Thursday, January 28, 2010

CSC 2010: Solid-State NMR Symposium (update)


Dear NMR colleagues,

Gillian Goward and myself are organizing a symposium entitled "Solid-State NMR: Methods and Applications" at the 93rd Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Toronto. The symposium is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, May 30 and all day Monday, May 31.

I would like to encourage you and your students to consider submitting abstracts for 20-minute talks and/or posters through the following link:

http://www.csc2010.ca/program/submit_abstract.html

The deadline for abstract submissions is February 15.

Confirmed speakers: Alex Bain (McMaster), Andreas Brinkmann (NRC-SIMS), Arno Kentgens (Radboud University, Nijmegen), Gang Wu (Queen's), Gillian Goward (McMaster), John Ripmeester (NRC-SIMS), Josef Zwanziger (Dalhousie), Kristopher Ooms (The King's University College, Edmonton), Marek Pruski (Iowa), Megan Spence (Pittsburgh), Peter MacDonald (Toronto), Robert Schurko (Windsor), Roderick Wasylishen (Alberta), Scott Kroeker (Manitoba), Simon Sharpe (Sick Kids), Timothy Cross (National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee), Vladimir Ladizhansky (Guelph)

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in Toronto!

Dave Bryce (web)

The National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids Annual Workshop will take place on Saturday May 29.

New books: NMR Crystallography


edited by Robin K. Harris, Roderick E. Wasylishen, Melinda J. Duer
Hardcover: 520 pages
Publisher: Wiley; January 2010
Language: English
ISBN: 978-0470699614
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470699612
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0470699612

Contributed by David Bryce

A new book on the subject of NMR crystallography has been published by Wiley as part of their "Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance Handbooks" series. While it will undoubtedly serve as a valuable reference for novices and experts alike, at 520 pages it is somewhat larger than a typical 'handbook'. Edited by our own Rod Wasylishen, along with the UK's Robin Harris and Melinda Duer, there are several Canadian contributors. We defer a full review until a later date; here, we provide a brief overview of the contents and highlight some Canadian contributions.

The volume is divided into six sections covering key areas including introductions to fundamental NMR interactions, crystal structure determination using NMR, properties of the crystalline state, and applications to crystalline solids. Rod Wasylishen (Alberta) presents the basics of dipolar and indirect coupling, and Darren Brouwer (Redeemer) discusses the topic of interplay between NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, both areas in which these researchers have had a great impact. Following my own contribution on "Tensor Interplay", Lindsay Cahill and Gillian Goward (McMaster) examine intermolecular interactions and structural motifs within the framework of NMR crystallography. Rotational and translation dynamics, which can complicate the interpretation of NMR spectra, particularly in the context of obtaining crystallographic information, are discussed in a subsequent chapter by the National Research Council's Chris Ratcliffe. The final Canadian contribution comes from Kenneth Jeffrey and Glenn Penner (Guelph), who tackle the subject of structural phase transitions.

The National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids in Ottawa has a copy of this wonderful volume on-hand, courtesy of Rod Wasylishen, for you to peruse during your next visit!

Canadian contributions

R.E. Wasylishen "Dipolar & Indirect Coupling: Basics," Chapter 10, NMR Crystallography EMR Handbook, Eds. R.K. Harris, R.E. Wasylishen, M.J. Duer, Wiley (2009) pp. 127-136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1023

D.H. Brouwer "Interplay between NMR & Single-crystal X-ray Diffraction," Chapter 18, NMR Crystallography EMR Handbook, Eds. R.K. Harris, R.E. Wasylishen, M.J. Duer, Wiley (2009) pp. 263-274. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1041

D.L. Bryce "Tensor Interplay," Chapter 20, NMR Crystallography EMR Handbook, Eds. R.K. Harris, R.E. Wasylishen, M.J. Duer, Wiley (2009) pp. 289-301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1039

L.S. Cahill, G.R. Goward "Intermolecular Interactions & Structural Motifs," Chapter 21, NMR Crystallography EMR Handbook, Eds. R.K. Harris, R.E. Wasylishen, M.J. Duer, Wiley (2009) pp. 305-319. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1074

C.I. Ratcliffe "Rotational & Translational Dynamics," Chapter 24, NMR Crystallography EMR Handbook, Eds. R.K. Harris, R.E. Wasylishen, M.J. Duer, Wiley (2009) pp. 355-373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1040

