December 2024 - phenixbb - phenix-online.org

RapiData at SSRL 2024
by Smith, Clyde 18 Nov '25

18 Nov '25

Hi everyone, Applications are now open for the 2024 edition of RapiData at SSRL. RapiData is a practical course in macromolecular X-ray diffraction data collection, data processing and structure solution. The aim of the RapiData course is to educate and train young scientists in data collection and processing methods at synchrotron beamlines, using state-of-the-art software and instrumentation. The course will be held at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) located on the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory campus in Menlo Park, CA, from April 29 to May 4, 2024. The course will comprise hands-on experiments at the SSRL beamlines, software tutorials, and lectures on the following topics: Specimen preparation, Data collection strategies, X-ray light sources, X-ray detectors, Data reduction, Structure solution by MAD, SAD and Molecular Replacement, Complementary methods (spectroscopy and small angle scattering) Please visit http://smb.slac.stanford.edu/news/rapidata/rapidata-2024/ and use the links on the "Application and Registration" page to apply for the course. The application deadline is January 31, 2024. Successful applicants will be notified early in February 2024 and invited to register and book accommodation at SLAC Stanford Guesthouse at that time. A limited amount of support funding may be available. Please direct questions to Silvia Russi (srussi(a)slac.stanford.edu) or Clyde Smith (csmith(a)slac.stanford.edu).

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Research Specialist Position at the University of Illinois to Study Ribosome Structure | POLIKANOV Lab
by Yury Polikanov 21 Apr '25

21 Apr '25

*Research Specialist Position Available, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago - Polikanov Lab* *The Polikanov Laboratory in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (IL, USA) is looking for a talented, skillful, and highly motivated researcher to fill the Research Specialist position to study the structure and function of the bacterial ribosome.* For fullest consideration, please submit an application and cover letter describing your scientific interests and how your previous research accomplishments and scientific interests fit with the scope of the research in the Polikanov research group at https://uic.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/7573?c=uic *Position Summary:* The research in the Polikanov Laboratory at UIC is focused on understanding the basic principles of protein synthesis in bacteria, the modes of action of ribosome-targeting antibiotics, and the mechanisms of drug resistance at a structural level. This position is involved in the determination of high-resolution structures of ribosome functional complexes with various protein translation factors, tRNAs, and antibiotics using macromolecular X-ray crystallography and potentially cryo-EM techniques. Expected contributes to the design and delivery of research projects and collaborates with researchers to develop, execute, and interpret research projects. Performs complex laboratory and data collection techniques. *Duties & Responsibilities:* - Perform research relevant to the assigned projects; - Isolate, purify, and crystallize bacterial ribosomes; - Purify all additional components necessary for the crystallization experiments, such as recombinant proteins, tRNAs; - Collect X-ray diffraction data from the ribosome crystals at the APS and NSLS-II Synchrotrons; - Perform structural data analysis; - Coordinate, analyze, and document results for publication; - Directly participate in writing papers and grants based on the experimental data; - Train undergraduate and graduate students in research methods, use of equipment, record keeping, and laboratory database entry; - Attend weekly group meetings and journal club seminars. - Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned. *Minimum Qualifications:* - A bachelor’s degree in chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, or a related field is required. - A master’s degree in chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, or a related field is preferred. - A minimum of 3 years related research experience. - Possesses and applies comprehensive knowledge of research principles, concepts, practices, and methods. - Proficient in standard molecular biology and biochemistry lab techniques, such as protein expression, and purification *Preferred Qualifications:* - Experience in structural biology (cryo-EM or X-ray crystallography); - Experience in RNA biology, ribosome, and/or protein synthesis fields. *About the University of Illinois Chicago:* UIC is among the nation’s preeminent urban public research universities, a Carnegie RU/VH research institution, and the largest university in Chicago. UIC serves over 34,000 students, comprising one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation and is designated as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPSI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Through its 16 colleges, UIC produces nationally and internationally recognized multidisciplinary academic programs in concert with civic, corporate and community partners worldwide, including a full complement of health sciences colleges. By emphasizing cutting-edge and transformational research along with a commitment to the success of all students, UIC embodies the dynamic, vibrant and engaged urban university. Recent “Best Colleges” rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, found UIC climbed up in its rankings among top public schools in the nation and among all national universities. UIC has nearly 260,000 alumni, and is one of the largest employers in the city of Chicago. *The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters <https://www.hr.uillinois.edu/cms/one.aspx?portalId=4292&pageId=5705> to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify. **The university provides accommodations to applicants and employees. Request an Accommodation <https://jobs.uic.edu/request-and-accomodation/>*

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Phenix Postdoc Position - Berkeley, California
by Paul Adams 24 Jan '25

