IUCr–UNESCO Summit Meetings

IYCr2014 Latin America Summit Declaration

The IYCr2014 Latin America Summit Declaration took the form of an Appeal letter, with 67 signatories, addressed to the President of the IUCr, Prof Marv Hackert and to the Regional Director of UNESCO, Prof Lidia Brito. This letter is published below.

[2014: Latin American Summit Meeting on Biological crystallography and complementary methods: Petition]
Initial signatories of the Summit Declaration. Seated at table (from left): Carlos Aguilar, Adriana Rojas, Richard Garratt, Alejandro Buschiazzo, Raul Padron, Alejandro Vila. Standing: Marvin Hackert (left) and Samar Hasnain (right).

Appeal 

24th September, 2014

Prof. Marvin Hackert
President, International Union of Crystallography

Prof. Lidia Brito
Regional Director, UNESCO


Dear Colleagues

We are pleased to report that the IYCr Latin America Summit Meeting on Biological Crystallography in Campinas, Brazil during September 22-24, 2014, has provided us an opportunity to extensively discuss and review the status of education and research in X-ray diffraction sciences in various countries in the region.

Over 100 senior researchers, early career researchers, post-doctoral fellows and students from 12 countries have participated in the event including a number of well established scientists in the North (Europe and USA) with origins in the region. The reflections from these scientists regarding the level of regional collaboration indicated that this is clearly sub-optimal, suggesting the need to take immediate action.

Many of us were engaged in extensive discussions focusing on the promotion of regional and international cooperation in the field of X-ray crystallography and complementary methods, in line with the objectives of the International Year of Crystallography.  These discussions were consistent with recent efforts leading to the founding of the Latin American Crystallographic Association (LACA).  The venue, being the home of the first synchrotron light source in the southern hemisphere, was fitting, and served also to highlight the ambitions of the region in constructing one of the world's most sophisticated, 4th generation light source, Sirius, before the end of the decade.

Through this letter, we request the IUCr and UNESCO to initiate actions to promote regional scientific collaboration including the holding of training workshops, encouraging the mobility of researchers within the region, promoting joint research projects, leveraging national bodies and institutions for financial support and facilitating regional conferences on the subject of X-ray crystallography and its applications in Latin America. 

We also request the IUCr to facilitate the establishment of a "Latin American IYCr Cooperation Fund". We, as a community representative of our region, commit to persuade our academies, funding agencies and/or governments to provide annual contributions which are commensurate with each country’s economic reality. Our aim is to raise US $100K per annum for this fund. We request IUCr to provide encouragement by making an initial commitment of US $20K per annum for 3 years. We request IUCr/UNESCO to manage these funds.

The funds will be used for a variety of actions including: 

  1. increasing collaboration and cooperation among scientists of the region,
  2. providing seed money for up to 2 projects per annum involving a minimum of 2 countries in the region, at least one of which should be well established in crystallography
  3. funding for short term visits (up to 3 months), primarily aimed towards an  Early Career Researcher, 
  4. training workshops at centres of excellence or emerging centres in the region, 
  5. enabling the sharing of facilities within the region. 

