Crystallography education and training for the 21st century

Teaching crystallography to undergraduate physical chemistry students

Classroom demonstrations, laboratory experiments and homework assignments are suggested that will increase student interest and comprehension in both introductory and advanced physical chemistry courses.

The Bravais polar lattice as a didactic tool for diffraction beginners

The concept of the polar lattice introduced by Bravais is reviewed and presented as an intermediate step to introduce the notion of the reciprocal lattice.

How to read (and understand) Volume A of International Tables for Crystallography: an introduction for nonspecialists

This article explains the international notation system for space-group symmetry, using examples taken from Volume A of International Tables for Crystallography (ITA), and shows noncrystallographers, primarily biologists, how to understand and make use of the information provided in ITA.

Teaching general chemistry, solid-state chemistry and crystallography in one comprehensive undergraduate course: can the effect be synergistic?

This contribution describes a 30-year experience of teaching a general course in solid-state chemistry for undergraduates, which introduces at the same time the main concepts of crystallography, gives an introduction into structure analysis techniques and makes links to courses in inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry.

Efforts to enhance coverage of crystallography in United States secondary education

This article describes activities whose objective is to enhance secondary education in the United States by raising crystallography awareness through workshops, summer schools, student/teacher research internships and remote-enabling technologies.

Crystal cookery – using high-throughput technologies and the grocery store as a teaching tool

Using high-throughput crystallization screening technologies and data analysis, an educational program has been developed to teach the scientific method through crystallization and access to a grocery store, a post office and the internet.

Applications of the Cambridge Structural Database in chemical education

The educational value of three-dimensional crystal structures in the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) is discussed in the context of practical use cases and the availability of a free teaching subset of the CSD that can be used in conjunction with WebCSD, an application that provides internet access to CSD information content.

Promoting a structural view of biology for varied audiences: an overview of RCSB PDB resources and experiences

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) serves a community of users with diverse backgrounds and interests. In addition to processing, archiving and distributing structural data, it also develops educational resources and materials to enable people to utilize PDB data and to further a structural view of biology.

Update on the tutorial for learning and teaching macromolecular crystallography

The previously described macromolecular crystallography tutorial [Faust, Panjikar, Mueller, Parthasarathy, Schmidt, Lamzin & Weiss (2008). J. Appl. Cryst. 41, 1161–1172] has been significantly revised and expanded with two more experiments.

RapiData: a practical course in macromolecular X-ray diffraction data measurement and structure solving at the NSLS

RapiData provides two days of high-level lectures, then two more of experimental work on several beamlines of the National Synchrotron Light Source, for about 50 students. This article provides details about the organization of the course and tells some of the reasons for its success.

Scientific inquiry, inference and critical reasoning in the macromolecular crystallography curriculum

An essay on the importance of incorporating basic scientific reasoning and common sense into the biomolecular crystallography curriculum to safeguard against mistakes and self-deception in the interpretation of macromolecular structure models is presented.

Jmol – a paradigm shift in crystallographic visualization

Features of Jmol that allow new ways for students to interact with three-dimensional virtual models and explore molecular and crystallographic symmetry are described.

Remote access to crystallography beamlines at SSRL: novel tools for training, education and collaboration

The ultimate goal of synchrotron data collection is to obtain the best possible data from the best available crystals, and the combination of automation and remote access at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) has revolutionized the way in which scientists achieve this goal. This has also seen a change in the way novice crystallographers are trained in the use of the beamlines, and a wide range of remote tools and hands-on workshops are now offered by SSRL to facilitate the education of the next generation of protein crystallographers.

Observations on online educational materials for powder diffraction crystallography software

This article provides a commentary on the successes and shortcomings of the author's educational outreach approaches for powder diffraction crystallographic software and techniques.

Pushing the boundaries of technology to educate and train the next generation of crystallographers

The science of crystallography has always pushed the boundaries of technology, and the time is now ripe to push them again, not just to advance our research capabilities, but to attract and train the next generation.

Biomolecular crystallography: principles, practice and applications to structural biology