Practical Crystallography Course

As X-ray crystallography becomes more automated and the plethora of programs available increases, the new user to the field can be overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices available for any task from data processing, data analysis, structure solution and refinement.  In order to make crystallography more accessible, NE-CAT has begun offers a course in the practical aspects of crystallography, guiding users at all levels: undergraduate student, graduate student, postdoc or new investigator.  The course covers the programs (as used at NE-CAT) needed to take a crystal from an initial dataset to a final publication-ready structure.

Sample Course:

  • Data Processing with XDS – Integration
  • Data Processing with POINTLESS, AIMLESS, CAD, TRUNCATE, FREERFLAG - Spacegroups, Scaling, MTZ files
  • Data Analysis, (Molrep, xtriage, matthews) - Non-Crystallographic Symmetry, Pseudo-translation, Twinning
  • De Novo Phasing using ShelxC/D/E with HKL2MAP
  • AutoSol
  • Making a MR model with AlphaFold2
  • Molecular Replacement using PHASER
  • Is my structure solved? FOM, LLG, RFZ/TFZ, CCall/CCweak
  • Model Building and Refinement (using Coot and phenix.refine)
  • Publishing, data collection statistic table (phenix.table1) including what is acceptable for publication, PYMOL

The course is offered both in-person and virtually via Zoom.  You must be a registered APS user with current site access in order to take the course.  The course is free.

The next session of the course will be in-person in Boston, MA at Harvard Medical School.  For more information, visit the workshop event page.