Dear colleagues, With this statement, I wish to offer support for our colleagues in the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Instruct Centre for Integrated Structural Biology in Israel. We hear from devastating hits of houses on the campus. Entire buildings have been destroyed. We hope for peace in the region soon, we hope that diplomatic negotiations will start as soon as possible. We are fearful for our colleagues and their families and friends in Weizmann. Harald Schwalbe, Director of Inst...
The ISIDORe project started in 2022, aiming to provide access to services for fundamental infectious disease research in Europe and beyond. As part of the project, Instruct-ERIC services were available to access for infectious disease research, in a variety of open calls. These included emergency calls on SARS-CoV-2 and Monkeypox, followed by a series of preparedness calls for potential epidemics: ISIDORe call for proposals on Risk-Group 4 pathogens ISIDORe call for proposals on Respiratory...
Instruct-ERIC has a long history of collaboration with partners outside Europe. These international connections have allowed researchers worldwide to share and grow their expertise in structural biology. This is why Instruct have co-organised the Integrative Structural Biology meets Drug Discovery Workshop at the Brazilian Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), alongside EU-OPENSCREEN, and the CNPEM structural biology and drug discovery teams. The workshop, running 19-23 May 2025...
Research Sites provide training, outreach, or networking activities for Instruct users, members, and researchers. The Latvia research site is built up of the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre (LBMC) and Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (LIOS), both based in Riga. LBMC is the leading scientific institute in Latvia in molecular biology and biomedicine while LIOS is a leading centre in medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis, preclinical pharmaceutical development and biophysical s...
Prof. Jose Maria Carazo has been elected as the new Chair, and Dr Evangelia Chrysina Vice-Chair of the Instruct-ERIC Council, bringing years of experience in working within the Instruct community. They succeed Prof. Sarah Butcher of the University of Helsinki, who had been Council Chair since 2023. Prof. Butcher will remain as a member of Council, as the scientific representative for Finland. Prof. Jose Maria Carazo, Professor and Head of the Biocomputing Unit at CNB-CSIC in Madrid, was former...
Instruct-ERIC has been featured in the Horizon Magazine following the win of the Gender Equality prize from the European Commission. Science for all: Europe’s gender equality awards in research herald more progress ahead Four research institutions were named EU Gender Equality Champions for creating more inclusive and gender-equal research environments. With measures such as boosting parental support and mentoring, or tackling systemic barriers, they are paving the way for even m...
Under the coordination of MIRRI-ERIC, MALDIBANK is a new 4-year project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme. Build on a deep understanding and by leveraging the power of microbes, whose impact ranges from Ecosystems dynamics to Human health, MALDIBANK unites 24 partners in a search for a more precise identification of microorganisms, while providing innovative solutions for the understanding in how the microbial diversity can be used for global problems-s...
The European Crystallographic Association is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the fourth Alajos Kálmán Prize. The Prize will be awarded to an individual researcher in recognition for outstanding scientific contributions in the field of structural sciences within the last 5-10 years. The prize consists of a medal and a financial award and the awardee delivers a Prize Lecture at the ECM. The Prize is established by the Hungarian Chemical Society and is endorsed by E...
In February 2025, Instruct-ERIC Director Prof. Harald Schwalbe visited the Instruct-ERIC center in Israel. He spent 3 days at the Weizmann Institute for Science in Rehovot, exchanging ideas on the impact of integrated structural biology in life science. On his first day, as a guest of Prof. Lucio Frydman, he gave a Chemistry Faculty Lecture on “Integrated Structural Biology to Unravel the Impact of Synonymous Mutations on Protein Folding.” Following this, he had a chance to meet, on...
Instruct-ERIC is delighted to reveal that it has won the Newcomer Gender Equality Champion award from the European Commission. At a ceremony at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on 3 March, Instruct was announced as winner of the Newcomer Gender Equality Champion award. This award confirms Instruct’s unwavering commitment to advancing gender equality and diversity within its own internal Hub, its Centres and Facilities, and in the wider structural biology community. In t...
