Teaching protein crystallization at the Laboratory for Crystallographic Studies (Granada, Spain)

Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz, Fermín Otálora, Alfonso García-Caballero, José Antonio Gavira,

Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos. Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra. CSIC-University of Granada, Granada. Spain

Email_of_communicating_author: juanma.garciaruiz@gmail.com

The Laboratory for Crystallographic Studies (LEC) has shown since its creation a clear commitment with the promotion of crystallography and crystal growth at all the levels of education, from primary schools to graduate University level. The "Krystalla Project" comprises a series of coordinated activities specifically designed to promote the importance of crystallography and crystallization, namely:

1.       The itinerant exhibition "CRISTALES: A world to discover" which will exemplify the applications of crystallography on our daily life and the fundamentals behind our science.

2.       The book-guide of the exhibition "CRISTALES: A world to discover"[1].

3.       A didactic edition of the documentary "The Mystery of the Giant Crystals" including the making-off of the movie, short videos explaining the fundamentals and applications of crystallization and scientific notes for teachers.

4.       A series of workshops on "popular crystallography" and "crystallography" for kids.

5.       The National Crystallization Competition in the School

6.       A series of didactic guides to use well-known movies as crystallographic teaching and popularization materials.

7.       A series of crystallization graduate and postgraduate courses as part of the International Master on Crystallography and Crystallization of the UIMP/CSIC.

We will present in this communication an overview o most od these  projects.

 

1.         J. M. García-Ruiz, F. Otálora, A. García-Caballero, L. A. González-Ramirez and C.Verdugo-Escamilla, CRISTALES: a world to discover. An exhibition for schools and universities Journal of Applied Crystallography 48 (2015) 1264.

2.         J.M. García-Ruiz and F. Otálora (2016) Cristales: Un mundo por descubrir. Bilingual edition Spanish/English. Triana S&T, Granada, 120pp. ISBN: 978-84-942454-1-1