K.R. Jeffrey, G.H. Penner "Structural Phase Transitions," Chapter 26, NMR Crystallography EMR Handbook, Eds. R.K. Harris, R.E. Wasylishen, M.J. Duer, Wiley (2009) pp. 387-413. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1051

2010 ICMRBS Founders’ Medal: call for nominations


The International Council on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems (ICMRBS) hereby invites nominations for the 2010 ICMRBS Founders’ Medal. This medal is given biennially to a scientist under 41 years of age (as of August 31 in the year of the meeting) who has made exceptional contributions to the development or progress of the field of magnetic resonance in biological systems. The award carries an honorarium of $3,000 (USD). The recipient will deliver a lecture at the 2010 ICMRBS Conference.

Nominations are to be submitted to the ICMRBS Chairperson (Prof. Lucia Banci, University of Florence, banci "at" cerm.unifi.it) on or before March 31, 2010. Selection of the recipient will be made by the ICMRBS Founders’ Medal Committee.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

New NMR books


NMR Crystallography

edited by Robin K. Harris, Roderick E. Wasylishen, Melinda J. Duer
Hardcover: 520 pages
Publisher: Wiley; January 2010
Language: English
ISBN: 978-0470699614
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470699612
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0470699612

Wiley: The term "NMR Crystallography" has only recently come into common usage, and even now causes raised eyebrows within some parts of the diffraction community. The power of solid-state NMR to give crystallographic information has considerably increased since the CPMAS suite of techniques was introduced in 1976. In the first years of the 21st century, the ability of NMR to provide information to support and facilitate the analysis of single-crystal and powder diffraction patterns has become widely accepted. Indeed, NMR can now be used to refine diffraction results and, in favorable cases, to solve crystal structures with minimal (or even no) diffraction data. The increasing ability to relate chemical shifts (including the tensor components) to the crystallographic location of relevant atoms in the unit cell via computational methods has added significantly to the practice of NMR crystallography. Diffraction experts will increasingly welcome NMR as an allied technique in their structural analyses. Indeed, it may be that in the future crystal structures will be determined by simultaneously fitting diffraction patterns and NMR spectra.

This Handbook is organised into six sections. The first contains an overview and some articles on fundamental NMR topics, followed by a section concentrating on chemical shifts, and one on coupling interactions. The fourth section contains articles describing how NMR results relate to fundamental crystallography concepts and to diffraction methods. The fifth section concerns specific aspects of structure, such as hydrogen bonding. Finally, four articles in the sixth section give applications of NMR crystallography to structural biology, organic & pharmaceutical chemistry, inorganic & materials chemistry, and geochemistry.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

BBA special issue: Membrane Protein Dynamics by NMR


Volume 1798, Issue 2, Pages 65-302 (February 2010)

Special issue: "Membrane Protein Dynamics by NMR: Correlation of Structure and Function"

Edited by: A. Ramamoorthy and G. Veglia

T. Reddy, X. Li, L. Fliegel, B.D. Sykes, J.K. Rainey, "Correlating structure, dynamics, and function in transmembrane segment VII of the Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 1," Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes 1798 (2010) 94-104. (special issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2009.06.025

M. Ouellet, N. Voyer, M. Auger, "Membrane interactions and dynamics of a 21-mer cytotoxic peptide: A solid-state NMR study," Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes 1798 (2010) 235-243. (special issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2009.07.029

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Pacifichem 2010: Call for Papers


The 2010 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies (Pacifichem), will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii, December 15 - 20, 2010. The Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) is proud to be the 2010 host society.

The Call for Papers opened January 1, 2010 and will close April 5, 2010.

Submit your abstract via the Pacifichem 2010 website. Details are available at http://pacifichem.abstractcentral.com/

Conference Topics

1. Analytical
2. Inorganic
3. Macromolecular
4. Organic
5. Physical, Theoretical and Computational
6. Agrochemistry
7. Biological Chemistry
8. Environmental Chemistry
9. Materials and Nanotechnology
10. Alternate Energy Technology
11. Chemistry Outreach to the Community
12. Health and Technology
13. Security

To view the full list of symposia visit http://www.pacifichem.org/symposia/

Student Poster Competition

PACIFICHEM 2010 will once again conduct a Student Poster Competition. Participation in the Student Poster Competition is indicated by submitting an abstract to one of the symposia within the technical program and marking the option to participate in the Student Poster Competition. An abstract must be accepted first into the technical program as a poster presentation by the symposium organizers before it can be considered for the Student Poster Competition.