Signed by all those present from the region

Mauricio BáezUniversidad de Chile, Chile
Daniel Guerra (Giraldez)Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru
Ricardo Cabrera (Paucar)Universidad de Chile, Chile
Sebastián KlinkeInstituto Leloir, Argentina
Alexei SoaresBrookhaven National Lab., USA
M. (Marcelo) CostabelUniversidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
A. MechalyInstitut Pasteur, Uruguay
Claudener S. TeixeiraUniversidade (Federal) do Ceará, Brazil
João Paulo (Fernandes)Universidade de Brasília, Brazil
Juliana (Coutinho Gonçalves)Universidade Federal de Espirito Santo, Brazil
Bruna CamposLNBIO, Brazil
João BarbosaUniversidade de Brasília, Brazil
Bruno RochaUniversidade Fed. Ceará, Brazil
Plínio DelatorreUniversidade Fed. da Paraíba, Brazil
Lucia ChemesInstituto Leloir - UBA, Argentina
Carolina WilsonICB-USP / LNBio, Brazil
Carlos AguilarUniversidad Nacional de San Luis, Argentina
Luis BriebaLangebio - Cinvestav, Mexico
Ana Carolina ZeriLNBio / CNPEM, Brazil
Alejandro VilaIBR - Rosario, Argentina
A. BuschiazzoInst. Pasteur Montevideo, Uruguay
Iris TorrianiUniversity of Campinas, Brazil
Marcio DiasICB - USP, Brazil
David NevesUniversidade de Brasília, Brazil
Marin van HeelUniv. of Leiden, The Netherlands
Raúl PadronCentro de Biologia Estructural (CBE) - IVIC, Venezuela
Adriana RojasCIC bioGUNE, Spain
Eduardo HorjalesIFSC / USP, Brazil
Rodrigo PortugalLNNano / CNPEM, Brazil
Marcos NavarroUSP - IFSC, Brazil
Leopoldo SuescunUniversidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
João Renato MunizPhysics Institute of São Carlos, Brazil
Rafael VC GuidoPhysics Institute of São Carlos, Brazil
Andre LB AmbrosioLNBio / CNPEM, Brazil
Roberto SalinasInstitute of Chemistry, USP, Brazil
Adela Rodriguez RomeroInstituto de Química, UNAM, Mexico
Enrique Rudiño PiñeraInstituto de Biotecnologia, UNAM, Mexico
Pedro AlzariInstitut Pasteur, Paris, France
Maximiliano FigueroaCIGAR, University of Liege, Belgium
Santiago JA FigueroaLNLS - CNPEM, Brazil
Jorge IulekUniversidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, Brazil
Robson (Rodrigo Miranda)Univ. Est. de Ponta Grossa, Brazil
Kishore Reddy (Mandapati)UNICAMP, Brazil
Miguel Angel MartínezUniversidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay
Anna LurcICB - USP, Brazil
Ivan Rosa e SilvaIFSC - USP, Brazil
Guilherme Henrique Marchi SalvadorIBB - UNESP - Botucatu, Brazil
Fabio F. CardosoIBB - UNESP - Botucatu, Brazil
Diego LeonardoIFSC - USP, Brazil
Patricia FelicianoFCFRP - USP, Brazil
Matías FuentealbaUniversidad de Chile, Chile
Alain Monsalve (Mera)IFSC - USP, Brazil
Ariadna Juarez (Martinez)IBT - UNAM - UACM, Mexico
Igor Monteze FerreiraLNBio - CNPEM, Brazil
Valeria ScorsatoIQ - UniCAMP, Brazil
Alma Yazmin Fuentes PascacioCINVESTAV - LANGEBIO, Mexico
Maria Natalia LisaInstitut Pasteur, Paris, France
Amanda BernardesIFSC - USP, Brazil
Adriana RojasCIC bioGUNE, Spain
Juan FauteuilleCEA, France
Felipe TrajtenbergInstitut Pasteur, Monevideo, Uruguay
Germán SeroIQ - USP (São Paulo), Brazil
Camila C. PascoalLNBio / CNPEM, Brazil
Anwar UllahUNESP / IBILCE, Brazil
Agnes (Machado)Universidad Ponta Grossa, Brazil
Lisandro OteroLeloir Insitute Foundation, Argentina
Richard GarattUSP - Inst Física São Carlo, Brazil

Monday, September 22, 2014

08:00 - 08:45 Registration at the LNLS entrance hall
08:45 - 09:00 Kleber Franchini Welcoming remarks

Session I: Introduction

Chair: Glaucius Oliva

09:00 - 09:30 Marvin Hackert (IUCr President) IYCr2014 and the summit meetings

Session II: Historical Perspective on Protein Crystallography in Latin America

Chair: Richard Garratt (BRA)

09:30 - 10:00 Glaucius Oliva (IFSC/USP) From Laue to present Latin America
10:00 - 10:30 Antonio José Roque (LNLS) The future in Latin America: Sirius Project
10:30 - 11:00 Kleber Franchini (LNBio) Structural Biology and multidisciplinarity at the LNBio

11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break

Session III: Biological Crystallography 1

Chair: Adela Rodríguez-Romero (MEX)

11:30 - 12:00 Alejandro Buschiazzo (URU) Novel insights into bacterial signaling: the ‘one sequence ‐ multiple structures’ perspective
12:00 - 12:30 Sebastian Klinke (ARG) S-SAD phasing of monoclinic histidine kinase from Brucella abortus at low resolution using true redundancy and multiple crystal data collection
12:30 - 13:00 Chuck Farah (BRA) The Physiological Function of the Xanthomonas Type IV Secretion System

