August 2024 - phenixbb - phenix-online.org

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/>*

1 1

RapiData at SSRL 2024
by Smith, Clyde 09 Jan '25

09 Jan '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).

1 4

Re: [phenixbb] red blobs (Andrea Smith)
by Kay Diederichs 31 Oct '24

31 Oct '24

Hi Andrea, in your case, phenix.refine seems to fill bulk solvent into volumes that are not actually filled by solvent. It might help to optimize the mask, see https://phenix-online.org/documentation/reference/refinement.html#bulk-solv… "6. Mask parameters". Best, Kay -- Kay Diederichs http://strucbio.biologie.uni-konstanz.de email: Kay.Diederichs(a)uni-konstanz.de Tel +49 7531 88 4049 Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Konstanz, Box M647, D-78457 Konstanz This e-mail is digitally signed. If your e-mail client does not have the necessary capabilities, just ignore the attached signature "smime.p7s".

6 11

Ordered solvent in phenix.refine
by Oliver H. Weiergräber 11 Sep '24

11 Sep '24

Hello, after switching from version 1.20 to 1.21, I noticed that the updated list of waters generated by the ordered_solvent option in phenix.refine is no longer numbered sequentially; it seems a final re-numbering step is now skipped. Is this intentional? Of course it can be advantageous to keep waters from changing their numbers, e.g. if they are part of occupancy groups. On a related note, is there a mechanism to protect certain "important" waters from being deleted while all the rest is updated as usual? One obvious option would be a dedicated chain ID, but afaik phenix.refine accepts a chain ID for output but not for input waters ... Best regards, Oliver ================================================== Prof. Oliver H. Weiergräber Institute of Biological Information Processing IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry Forschungszentrum Jülich 52425 Jülich, Germany Tel.: +49 2461 61-2028 Fax: +49 2461 61-9540 ==================================================

3 3

phenix quantum interface with Orca
by Guenter Fritz 30 Aug '24

30 Aug '24

Dear Phenix developers, I am currently trying the quantum interface on several cases. on https://phenix-online.org/documentation/reference/quantum_interface.html you write that one can also implement Orca. I am a very basic (not really experienced) Orca user, but nevertheless I would be happy to try it, since I have Orca installed on my , Ubuntu or Rocky) Is there a phenix variable that I have to point to Orca or can I set usage of orca in the .phil file with the package item? Thanks a lot and best regards, Guenter

1 0

problem launching Phenix 1.21.1-5286 under Debian 12 Linux
by cparthier＠googlemail.com 29 Aug '24

29 Aug '24

Hi, I'm having problems running the current Phenix release (1.21.1-5286, but also earlier versions) on a fresh setup of Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm, kernel 6.1.0-23-amd64). Phenix binaries have been installed on an NFS share ("hd1"), hostname is "phe". This is the error output: ----------------------------- phe:~> source /hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/phenix_env.csh phe:~> phenix Gtk-Message: 13:29:49.433: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module" Error in sys.excepthook: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/modules/phenix/wxGUI2/App.py", line 961, in _excepthook Error.show_exception_dialog(type, value, traceback) File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/modules/phenix/wxGUI2/Error.py", line 76, in show_exception_dialog if (app.bug_timer.IsRunning() is False): AttributeError: 'PhenixApp' object has no attribute 'bug_timer' Original exception was: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/build/../modules/phenix/wxGUI2/command_line/main.py", line 34, in <module> run(sys.argv[1:]) File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/build/../modules/phenix/wxGUI2/command_line/main.py", line 28, in run wxapp = App.PhenixApp(args) File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/modules/phenix/wxGUI2/App.py", line 84, in __init__ wx.App.__init__(self, 0) File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/conda_base/lib/python2.7/site-packages/wx-3.0-gtk2/wx/_core.py", line 8628, in __init__ self._BootstrapApp() File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/conda_base/lib/python2.7/site-packages/wx-3.0-gtk2/wx/_core.py", line 8196, in _BootstrapApp return _core_.PyApp__BootstrapApp(*args, **kwargs) File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/modules/phenix/wxGUI2/App.py", line 118, in OnInit show_splash_screen(timeout=2000) File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/modules/phenix/wxGUI2/App.py", line 1015, in show_splash_screen dlg,-1,citations.format_citation(citations.citations_db.get("phenix"))) File "/nfs/hd1/SOFT64/phenix-1.21.1-5286/conda_base/lib/python2.7/site-packages/wx-3.0-gtk2/wx/_controls.py", line 997, in __init__ _controls_.StaticText_swiginit(self,_controls_.new_StaticText(*args, **kwargs)) UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xc3 in position 40: ordinal not in range(128) -------------------- Phenix does not run. The ""canberra-gtk-module" was missing first, but installing it did not prevent the error. Any hint what could be wrong? Thanks, Christoph

