Event categories: Sponsored Events

The Alpine Conference is a high-level international forum for the discussion of recent methodological developments and applications in the field of magnetic resonance in solids. The conference is organized biennially in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France, and has come to be known simply as “Chamonix” in the MR community.

Format

The Alpine Conference has a core focus on solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Contributions ranging from methods developments, theory, and applications are welcome. Over the years, the conference has also occasionally invited and attracted contributions from electron paramagnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging in solids. Since its 2019 edition, the conference welcomes, beyond its core focus on solid-state NMR, contributions from EPR and MRI in solids. The boundaries within magnetic resonance in solids have become more blurred, with combined developments such as hyperpolarisation and spectroscopic imaging, and the multi-technique analysis of organic, inorganic and biological solids. The Alpine Conference embraces this evolution to foster scientific exchanges.

The format of the Alpine Conference is designed to encourage discussions throughout a lively scientific week, with a number of registration limited to just over 200, a single session at a time, and generous time allocated for discussions (10-15 minutes of discussions after the main and round table talks). Participants are strongly encouraged to submit and report previously unpublished work. Results and ideas that challenge existing paradigms are particularly welcome. For that reason, the material submitted and presented at the conference will not be published online or distributed in electronic form.

History

The Alpine Conference was founded in 1999 and organized by a group of NMR enthusiasts over nearly 20 years: Lyndon Emsley, Stefano Caldarelli, Anne Lesage, Michel Bardet, Sabine Hediger and Nicolas Giraud.

Round Tables

The 2017 edition of the Alpine Conference saw the introduction of “round tables”, as an alternative to the traditional poster session. In this original scheme, each person participates in a series of small-group, 15-minute discussions based on a 3-5 minutes pitch-talk summary of a contributed work. An overwhelming majority of participants suggested that round tables are much better compared to traditional poster presentations .

Young Scientists

The participation of young scientists at every career stage is strongly encouraged. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, many student stipends is available (average of about 15 student stipends were awarded in each of the last three editions). A young investigator award will also be given during the conference.

Vendors

The biennial Chamonix meeting is also the best place to learn about the latest technological developments from vendors, with direct discussions with the companies in the field. The participation of scientist with an industrial background is also welcome.

Location

The conference will take place in Chamonix, France. Chamonix is an outstanding place at the heart of the French Alps, where French tradition meets modern design, be it for facilities, for outdoor activities and of course for gastronomy. The beautiful scenery of the Alps offer a fantastic background and, for the hike-oriented participant, an opportunity to explore.

In 2023 the Alpine Conference was organised by Nantes Université.

The organising committee for 2025 edition:

Wing Ying Chow (University of Warwick)

Daniel Lee (Unviersity of Machester),

Michal Leskes (Weizmann Institute),

Józef Lewandowski (University of Warwick),

Charlotte Martineau-Corcos (CortecNet),

Giulia Mollica (CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université)

 

Past members:

2019-2022 Paul Schanda (ISTA)

2019-2023 Jean-Nicolas Dumez (Université de Nantes)

The International Manuel Rico NMR School is a well-established bi-annual summer course offering advanced training in both the theoretical and practical aspects of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Organized by the Specialized NMR Group (GERMN) of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ), the school has been held in Jaca, a picturesque town in the Spanish Pyrenees, since its inception in 1980. It provides an intensive educational experience for young researchers, including PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career scientists seeking to deepen their expertise in magnetic resonance techniques and applications.

Named in honour of Prof. Manuel Rico, a pioneer in NMR research in Spain, the school has a long tradition of fostering close interaction between students and leading experts in the field. The event takes place in the Students’ Residence in Jaca, where both lectures and meals are held, creating an immersive and collaborative learning environment. One of the distinctive aspects of the school is its relaxed and interactive atmosphere, where participants and lecturers share discussions beyond the lecture hall. The program includes a mid-week excursion to the Ordesa National Park, providing a unique opportunity for informal scientific exchange in a stunning natural setting. The school runs for five days, from Monday to Friday, covering both fundamental principles and advanced applications of magnetic resonance, including liquid and solid-state NMR as well as MRI.

Lectures are delivered by renowned national and international experts, with the 2025 edition featuring a distinguished group of lecturers, including Dr. Irene Marco (2025 Anatole Abragam Prize), Jesús Jiménez Barbero (2025 Humboldt Research Award), Dr. Anja Böckmann, Dr. Óscar Millet, Prof. María Ángeles Canales, Prof. Miquel Pons and Dr. Aitor Moreno (Bruker NMR Application Manager). The school places great value on the participation of international guest lecturers and students, as it fosters collaboration across all areas of MR and strengthens global scientific partnership. The program includes lectures on basic principles of NMR, solution and solid-state NMR, applications in structural biology and materials science, advanced acquisition methods, molecular dynamics, biomolecular interactions, and metabolomics.