13:00 - 14:30 Lunch at the campus

Session IV: Biological Crystallography 2

Chair: Marcos Fontes (BRA)

14:30 - 15:00 Luis Brieba (MEX) Crystallographic and protein engineering studies of Triosephosphate isomerase
15:00 - 15:30 Marta Bunster (CHI) How different techniques such as Spectroscopy, proteomics, and in silico approaches, are associated to X-ray crystallography to obtain structural information in a complex system, the Phycobilisome
15:30 - 16:00 Maria Cristina Nonato (BRA) Decoding cellular information with tandem-repeat galectins

16:00 - 16:30 Coffee Break

Chair: Glaucius Oliva (BRA)

16:30 - 17:00 Marvin Hackert (IUCr President) Tautomerase Superfamily – good things come in small packages
17:00 - 18:00 Keynote Lecture: Ada Yonath Can structures lead to advanced therapeutics?

18:00 - 20:30 Poster Session 1 + Social Gathering

23rd September 2014

Session V: A View from Abroad: Latin Americans Working Overseas

Chair: Samar Hasnain (IUCr)

09:00 - 09:30 Pedro Alzari (FRA) Some structural insights into mycobacterial signalling mechanisms
09:30 - 10:00 Alexei Soares (USA) X-rays and sound pulses: acoustic methods in crystallography and drug discovery
10:00 - 10:30 Adriana Rojas (ESP) Structural and biophysical studies of human Methionine Adenosyltransferases
10:30 - 11:00 Juan Fontecilla-Camps (FRA) Structure-function relationships of anaerobic metalloenzymes

11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 - 12:00 Lidia Brito (UNESCO) UNESCO and the International Year of Cristallography

Session VI: 12:00 - 13:20 Round-table

Chair: Samar Hasnain (IUCr)

Participants: Pedro Alzari, Alexei Soares, Adriana Rojas and Juan Fontecilla-Camps

13:20 - 14:00 Lunch at the campus

Session VII: Biological Crystallography 3

Chair: Sergio Pantano (URU)

14:30 - 15:00 Miguel Angel Martínez Cabrera (PAR) Progress in the field of Chemistry of Natural Products in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Nacional University of Asunción
15:00 - 15:30 Ricardo Cabrera (CHI) Different ways to bind cofactors: allosteric ATP inhibition and NAD(P) binding selectivity
15:30 - 16:00 Ronaldo Nagem (BRA) Structural characterization of the enzymes in the naphthalene degradation pathway: filling the gaps

16:00 - 16:30 Coffee Break

Session VIII: Complementary Techniques 1

Chair: Roberto Salinas (BRA)

16:30 - 17:00 Jerson Lima da Silva (BRA) Unraveling Problems in Protein Misfolding Diseases using Structural Biology and Bioimaging
17:00 - 17:30 Alejandro Vila (ARG) Unraveling the mechanism of assembly of the CuA center in cytochrome oxidases
17:30 - 18:00 Daniel Guerra (PER) Structure and dynamics of protein-DNA interactions in transcription initiation complexes of Escherichia coli
18:00 - 18:30 Raul Padrón (VEN) The molecular basis of the relaxation and activation of tarantula striated muscle thick filament is revealed by the disclosure of the myosin interacting-heads motif structure

18:30 - 21:00 Poster Session 2 + Social Gathering

24th September 2014

Session IX: Biological Crystallography 4

Chair: Rafael V. Guido (BRA)

09:00 - 09:30 Marcos Navarro (BRA) Insights into c-di-GMP-mediated transcriptional mechanisms involved in biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
09:30 - 10:00 Enrique Rudino-Pinera (MEX) Using X-rays to describe electronic fluxes in REDOX enzymes
10:00 - 10:30 Andrea Dessen (BRA) Bacterial mimicry of eukaryotic innate immunity
10:30 - 11:00 Gonzalo Prat Gay (ARG) Intrinsic disorder and unstructural biology

11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break

Session X: Complementary Techniques 2

Chair: Marcelo Costabel (ARG)

