Nat - two such places already exist! They are the official ccp4 wiki at
http://ccp4wiki.org/ and the unofficial one (but a very useful one!) at
http://strucbio.biologie.uni-konstanz.de/ccp4wiki/
Eugene
On 13 February 2014 15:21, Nat Echols <nathaniel.ech...@gmail.com> wrote:
> One comment (not a complaint) on all this: it seems like the same
> questions get asked over and over again. If there is a good place for a
> general crystallography FAQ list it is well past time for one to be put
> together - or maybe it just needs to be better advertised? At a minimum,
> for instance:
>
> - what cryoprotectant should I use?
> - how do I get big single crystals?
> - how do I improve diffraction?
> - how can I tell if I've solved my structure?
> - why is my R-free stuck?
> - is <pick random statistic> suitable for publication?
>
> Some of the other common queries ("name my blob!") still need to be
> handled on a case-by-case basis, but it would be much more efficient for
> everyone if the standard answers were collected somewhere permanent.
>
> -Nat
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 7:05 AM, Eugene Valkov <eugene.val...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I absolutely agree with Juergen.
>>
>> Leaving aside methods developers, who are a completely different breed,
>> there is no such thing as a "crystallographer" sitting in a dark room
>> solving structures all day. If there are, these are anachronisms destined
>> for evolutionary demise.
>>
>> More and more cell biologists, immunologists and all other kinds of
>> biologists are having a go at doing structural work with their molecules of
>> interest themselves without involving the "professionals". Typically, they
>> learn on the job and they need advice with all kinds of things ranging from
>> cloning and protein preps through to issues with tetartohedrally-twinned
>> data and interpreting their structures.
>>
>> So, a modern structural biologist is one who is equipped for the wet lab
>> and has some idea of how to go about solving structures. CCP4BB is a
>> wonderful resource that is great for both the quality of the advice offered
>> to those that seek it and for the variety of topics that are addressed in
>> the scope of structural biology. I have learnt greatly from reading posts
>> from very skilled and knowledgeable scientists at this forum and then
>> implemented these insights into my own research. I am very grateful for
>> this.
>>
>> In short, please do not discourage your colleagues, particularly very
>> junior ones, from posting to the CCP4BB. Some of the questions may appear
>> quaint or irrelevant but it is easy to simply ignore topics that are of no
>> interest!
>>
>> Eugene
>>
>>
>> On 13 February 2014 14:41, Bosch, Juergen <jubo...@jhsph.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Let me pick up Eleanor's comment:
>>> is there something like a crystallographer today ? I mean in the true
>>> sense ?
>>> I think as a "crystallographer" you won't be able to survive the next
>>> decade, you need to diversify your toolset of techniques as pointed out in
>>> this article
>>> http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7485-711a
>>>
>>> And I'm not quite sure how software developers see themselves, as I
>>> would argue they are typically maybe not doing so much wet lab stuff
>>> related to crystallography (I may be wrong here) but rather code these days.
>>>
>>> What "type" of crystallographer is a software developer ?
>>>
>>> I think like our beloved crystals "we" come in different flavors. And we
>>> need to train the next generation of students with that perspective in mind.
>>>
>>> Just my two cents on a snowy day (>30cm over night)
>>>
>>> Jürgen
>>> ......................
>>> Jürgen Bosch
>>> Johns Hopkins University
>>> Bloomberg School of Public Health
>>> Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
>>> Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute
>>> 615 North Wolfe Street, W8708
>>> Baltimore, MD 21205
>>> Office: +1-410-614-4742
>>> Lab: +1-410-614-4894
>>> Fax: +1-410-955-2926
>>> http://lupo.jhsph.edu
>>>
>>> On Feb 13, 2014, at 6:41 AM, Eleanor Dodson <eleanor.dod...@york.ac.uk>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I agree with Frank - it keeps crystallographers modest to know how
>>> challenging wet lab stuff still is..
>>> Eleanor
>>>
>>> On 12 February 2014 19:23, Robbie Joosten <robbie_joos...@hotmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> It's not an e-mail bulletin board, but Researchgate seems to be quite
>>> popular for wet lab questions. IMO the Q&A section of the social network
>>> is
>>> a bit messy. That said, the quality seems to improve gradually.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Robbie
>>>
>>> Sent from my Windows Phone
>>> ________________________________
>>> Van: Paul Emsley
>>> Verzonden: 12-2-2014 19:23
>>> Aan: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
>>> Onderwerp: Re: [ccp4bb] Sister CCPs
>>>
>>>
>>> On 12/02/14 15:59, George Sheldrick wrote:
>>>
>>> It would be so nice to have a 'sister CCP' for questions aboud wet-lab
>>> problems that have nothing to do with CCP4 or crystallographic
>>> computing, The is clearly a big need for it, and those of us who try
>>> to keep out of wet-labs would not have to wade though it all.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> FWIW, the remit of CCP4BB, held at jiscmail-central, is describes as:
>>>
>>> /The CCP4BB mailing list is for discussions on the use of the CCP4
>>> suite, and macromolecular crystallography in general./
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thus wet-lab questions are not off-topic (not that anyone recently
>>> described them as such).
>>>
>>> Having said that, Jiscmail mailing lists are easy to set-up (providing
>>> that you can reasonably expect that the mailing list will improve
>>> knowledge sharing within the UK centered academic community) and
>>> relatively low maintenance. I, for one, would not be entirely unhappy to
>>> miss out on questions about lysis.
>>>
>>> Paul.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dr Eugene Valkov
>>
>> Room 3N049
>> Division of Structural Studies
>>
>> MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
>> Francis Crick Avenue
>> Cambridge Biomedical Campus
>> Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K.
>>
>> Email: eval...@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
>> Tel: +44 (0) 1223 267358
>>
>
>
