GIDRM News
The 8-th International Bologna Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Porous Media will be held at the University of Bologna, Italy, 10 - 14 September 2006, under the auspices of Alma Mater Stusiorum, University of Bologna, and Groupment AMPERE (Chair: Paola Fantazzini).
The Conference is devoted to the progress in Magnetic Resonance in Porous Media and in our understanding of Porous Media themselves, and to stimulate the contact among people from various parts of Academia and Industry. Topics will include innovative techniques to study structure, behavior of fluids, and their interactions in every kind of natural and artificial materials, including rocks, cements, biological tissues, foodstuffs, wood, particle packs, sediments, pharmaceuticals, zeolites, and bioconstructs. New data acquisition and processing techniques are also expected to be strong features.
The Giulio Cesare Borgia Prize for Young Researchers will be awarded (three thousand EURO). The award will be presented to the emerging scientist who, based on a presentation to the community at the conference, shows greatest promise for future scientific leadership. The award will normally be given to those under the age of 35.
National Congress 2006 (Dec 05, 2005)
Our national congress will be held at Lloyd's Baia Hotel in Salerno (Italy) from September 20 to 23, 2006. Further information will be published in the congress page as soon as possible.
First Introductory School on Metabolomic Analysis (Nov 10, 2005)
Our member Filippo Conti informed us that the First Maga Circe Conference on Metabolic Systems Analysis will be preceded by the First Introductory School on Metabolomic Analysis. Professor Conti would also like to inform all GIDRM members that the maximum number of attendants is fixed to 80.
It is our history and it is how the whole story started many years ago. How many of us really know how advanced was the knowledge of the NMR phenomenon back in the 40's? How many of us have ever seen such a huge collection of historic NMR references, from the early failures to the first monograph on NMR spectroscopy? We thank our member Stan Sykora for making this and many other links to the history of NMR available on his web site.
P.S. Do not miss the touching (it is really so!) Reminiscences of the Early Days of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance at Stanford University written by Warren G. Proctor in 1967, commented by Martin Packard in 1984 and edited by Stan Sykora in 2005.
An NMR Calendar Help If You're Just Too Busy (Sep 25, 2005)
We've done it! Inspired by the great success of web resources such as iCalShare, we now provide the NMR Congresses Calendar in iCal format.
On Line Membership Fee Payment Now Possible (Sep 24, 2005)
Just in case you forgot to pay the 2005 annual membership fee, now you can do it with your credit card.
NMR in Soil, Geo and Environmental Sciences (Sep 23, 2005)
Our member Pellegrino Conte sent us the following message: "The 3rd Symposium on NMR Spectroscopy in Soil, Geo and Environmental Sciences will be held in Freising (Germany) from 6th to 9th of August 2006.
NMR and MRI are very well known for their application in many fields. Nowadays NMR and MRI are widely applied in soil, geosciences and environmental sciences in order to elucidate the structure of natural organic matter (NOM), to investigate physical properties of soils, to study soil minerals and their interactions with NOM, and to reveal the nature and the behaviour of pollutants in soils.
The aim of the 3rd Symposium on NMR Spectroscopy in Soil, Geo and Environmental Sciences is to bring together scientists with related interests in the potential applications and limitations of these techniques for research in soil, geosciences and environmental sciences. A real knowledge of the basics of NMR/NMI is not required to partecipate to the Symposium. In fact, to favour a wide partecipation to the Symposium also to scientists with low or no NMR/NMI knowledge, a short introduction course will be offered prior to the Symposium."
Further information can be obtained at the Congress web page.
Non ci facciamo mancare niente! (Sep 21, 2005)
Cosa mancava ancora al nostro Gruppo dopo il sito web, un feed RSS e il pagamento della registrazione al congresso con carta di credito? Una mailing list! Certo non è una novità, poiché il GIDRM ha già potuto usufruire in passato di una ML, grazie alla perizia informatica e alla dedizione del nostro socio Stefano Chimichi. Erano quelli però i tempi nei quali andava affermandosi sempre più la potenza della "navigazione web" e alla parola scritta prendevano il sopravvento le immagini e gli ipertesti. Così piano piano la lista si spense per mancanza di attività da parte dei soci.
Ora, nel 2005, passata l'ubriacatura del web-novità, possiamo provare a ripensare alla ML come un canale privilegiato di comunicazione tra i soci. A differenza di un sito web, una ML è bidirezionale. Il socio può inviare e ricevere informazioni, consigli e - perchè no - protestare pubblicamente per qualche mancanza del CD. Una ML consente ai soci più giovani di crescere, "sfruttando" la conoscenza tecnica e teorica dei più esperti. Una ML è anche uno strumento di lavoro: se è vero che "ci si conosce tutti" è anche vero che talvolta ci si dimentica che nel laboratorio della città vicina forse c'è quella strumentazione che stiamo disperatamente cercando per effettuare un esperimento. Un messaggio sulla ML potrebbe forse risolverci un problema.