24 Jan '25

Dear Colleagues, The Phenix team is hiring! We are looking for talented postdoctoral candidates to join the group in Berkeley. Please see the details below, and feel free to pass on to anyone you think might be interested. To access the job posting directly: https://jobs.lbl.gov/jobs/computational-postdoctoral-fellow-6893 Cheers, Paul Berkeley Lab’s (LBNL) Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division (MBIB) has an opening for a Postdoctoral Fellow to develop new computational methods for the structure determination and refinement of protein structures using the PHENIX software system. In this exciting role, you will work under the direction of the Deputy Director for this project with primary responsibilities including the development and implementation of numerical methods and new computational protocols, including the application of machine learning methods. The goals of the role include the development of automated pipelines for data analysis, structure completion and model validation. The Phenix software is used worldwide for the determination of atomic structures using X-ray and neutron crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. The software is developed as part of an international collaboration supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Phenix Industrial Consortium. This will require the organization of results for presentation and viewing by project team members, the wider scientific community, and preparing results for publication in scientific journals. This position has an earliest start date of February 3, 2025. What You Will Do: Develop and implement computational algorithms for structure determination using crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy including: Improved methods for the optimization and completion of models Automated pipelines for data analysis, structure completion, and model validation Apply machine learning methods to problems in crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. Develop and test new components of the PHENIX software system in collaboration with others. Document software developments. Collaborate with other researchers in the PHENIX program. Summarize research results, publish them in peer-reviewed journals, and contribute to scientific research papers and reports. Contribute to discussions on the determination of future directions. Attend group meetings or conferences/workshops, present status reports, and scientific findings as appropriate. Keep accurate and detailed research notes. What is Required: A recent Ph.D. (within the last 1-2 years) in Computational Crystallography, Computational Cryo-Electron Microscopy, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Computational Chemistry or a closely related field. Demonstrated experience in developing computational algorithms for solving problems. Demonstrated experience with computational methods development. Publications in macromolecular crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy or closely related fields. Good programming and mathematical skills, including familiarity with Python and other software development tools. Strong organizational skills including experience maintaining detailed and accurate records of experiment results and analyzed data. Excellent oral and written communication skills including experience organizing/presenting technical reports. Demonstrated interpersonal skills including experience conducting experiments independently and collaborating with a diverse interdisciplinary research team. Desired Qualifications: Experience with machine learning methods, programming with C++, or equivalent object-oriented programming languages. Experience with the practical aspects of crystallography and/or cryo-electron microscopy. Familiarity with macromolecular structure or computational chemistry. -- Paul Adams (he/him/his) Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences, LBL (https://biosciences.lbl.gov) Principal Investigator, Computational Crystallography Initiative, LBL (http://cci.lbl.gov) Vice President for Technology, the Joint BioEnergy Institute (http://www.jbei.org) Principal Investigator, ALS-ENABLE, Advanced Light Source (http://als-enable.lbl.gov) Laboratory Research Manager, ENIGMA Science Focus Area (http://enigma.lbl.gov) Adjunct Professor, Department of Bioengineering, UC Berkeley (http://bioeng.berkeley.edu) Member of the Graduate Group in Comparative Biochemistry, UC Berkeley (http://compbiochem.berkeley.edu) Building 91, Room 410 Building 978, Room 4126 Tel: 1-510-486-4225 http://cci.lbl.gov/paul ORCID: 0000-0001-9333-8219 Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory 1 Cyclotron Road BLDG 91R0183 Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Executive Assistant: Michael Espinosa [ MEEspinosa(a)lbl.gov ][ 1-510-333-6788 ] Phenix Consortium: Ashley Dawn [ AshleyDawn(a)lbl.gov ][ 1-510-486-5455 ] --

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Handling of modified nucleotides in ribosome structures
by christian.steinmetzger＠imbim.uu.se 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

Dear community, I'm trying to work with a published ribosome structure (PDB 7K00, https://www.rcsb.org/structure/7k00 ) for example in phenix.combine_focused_maps or phenix.real_space_refine. Of course this structure contains a lot of modified residues and the monomer library in a fresh Phenix installation (version 1.21.2-5419) does not handle these out of the box. Since a lot of publications have used 7K00 as a starting point for their work in Phenix and since the current CCP4 monomer library plays nice with this structure I would not have expected this. Am I missing something in my Phenix setup to make it recognize such "common" modified residues in a ribosome or do I indeed need to generate parameters myself using AceDRG, eLBOW, Grade2 etc.? In the latter case, could I simply swap out the stock Phenix monomer library for the one from CCP4 as a drop-in replacement or would that be a bad idea? Thank you! Christian

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cryo em map
by iram aziz 18 Dec '24

18 Dec '24

Hello All. I got a nice 2.45 Angstrom map from cryo em data. I checked handedness, map model fitting on the chimera and opened in the coot. It looks nice. Can you please give me suggestions about the Phenix refinement steps. Thanks Iram

