Serial Crystallography Methods Workshop

18 Aug 2025, 09:30 → 22 Aug 2025, 18:00 Europe/Berlin

Ground floor conference room (HARBOR)

Iris Young (University of Hamburg), Virginia Apostolopoulou (University of Hamburg and Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY), Jeney Wierman (Cornell University), Graeme Winter (Cornell University), Aaron Brewster (LBNL), Allen Orville (DLSLtd,RAL,LSCI), Derek Mendez (SLAC)

Crystallography remains a central pillar of structural biology, and as novel structures become increasingly rare and light sources' capabilities continue to grow, serial crystallography is also of growing importance. Open communication between developers and users in both hardware and software domains, and between these groups of developers, helps us choose the most impactful work to undertake and to approach it with adequate understanding of context, possibilities and limitations. Building on an energizing inaugural workshop in 2023, we are convening the second Serial Crystallography Methods Workshop from August 18th to 22nd, 2025, in Hamburg, Germany. The program will be hybrid, and all sessions can be attended by zoom.

 

The workshop format will mirror the format from 2023, with a strong emphasis on conversation and consensus-building. We are again planning two days dedicated to developers for sharing advancements and determining how to address challenges, to be followed by two days focused on user experiences, and finally a wrap-up day for developers to organize our efforts toward our collective goals over the next two years. As with the 2023 event, we will generate and distribute a report at the close of the workshop summarizing the outcomes of discussions.

Monday 18 August

09:30 Coffee

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Aligning experiment methods with data handling and data analysis

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

12:00 Lunch

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Hardware portability

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

15:30 Coffee

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Handling high data volumes

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

Tuesday 19 August

09:30 Coffee

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Sample delivery, sample handling, and remote operation

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

12:00 Lunch

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Software challenges and work in progress

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

15:30 Coffee

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Wish list

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

Wednesday 20 August

09:30 Coffee

User-Focused: Transitioning to serial and time-resolved modes

Wednesday and Thursday (20-21 Aug) will highlight user experiences. This includes opportunity for beam time users to communicate to instrument scientists and developers what is and isn't working in their current workflows, what they see as the most important problems to solve, and what they are most excited to see made possible. Topics covered will include:

• Transitioning experienced crystallographers from rotation to serial crystallography and from static to time-resolved methods
• Synthesizing multimodal and multicrystal data for deposition
• Shortcomings of existing integration and scaling processes
• Fast feedback during beam time
• Small molecule serial crystallography, including time-resolved
• Modeling time resolved experiments
• Quantum refinement
• Ambitions for new types of experiments

12:00 Lunch

User-Focused: Synthesizing data for deposition

Wednesday and Thursday (20-21 Aug) will highlight user experiences. This includes opportunity for beam time users to communicate to instrument scientists and developers what is and isn't working in their current workflows, what they see as the most important problems to solve, and what they are most excited to see made possible. Topics covered will include:

• Transitioning experienced crystallographers from rotation to serial crystallography and from static to time-resolved methods
• Synthesizing multimodal and multicrystal data for deposition
• Shortcomings of existing integration and scaling processes
• Fast feedback during beam time
• Small molecule serial crystallography, including time-resolved
• Modeling time resolved experiments
• Quantum refinement
• Ambitions for new types of experiments

15:30 Coffee

User-Focused: From detector to merged data

Wednesday and Thursday (20-21 Aug) will highlight user experiences. This includes opportunity for beam time users to communicate to instrument scientists and developers what is and isn't working in their current workflows, what they see as the most important problems to solve, and what they are most excited to see made possible. Topics covered will include:

• Transitioning experienced crystallographers from rotation to serial crystallography and from static to time-resolved methods
• Synthesizing multimodal and multicrystal data for deposition
• Shortcomings of existing integration and scaling processes
• Fast feedback during beam time
• Small molecule serial crystallography, including time-resolved
• Modeling time resolved experiments
• Quantum refinement
• Ambitions for new types of experiments

Thursday 21 August

09:30 Coffee

User-Focused: What experiments are almost possible?

Wednesday and Thursday (20-21 Aug) will highlight user experiences. This includes opportunity for beam time users to communicate to instrument scientists and developers what is and isn't working in their current workflows, what they see as the most important problems to solve, and what they are most excited to see made possible. Topics covered will include:

• Transitioning experienced crystallographers from rotation to serial crystallography and from static to time-resolved methods
• Synthesizing multimodal and multicrystal data for deposition
• Shortcomings of existing integration and scaling processes
• Fast feedback during beam time
• Small molecule serial crystallography, including time-resolved
• Modeling time resolved experiments
• Quantum refinement
• Ambitions for new types of experiments

12:00 Lunch

User-Focused: Lessons from small molecule serial crystallography

Wednesday and Thursday (20-21 Aug) will highlight user experiences. This includes opportunity for beam time users to communicate to instrument scientists and developers what is and isn't working in their current workflows, what they see as the most important problems to solve, and what they are most excited to see made possible. Topics covered will include:

• Transitioning experienced crystallographers from rotation to serial crystallography and from static to time-resolved methods
• Synthesizing multimodal and multicrystal data for deposition
• Shortcomings of existing integration and scaling processes
• Fast feedback during beam time
• Small molecule serial crystallography, including time-resolved
• Modeling time resolved experiments
• Quantum refinement
• Ambitions for new types of experiments

15:30 Coffee

User-Focused: Time resolved modeling and quantum refinement

Wednesday and Thursday (20-21 Aug) will highlight user experiences. This includes opportunity for beam time users to communicate to instrument scientists and developers what is and isn't working in their current workflows, what they see as the most important problems to solve, and what they are most excited to see made possible. Topics covered will include:

• Transitioning experienced crystallographers from rotation to serial crystallography and from static to time-resolved methods
• Synthesizing multimodal and multicrystal data for deposition
• Shortcomings of existing integration and scaling processes
• Fast feedback during beam time
• Small molecule serial crystallography, including time-resolved
• Modeling time resolved experiments
• Quantum refinement
• Ambitions for new types of experiments

19:00 Conference dinner

Friday 22 August

09:30 Coffee

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Summing up and looking forward

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

12:00 Lunch

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Continued discussions

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools

15:30 Coffee

Developer/Instrument Scientist-Focused: Continued discussions

Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be structured around challenges and advancements in hardware and software from the perspective of the people building the tools, broadly defined. Topics covered will include:

• Aligning experiment methods with data handling and analysis
• Cross-facility hardware portability
• Handling high data rates and data volumes
• Metadata and coordination of related datasets
• Data deposition and archival
• Sample delivery and sample handling
• Remote beam time
• Nitty-gritty data processing challenges
• Responding to the needs of the users of our tools