Ma evidentemente una ML non si fa senza i soci ed è per questo che vi chiediamo di partecipare a questo esperimento di "resurrezione" della mailing list del GIDRM. Visitate dunque la nuova pagina dedicata a "gidrm_discussions" e iscrivetevi numerosi alla lista. Vi aspettiamo!
Schedule of the XXXV National Congress (Sep 04, 2005)
We would like to thank all who have attended our 2005 National Congress. We have now moved the Roma2005 congress page to the "past activities" section of our web site. See you next year!
An RSS feed for GIDRM News (Aug 16, 2005)
You may have noticed that a little orange icon similar to the one shown here has appeared at the top of the left menu. This is a link to the so-called "RSS (Really Simple Syndacation) feed" that we are going to use from now on for syndicating our GIDRM News. But what is syndication anyway?
According to the Blosxom web site (the program we use for creating GIDRM News in its present form): "Syndication is all about making your writing available to others without them having to visit your site daily to find out what's new. Folks read syndicated content using so-called "RSS Readers", applications similar to news readers or email clients running on their desktops. Content is also picked up by "RSS Aggregators" who archive and make your content available along with the content of others in interesting or useful combinations".
Will syndication be useful for us? Well, it depends on how you - our members - are responsive to this new technique. By downloading and installing one of the many RSS Readers available (often for free) on the Internet you help us getting in touch with you. Whenever new information appear in these pages they are automatically downloaded by your RSS Reader and immediately brought to your attention.
Think of RSS as a very fast way of getting GIDRM news and alerts directly "from the producer to the consumer". Even big giants like Microsoft and Sun or important newspapers like the Italian "La Repubblica" o "Il Corriere della Sera" are switching from mailing lists to RSS feeds to spread their news all over the world so why shouldn't we? Give RSS a try and let us know what you think about it. We are sure you will find it easy and useful.
GIDRM-GIRM Gold Medal awarded to Prof. Henriette Molinari (Aug 09, 2005)
The Gruppo Interdivisionale Risonanze Magnetiche (GIRM) of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) and the GIDRM have awarded the GIDRM-GIRM Gold Medal 2005 to our member Prof. Henriette Molinari (University of Verona) for her scientific activity in the field of structural biology and her contributions to promotion and diffusion of NMR. Professor Molinari will receive the GIDRM-GIRM Medal on September 2, 2005, during the XXXV Italian National Congress on Magnetic Resonance. On behalf of the GIDRM members we wish to convey to Professor Molinari our warmest congratulations!
Benvenuta AssIMet! (Jul 17, 2005)
Il nostro socio Filippo Conti ci annuncia la nascita della Associazione Italiana di Metabolomica. La presentazione della nuova società scientifica, tratta dal sito della AssIMet, parla chiaro: "lo scopo dell'AssIMet è di mettere in relazione, in un forum transdisciplinare, operatori nei diversi settori interessati dagli aspetti teorici a quelli sperimentali per un fruttuoso scambio di idee e di esperienze". Auguriamo ogni successo alla nuova associazione e vi invitiamo a visitare www.assimet.org.
Fellowship available in Milano (Jun 27, 2005)
Our collegue Laura Ragona sent us the following message: "I would like to announce that in Milano, at NMR Laboratory of ISMAC, National Council of Research we are offering a fellowship in applications of NMR to the study of protein structure, dynamics and interactions. The work will involve NMR studies of beta-barrel proteins, belonging to the calycin super-family, involved in transport of dietary products and cholesterol homeostasis. Interested individuals should contact Laura Ragona (laura.ragona@ismac.cnr.it) as soon as possible."
Addendum: as of Nov 9, 2005 the position has been filled.
Wine NMR: when good ideas go commercial (Jun 24, 2005)
It's nice to follow the development of a good idea in the "real world". In 2003 the group of Dr. Augustine (Chemical Dept., UNI California at Devis) developed a method for taking whole bottle NMR spectra of wine at 2.01 T (85.78 MHz). The method was published in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance. Dr. Augustine has since founded a company named "Wine Scanner, Inc" and now offers a complete NMR service for checking the quality of your rare vintage. As Wine Scanner puts it: "Don't get scammed, get scanned!".
Noninvasive and Mobile NMR (May 24, 2005)
Two interesting NMR event will take place in Perugia (Italy) next September: the Workshop on Noninvasive NMR and Cultural Heritage (Sept 19-20, 2005) and the 5th Colloquium on Mobile NMR (Sept 21-23, 2005). According to our member AnnaLaura Segre, the Workshop will be targeted to Cultural Heritage experts without a specific knowledge in NMR. Further information about both NMR events are available at the aixNMR web site.