We encourage you to forward this notice to your colleagues nationally and internationally, to submit your abstracts, and to join us in Hawaii this December.

To learn more about the conference visit the website at http://www.pacifichem.org/

Howard Alper, Congress Chair, University of Ottawa
Steven Holdcroft, Scientific Program Chair, Simon Fraser University/National Research Council
Cathleen Crudden, Communications Committee, Queen’s University
Roland Andersson, Finance Committee, Chemical Institute of Canada

NMR Symposia at Pacifichem 2010

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

Friday, January 15, 2010

CSC 2010: Solid-State NMR Symposium


Dear NMR colleagues,

Gillian Goward and myself are organizing a symposium entitled "Solid-State NMR: Methods and Applications" at the 93rd Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Toronto. The symposium is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, May 30 and all day Monday, May 31.

I would like to encourage you and your students to consider submitting abstracts for 20-minute talks and/or posters through the following link:

http://www.csc2010.ca/program/submit_abstract.html

The deadline for abstract submissions is February 15.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in Toronto!

Dave Bryce (web)

Friday, January 8, 2010

Pacifichem 2010: Biological Solid-State NMR Symposium


We are delighted to announce a 2.5 day symposium on biological solid-state NMR at Pacifichem 2010 in Hawaii, 15-20 December 2010.

Advances in Solid-State NMR of Biological Molecules (Symposium #58) in the Topic area of Biological Chemistry

Organized by: Akira Naito, Michèle Auger, Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy, Frances Separovic

The following topics will be discussed in this symposium:

(i) technical developments in resolution and sensitivity enhancements of solid-state NMR
(ii) high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules by solid-state NMR
(iii) advances in structural biology of membrane proteins and peptides
(iv) dynamics and biomolecular function by solid-state NMR
(v) characterization of supramolecular complexes and fibril-forming proteins

Invited Speakers: Michèle Auger (CA), Jerry Chan (TW), Timothy Cross (US), Gary Drobny (US), Toshimichi Fujiwara (JP), John Gehman (AU), Mei Hong (US), Yoshitaka Ishii (US), Yongae Kim (KOR), Vladimir Ladizhansky (CA), Gary Lorigan (US), Ann McDermott (US), Francesca Marassi (US), Isabelle Marcotte (CA), Nobuaki Matsumori (JP), Konstantin Momot (AU), Akira Naito (JP), Kaoru Nomura (JP), Eric Oldfield (US), Stanley Opella (US), Tatyana Polenova (US), William Price (AU), Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy (US), Takeshi Sato (JP), Jacob Schaefer (US), Frances Separovic (AU), Simon Sharpe (CA), Steven Smith (US), Suzana Straus (CA), Kiyonori Takegoshi (JP), Satoru Tuzi (JP), Gianluigi Veglia (US), David Weliky (US), Katherine Wildman (US), Kurt Zilm (US)

On behalf of the Organizing Committee

Frances Separovic (web)
University of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract submission is open from January 1 - April 5, 2010. All abstracts must be submitted online through the Pacifichem Abstract System.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Raymond Andrew Prize 2010: call for nominations


for an outstanding PhD thesis in the field of magnetic resonance.

For the Raymond Andrew Prize 2010 the AMPERE Prize Committee is seeking your help in searching for qualified candidates who completed their dissertation during the period of 2008/2009.

The prize will be presented during the joint EUROMAR/ISMAR conference in Florence (Italy) from 4th to 9th July 2010.

You are kindly invited to submit nominations by e-mail to

andrewprice "at" nmr.phys.chem.ethz.ch

Suggestions must be received by 15th February 2010 and should include the following documents:

• Nomination letter
• Curriculum vitae
• List of publications and presentations at conferences
• PhD thesis in PDF

The thesis should be written in English. In exceptional cases, the thesis may also be submitted in triplicate as a hardcopy to the AMPERE Secretariat.

Submissions that arrive too late will automatically be transferred to the next year. The prize committee will reconsider excellent contributions for two years in a row.

For a list of past Andrew Prize winners and topics of their theses see:
http://www.ampere.ethz.ch/andrew_prize.htm