“Happy GCI Hour” is an online event promoted by the Italian Young Crystallographers (GCI) and the Italian Association of Crystallography (AIC). Every month, two oral communications will be given by the young members of the association to advertise their research. The idea is to mix various topics and different scientific profiles. We hope that this new scientific space can promote collaborations and encourage scientific discussion.
The webinars will be organized on the 3rd or the 4th Monday of every month at 18.00 starting from February 2023. All the info regarding the topics and how to register will be given month by month in the dedicated section.
We look forward to see you all!
Past webinars
27 February 2023
Giovanni Orazio Lepore (University of Florence)
A (very) quick look on EXAFS and its applications
The webinar will consist of a synthetic and practical introduction to X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) with a specific focus on Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS). Following the description of some of EXAFS basic principles, a few examples of its applications in material and environmental science will be provided.
Sofia de Felice (University of Padova)
Exploiting scaffold proteins for biological structural studies
An overview of the most common scaffold proteins used in structural biology for solving difficult biological sample will be provided, with a special focus on the application of megabodies for electron microscopy studies.
20 March 2023
Giorgia Confalonieri (ESRF)
High resolution powder diffraction at ID22
ID22 is the high-resolution powder-diffraction beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France. In this webinar, it will be shown not only how to obtain high-resolution powder diffraction data, but also a newly-developed mode of acquisition. This new method allows us to remove the asymmetry of peak shapes at low diffraction angles and significantly lower the collection time, paving the way to faster but accurate data collection.
Nicola Campomenosi (University of Hamburg)
Mineral host-inclusion systems at non ambient conditions, insights from in situ Raman spectroscopy
The application of Raman spectroscopy to minerals trapped inside other minerals (i.e. host-inclusion systems) allows us to determine the temperature and pressure conditions of inclusion entrapment. In this webinar, I provide a short introduction to this method and its important application to mineral sciences.
17 April 2023
Stefano Raciopppi (University at Buffalo, The State University of New York)
Crystal Structure Prediction Methods
Michela La Bella (ESRF)
Multiscale study of the bassanite-gypsum transformation with diffraction and tomography techniques
22 May 2023
Giusy Tassone
Protein structure determination and application to drug development: Evidence of amino-thiadiazoles as innovative inhibitors of human glutaminyl cyclase, validated target for neurodegenerative disorders
The talk includes a session aimed at describing the structure of a protein including a shortdissertation on what amino acids are. Furthermore, the techniques necessary for structural determination will be discussed, and then the focus will be on the importance of getting to know a protein thoroughly and using it as a target in the development of new drugs. Afterwards, a work in which the techniques presented above were used will be presented. More specifically, the determination of the structure of an enzyme, human glutaminyl cyclase, for the development of drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
Michele Prencipe
Time-Resolved In Situ Monitoring Investigation of Cocrystal Mechanochemical Reaction via Low Melting Eutectic
The fundamental principles that underlie mechanochemical cocrystallisations at the microscopic level still remain poorly understood. In this webinar, I will report a clear example of cocrystallisation between two solid coformers which react forming a metastable liquid intermediate. The whole process was investigated by In-Situ XRPD, Hotstage Microscopy and Thermal analysis (DSC).