VIII Congresso Nazionale di Biotecnologie (May 04, 2005)
Il nostro socio Neri Niccolai ci informa che l'ottavo Congresso Nazionale di Biotecnologie si terrà a Siena dal 7 al 9 settembre 2005. Il congresso si occuperà di vari aspetti delle biotecnologie quali le Biotecnologie Agro-Alimentari, Ambientali, Biomediche e Industriali. Sono previste anche due tavole rotonde dal titolo "Biotecnologie e spin-off universitari" e "La formazione universitaria e le biotecnologie". Ulteriori informazioni sono disponibili al sito web del congresso.
Who's this guy? (Apr 28, 2005)
It is not uncommon that an NMR scientist keeps a web site to show his/her recent discoveries and studies to the public. It is more uncommon that an NMR scientist starts a web site whose scope encompasses the whole human knowledge. If you think that we are joking, take a look at GIDRM member Stan Sýkora's brand new web site. Be advised: looking through Stan's site is not something you do in minutes. The topics covered there range from NMR/MRI to mathematics, physics, photography, epistemology, and - yes! - poetry. He also maintains a weblog ("Stan's blog") where he comments on recent NMR events and answers technical questions. A RSS feed is still missing, but he promised to add it soon.
Wouldn't it be nice to know more about other GIDRM members' web sites? Just let us know and we will be happy to announce your site here.
Scuole NMR: nuovo ciclo (Apr 16, 2005)
Dopo il grande successo del primo ciclo di scuole NMR organizzate dal GIRM (SCI) e dalla Fondazione per le Biotecnologie con la collaborazione del GIDRM, ha inizio quest'anno il secondo ciclo di scuole NMR della durata di tre anni. In programma nel 2005 è la scuola di base che, nelle parole degli organizzatori, "non prevede conoscenze preliminari dettagliate e si articola in un ciclo di lezioni teoriche accompagnate da attività di tutorato pratico". Per ulteriori informazioni e per scaricare la domanda di iscrizione vi rimandiamo al sito web della scuola.
International School on Magnetic Resonance and Brain Function (Apr 06, 2005)
GIDRM member Bruno Maraviglia, director of the title school, informed us that the course on "Brain function research by magnetic resonance, electrophysiology and molecular probes" will be held in Erice (Sicily, Italy) from 23 to 29 May 2005. Further information are available at the school web site.
Two post-doc positions at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands (Mar 26, 2005)
Our collegue Frans Mulder, now at the University of Groningen, informed us that two post-doc positions are open in his group. He adds that "having spent time in Bologna (with Luchinat) as a student it would be nice to return the favour! It would be good for my fading Italian language!" Anybody wanting to help? Further information are available in this document. The deadline is April 13, 2005.
The 4th Conference on Field Cycling NMR Relaxometry (Mar 26, 2005)
GIDRM member Mauro Fasano informed us that the title conference will be held on 26 - 28 May 2005, in Torino (Italy) at Villa Gualino (10 mins from the Torino Central Station by taxi). Further information are available at the conference web site.
Computational Aspects of Biomolecular NMR (Jan 27, 2005)
Our collegue Martin Blackledge would like to announce the title Gordon conference. He informed us that the conference "will take place in Aussois, a beautiful village in the French Alps, at the beginning of Autumn 2006 (September 24th-29th)", and adds "If you think you might be interested, keep the dates free!". Well, we are sure that many of our members will be eager to attend! For further informationi check the Gordon Research Conference site
Fellowship available in Barcellona (Jan 20, 2005)
Our collegue Miquel Pons would like to announce that in Barcelona Science Park they are "presently offering a fellowship in new applications of NMR to the study of protein protein interactions. The work will involve NMR studies of proteins, in particular of the enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway for the Heme group, whose malfunction causes porphiria. The laboratory of biomolecular NMR is equipped with state-of-the-art nmr instrumentation (800, 600, 2 x 500 MHz) and ample facilities for molecular biology and chemical characterization (MS, CD, Fluorescence, AFM)". Interested individuals should contact Prof. Miquel Pons or Dr. Oscar Millet as soon as possible.
Just in case you have noticed that there were simply too many NMR congresses in the world, here's a good example of integration. From the Euromar 2005 web site: "The European Magnetic Resonance Community is moving towards an integration of Magnetic Resonance Conferences in Europe. In this the Ampère, EENC and UK NMR-DG Committees are working together for joining their meetings into one common annual series".
Medaglia: invito a proporre candidature (Jan 14, 2005)
Come sapete, tutti gli anni il nostro gruppo, congiuntamente al GIRM, assegna la medaglia che dal 2003 ha preso il nome di Medaglia GIDRM-GIRM. Vi invitiamo dunque a inviare le candidature per l'assegnazione della medaglia al presidente del GIDRM o al presidente del GIRM entro e non oltre il giorno 30 Aprile 2005.