The eRImote project aimed to identify and explore new solution for remote access provision to research infrastructures, ensuring that researchers could access the infrastructure and technologies they needed without needing to travel in-person. As part of the project, the eRImote Information Platform was developed. This repository is made up of documents, resources, webinars, and tools to enhance research infrastructure remote access. Explore the platform here. Resources include the eRImote Gre...
Instruct-ERIC has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Latin America. From Memoranda of Understanding with institutions across the region, to co-organised workshops and conferences in structural biology and the wider research infrastructure community, Instruct helps to drive connection between Latin America and Europe in structural biology research. Throughout 2024, Instruct had the opportunity to invite structural biology researchers in Latin America for study visits to facilities in Euro...
Instruct-ERIC has now moved to Bluesky! With the ongoing move of the scientific community to BlueSky, Instruct is now using BlueSky as its primary social media channel, alongside LinkedIn. Instruct already has around 1,000 followers on the channel, and has established a starter pack for ERICs to follow and engage with the European research infrastructure community – check that out below. Instruct will be regularly posting updates on calls, latest news, and will be live-posting events &n...
The Instruct-ERIC Early Career Researcher (ECR) call offered additional access for researchers with 2-7 years of experience since completion of their PhD. A new programme in 2024, the ECR call provided up to €5,000 in consumable funding, plus a travel and accommodation budget of up to €1,000. This allows ECRs the flexibility to make the best use of the access provided through Instruct. Awardees are also eligible for up to three visits as part of their proposal, to further consolidate...
Instruct-CZ, the Czech Infrastructure for Integrative Structural Biology (CIISB), is formed by two Centers of Excellence for Structural Biology constructed within the projects CEITEC – Central European Institute of Technology, Brno and BIOCEV - Biotechnology and Biomedicine Centre, Vestec, Prague-West. Both facilities have made upgrades to their technologies in 2024, providing more advanced services for structural biology researchers. BIOCEV CF Diffraction Techniques have success...
The Instruct Centre FR2 in Grenoble has recently added to its fleet a powerful Titan Krios G4 cryo-electron microscope (Thermo Fisher Scientific), equipped with a cold FEG, a Selectris X energy filter and a Falcon 4i electron detector. Part of the EquipEx+ France Cryo-EM project, financed by the Plan Investissement d’Avenir 3, that has enabled the purchase of three state-of-the-art 300 kV cryo-TEMs in France, the Grenoble installation, designated CM02, will serve the French community and i...
Instruct-ERIC held a dedicated structural biology conference in Riga, Latvia, 3 December 2024. The “Structural Biology in Latvia and Beyond” conference celebrated the membership of Latvia in Instruct-ERIC, since their inclusion in 2019, allowing researchers in the country to receive funded access to high-end structural biology technologies across Europe. Opened by Prof. Kaspars Tars (Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, LBMC), the symposium saw a combination of the latest ...
ELIXIR, the European life science data infrastructure, and Instruct-ERIC, the European research infrastructure for structural biology, have announced a strategic collaboration with the signing of a joint statement. Along with their shared objectives to support life science research, the organisations have in common 13 Member States and EMBL as partners, and have closely located headquarters. ELIXIR and Instruct agree to work together to: Improve the FAIRness (findability, accessibility, int...
Due to the upcoming holiday period, the next Instruct access panel will meet in the middle of January 2025. As a result, we recommend that any access proposals are submitted by 2 December to ensure that they are included in the panel discussion. Apply for Access Due to ever-growing demand for funded access to advanced structural biology technologies, Instruct now operates its access provision in regular panel reviews. Keep up to date with the proposal guidelines page to see w...
The 3rd AI4Life Call is now open, offering life scientists a unique opportunity to receive support for deep learning-enhanced image analysis. If you work with scientific imaging data and face challenges with your current analysis workflows, this final call is your chance to collaborate with AI4Life experts. Whether you're looking to improve your current workflows, get advice on training data, or learn about the best tools available for your work, AI imaing experts are here to help. What is off...