3 3

Haskris R175 chiller available
by Jonathan Ruprecht 23 Aug '24

23 Aug '24

Dear bulletin board members, The MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge, UK, has a Haskris R175-FEI-BHKL(RS) 3.2kVA air-cooled recirculating chiller (with hot gas bypass) that is now surplus to our requirements and available free of charge (the new owner would be asked to pay for transport). This was previously used to supply chilled water to a TEM. Please direct any enquiries to David Pate, MBU Laboratory Manager, ddp10(a)cam.ac.uk. Best wishes, Jonathan Ruprecht -- Dr Jonathan Ruprecht MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit University of Cambridge Keith Peters Building Cambridge Biomedical Campus Hills Road Cambridge CB2 0XY

1 0

Presence of negative density in Sim Omit map
by Renuka Kadirvelraj 12 Aug '24

12 Aug '24

Presence of negative density in Sim Omit map Hi Phenixbb, We would appreciate your advice regarding an odd problem that has cropped up with one of our crystal structures. We have a protein structure in space group P6(3)22 at 2.1 A resolution and in the final refinement stages with Rwork of 0.20 and Rfree of 0.22. When we ran simulated annealing to rebuild an outlier Lysine residue in a loop, the Sim Omit map showed the positive density expected from the omission of the loop (contour level 3 sigma, colored green in attached pics). However, flanking the positive density, there is a complimentary negative density (in red). We are puzzled as to the cause of the appearance of the negative density. Can you help us? Many thanks, Renu --------------------------------------------- Renu Kadirvelraj, Ph.D. Research Scientist A428, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 120, East Green Street University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602 Tel: (706) 583 0303

2 1

Maatel HC1c humidity controller available
by Jonathan Ruprecht 07 Aug '24

07 Aug '24

Dear bulletin board members, The MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge, UK, has a Maatel HC1c humidity controller, together with the ancilliary components necessary to make a crystal dehydration rig, including a Nikon SMZ800 microscope, that is now surplus to our requirements and available free of charge (the new owner would be asked to pay for shipping). This was purchased in 2010, last used in approximately 2017 and is thought to be a working system. Please direct any enquiries to David Pate, MBU Laboratory Manager, ddp10(a)cam.ac.uk. Best wishes, Jonathan Ruprecht -- Dr Jonathan Ruprecht MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit University of Cambridge Keith Peters Building Cambridge Biomedical Campus Hills Road Cambridge CB2 0XY

1 0

phenix.refine command line: what to change on the subsequent def file to point to the desired input pdb
by Alejandro Buschiazzo 02 Aug '24

02 Aug '24

Dear phenix users/developers Some time ago there were several modifications on the names/specifications of important parameters/options (such as miller_array for structure factor files, etc) Running phenix.refine by command lines (no gui) is my favorite, and I am now running into several difficulties: 1- what’s the difference between miller_array and default_miller_array; or model and default_model? 2- what’s the precise definition of phil_files and default_phil? What to change if I manually edit my .eff? 3- how should I use the new automatically created .def file for subsequent refinement cycles after I’ve manually rebuilt (I need to point to the new pdb input file: I usually screw this up, can’t seem to use the newly created .def as my starting instructions file anymore, it complains that I have problems in the right definition of the input pdb, or too many models...) 4- I often fall into a loop where by default newly created .eff files include a dry_run=true option (e.g. when I deliberately tell phenix.refine to overwrite previous .eff files) Thanks a lot for clarifying on these issues: and sorry, for I couldn’t find obvious answers to them in the documentation (probably my fault!!) Also, I am using phenix v 1.21.1-5286 (on a Sonoma MacOS laptop) With best wishes Alejandro

3 5