping researchers understand the underlying biological characteristics of diseases. This understanding has increased the probability of finding ways to cure or prevent diseases such as cancer."

Don't miss the video profile of Distinguished Alumnus Lewis Kay (
5 min, 23.1 MB .mov)

Web:
Lewis Kay's Group at the University of Toronto

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters


Beginning in January 2010 all letters from the Journal of Physical Chemistry A, B, and C will be combined into a single, all-electronic journal
the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters highlighting the most urgent research results in physical chemistry. The first letters will be published online in November 2009, the issue 1 will be launched in January 2010. Letters published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters will have a full citation, including page numbers, when posted on the web as ASAP articles and prior to being collected in an issue. This feature will allow your letter to be fully cited at least 2 weeks earlier than previously possible.

Before submitting your letter be advised that the format of J. Phys. Chem. Lett. is different from J. Phys. Chem. A/B/C. For more details see
the Author Submission Guidelines.