11:30 - 12:00 Ana Carolina Zeri (BRA) NMR in structural biology: Beyond the structures
12:00 - 12:30 Rodrigo Portugal (BRA) A Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility for Single Particle Analysis at the National Center for Energy and Materials Research
12:30 - 12:45 Alejandro Buschiazzo (URU) Centro de Biología Estuctural del Mercosur (CeBEM)
12:45 - 13:00 Iris Torriani Latin American Crystallography Association (LACA)
13:00 - 13:10 Samar Hasnain Closing Remarks

13:10 - 14:30 Lunch at the campus


Structural Biology has been chosen as the theme for the Latin American summit. Under the auspices of UNESCO and the IUCr, the summit meeting intends to provide a forum for stimulating the application of crystallography to complex biological phenomena. The meeting will consist of a series of scientific presentations by invited scientists from the region and will serve as a showcase for the progress which has been made in protein crystallography and related subjects over the course of the last 25 years. The relatively small number of participants (around 100) should guarantee a friendly environment conducive to discussing the scientific future of the region and specifically the contribution that crystallography can make to that future. It is hoped to have representatives from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico amongst others.

The importance of creating greater integration with the wider scientific community will be emphasized by the participation of world-class Latin American scientists who have had successful careers outside of the region as well as by the opening lecture to be given by Nobel Laureate Ada Yonath.

See more at: http://pages.cnpem.br/iycr2014-lasummit

We would like to warmly invite you to attend the IYCr2014 summit meeting on “Biological Crystallography and Complementary Methods” to be held at the Brazilian National Synchrotron Laboratory (LNLS) in Campinas, Brazil, from the 22nd to the 24th of September 2014. This summit is part of a series of such meetings being held in developing countries around the world during 2014, each with its own specific theme. As you are aware, 2014 was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Year of Crystallography in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Prize in physics to Max Von Laue for his seminal work on the phenomenon of X-ray diffraction by crystals. This was followed a year later by a similar recognition given to the William and Lawrence Bragg. The choice of venue for the Latin American summit seems particularly appropriate given the ongoing construction of the new Brazilian synchrotron SIRIUS which represents the potential of the region to become a major player in structural biology in the future.

Glaucius Oliva, Chairman

See more at: http://pages.cnpem.br/iycr2014-lasummit

Organizing Committee 

Glaucius Oliva, Chairman (IFSC, USP)
Antônio José Roque (LNLS, CNPEM)
Kleber Gomes Franchini (LNBio, CNPEM)
Iris Torriani (Unicamp, IUCr, ABCr)
Richard Garratt (IFSC, USP)
Andre LB Ambrosio (LNBio, CNPEM)

See more at: http://pages.cnpem.br/iycr2014-lasummit/organizing-committee/

rodape-2013
The National Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) is the new name of the Brazilian Association for Synchrotron Light Technology (ABTLuS). It is responsible for the four National Science Laboratories LNLS, CTBE, LNBio and LNNano.
The Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) operates the only Synchrotron Light Source in Latin America. Designed and built with Brazilian technology, LNLS was inaugurated in 1997 with open facilities to the scientific and business community across the country and abroad.
The Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory (CTBE) is a national laboratory that aims at contributing to the maintenance of Brazilian leadership in the sustainable production of ethanol from sugarcane. 
The Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio) is dedicated to cutting-edge research and innovation focused on biotechnology and drugs development. - See more at: http://lnbio.cnpem.br/about-us/#sthash.qbgPJ9FD.dpuf
The Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano) was created in 2011, incorporating the laboratories of Electron Microscopy (LME), Laboratory for Surface Science (LCS) and Thin Films and Microfabrication (LMF), which until that time had been associated with LNLS. In 2012, the laboratories of Metals Characterization and Processing Laboratory (CPM) and Nanostructured Soft Materials (LMN) were added to the purview of LNNano.
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação - Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI).
The Federal Government of Brazil.
 

The event is expected to accommodate approximately 100 participants and expects to receive delegates from many Latin American countries who will be specifically invited by the organizing committee because of their important contributions to structural biology.

The remainder of places will be available for researchers, students and other interested parties to apply.

Depending on the demand it may not be possible to accept all applications.

See more at: http://pages.cnpem.br/iycr2014-lasummit/how-to-participate

Contact for correspondence and further enquiries

Event organizers at iycr2014-lasummit@lnls.br