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PostDoc and Associate Researcher positions in structural biology field at ISMMS in NYC
by Wang, Wei 14 Dec '24

14 Dec '24

Dear all, I'd like to draw your attention to the availability of postdoctoral and associate researcher positions in my newly started lab at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Our lab focuses on elucidating protein dynamics and functions under disease-related conditions, with a strong collaborative tie to the Mount Sinai Center for Transformative Disease Modeling. I hereby sincerely invite colleagues to join my lab for the mutual research interest. For more details on the available positions and the application process, please visit the following links: Postdoctoral candidate please visit: https://jobrxiv.org/job/icahn-school-of-medicine-at-mount-sinai-27778-postd… Associate Researcher candidate please visit: https://jobrxiv.org/job/icahn-school-of-medicine-at-mount-sinai-27778-assoc… Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I would be glad to talk with you. Wei Wang, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences Department of Pharmacological Sciences Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai e: wei.wang(a)mssm.edu<mailto:[email protected]>

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Re: Registration now open for CCP4 Study Weekend 2025 - Using software, AI and other methods to advance macromolecular models
by Karen McIntyre - STFC UKRI 05 Dec '24

05 Dec '24

Just a reminder that registration is open for the CCP4 Study Weekend taking place in January 2025. Early bird deadline is 11 November so if you want to save some money or are a student wanting a standard bursary register ASAP. Applications for Travel bursaries are now open but close at the end of the month so get your applications in now! Hope to see you there!! Scientific Organisers: Elke De Zitter (Institut de Biologie Structurale, FRANCE) Deborah Harrus (EMBL-EBI, UK) Dorothee Liebschner (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA) Administrative Organisers: Karen McIntyre (CCP4, UK) From: McIntyre, Karen (STFC,RAL,SC) Sent: 26 September 2024 13:15 To: CCP4 WG2 <ccp4wg2(a)listserv.stfc.ac.uk>; CCP4 WG1 <ccp4wg1(a)listserv.stfc.ac.uk>; ccp4bb(a)jiscmail.ac.uk Subject: Registration now open for CCP4 Study Weekend 2025 - Using software, AI and other methods to advance macromolecular models Importance: High Dear all, Registration is now open for the 2025 CCP4 study weekend entitled " Using software, AI and other methods to advance macromolecular models". This year the CCP4 Study Weekend will be held as a hybrid event from the 7th to 9th January 2025, enabling people to choose whether to attend in-person or virtually. The in-person event will be held at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, UK. We would like to invite you to another iteration of the ever-popular CCP4 Study Weekend - to start the year 2025 with a lot of fresh ideas, new insights and (hopefully) new friends and contacts to boost. As always it will be an eclectic mix of bleeding-edge science, in-depth presentations, discussion panel, poster-sessions, hands-on tutorials and plenty of opportunities for social interactions. For full details, programme, logistics and registration, please visit the Study Weekend website<https://studyweekend.ccp4.ac.uk/>. There is no better way to start 2025 than to put participation in that exciting meeting at the top of your "New Year's Resolutions" list! Key Dates: * Early bird registration final date: 11 November 2024; * Standard Student bursaries are open to all students registering during early bird period i.e. now until 11 November which cover the cost of registration plus one night accommodation in halls (1 night in hotel will be subsidised for those students choosing to stay in the hotel); * Travel bursaries are available for students and young postdocs studying at overseas labs to help cover cost of travel to UK. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2024; * Registration for in-person delegates closes 4 December 2023 (or earlier if in-person places sell out although you will be able to join the in-person waitlist). * Registration for virtual delegates will close 9 January 2025. Key Timings Diamond MX user meeting will start at 11:00 on 7TH January 2025 CCP4 study weekend 2025 will start at ~17:30 on 7th January 2025 the event will finish at ~16:30 on 9th January 2025 We hope to see you there! Scientific Organisers: Elke De Zitter (Institut de Biologie Structurale, FRANCE) Deborah Harrus (EMBL-EBI, UK) Dorothee Liebschner (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA) Administrative Organisers: Karen McIntyre (CCP4, UK)

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Phenix error in real space refinement with ligand
by Yung-Chieh Chen 03 Dec '24

03 Dec '24

Dear all, I'm trying to refine my model bound with a ligand bearing a -SF5 moiety (-pentafluorosulfanyl). I have used openbabel/Grade web server or REEL to generate/edit the cif file for the ligand. I could obtain the desired octahedral geometry for the -SF5 group. However, both cases failed in real space refinement and I got the following error message: "Number of atoms with unknown nonbonded energy type symbols: 22337...". I would be very grateful if anyone can share experience about how to tackle this issue. Thanks in advance. Best wishes, Yung-Chieh Chen

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