The conference will be open to all scientists using NMR to probe atomic structure across chemistry, physics, materials science, and biology. Participants will share short 2-minute videos of their presentations on X (previously Twitter), and they will engage in discussions and answer questions via comments (tweets). The titles and abstracts of registered participants will be made available on our website and organized into sub-topics. Therefore, interested viewers will be able to find a video and the corresponding Twitter thread that interests them. The purpose of the meeting is to provide opportunities to all interested students and postdocs to share their research, facilitate open discussions on the development and application of NMR, promote networking across the wider user base of NMR and finally raise more awareness about the Global NMR tutorials. While traditional avenues of scientific dissemination are often limited by presentation/Q&A time and hall space, the Twitter conference will be open for three days, allowing participants to freely engage with one another.

VIII Latin America NMR School (VIII Escuela de RMN)

Main topics: Low field and benchtop NMR; fundamentals, theory, and practice.

https://www.nmrschool.com/

https://www.facebook.com/nmrschool

An on-line meeting in honor of Alex Pines will take place on January 13.  This meeting will be an opportunity to share thoughts and memories of Alex's many scientific contributions, his amazing life and remarkable personality, and the profound effect he had on the lives and careers of so many of us.  The meeting is sponsored by the International Society of Magnetic Resonance (ISMAR) and will be open to all members of the international magnetic resonance community.

The meeting will start at 11:00 EST (16:00 UTC) and will run for approximately two hours. It will begin with short presentations by about 12 of Alex's former students and postdocs, spanning nearly 50 years of Pines lab history.  There will then be a period for additional contributions from other students, postdocs, collaborators, and colleagues.  If you would like to contribute your own stories, photos, words, or thoughts, please contact robertty@mail.nih.gov.

The Zoom link for this meeting is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89011247628.  You will need a passcode to join the meeting.  The passcode will be posted on the ISMAR web site (https://ismar.org) on January 12.

Invited Speakers: Prof. Mark Smith (University of Southampton vice-chancellor) Prof. Lyndon Emsley (EPFL) Prof. Kevin Brindle (University of Cambridge) Prof. Teresa Carlomagno (University of Birmingham) Prof. Józef Lewandowski (University of Warwick) Prof. Malcolm H. Levitt (University of Southampton). Committee: Giuseppe Pileio (chair, University of Southampton) Thomas Robertson (University of Southampton) Melanie Britton (University of Birmingham) Meghan Halse (University of York) Phil T Williamson (University of Southampton) Giulia Mollica (CNRS, Aix-Marseille, FR) Laurynas Dagys (University of Lithuania) This

The group organizes an annual one-week summer school in an old youth hostel nearby Leipzig. These schools are supported by the International Society of Magnetic Resonance ISMAR.

THE CYCLE OF FIVE SUMMER SCHOOLS (I) General NMR (Sun 27th March - Sat 2 April 2022) (II) Relaxation (Sun 26th March - Sat 1st April 2023) (III) Solid-state NMR (Sun 10th March - Sat 16st March 2024) (IV) Hyperpolarization (Sun 16st March - Sat 22nd March 2025) (V) Spin-Chemistry (2026) TEACHERS 2025 Eike BRUNNER (TU Dresden), Björn CORZILIUS (Univ. Rostock), James EILLS (Helmholtz Center Jülich), Gunnar JESCHKE (ETH Zürich), P.K. MADHU (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad), Jennifer MATHIES (Univ. Konstanz), Ilia SOLOV'YOV (Univ. Oldenburg).

This pedagogical meeting is aimed at students and postdocs in solid-state NMR as well as more senior scientists in related fields who are interested in entering this vibrant field. Our goals are to provide a focused week of teaching of the core concepts and practices in the increasingly multifaceted and complex field of biological solid-state NMR spectroscopy, and to encourage information sharing among different laboratories. Topics to be covered include: Basics of solid-state NMR: orientation-dependent NMR frequencies, MAS, tensors and rotations, density operator and its time evolution, decoupling and recoupling techniques, and average Hamiltonian theory Multidimensional correlation spectroscopy, non-uniform sampling, techniques for resonance assignment and measurement of structural restraints in biomolecules Paramagnetic solid-state NMR techniques Techniques for enhancing sensitivity of solid-state NMR: dynamic nuclear polarization and 1H detection Solid-state NMR techniques for measuring molecular motion Solid-state NMR techniques for structural studies of oriented membrane proteins Solid-state NMR spectra simulations in SPINEVOLUTION Beyond spin 1/2: NMR of quadrupolar nuclei Basics of NMR probe design In addition to lectures, problem sets and discussion sessions will be given at the meeting.

Every year, the GERM (Group of Magnetic Resonance Studies) brings together the French community of researchers, students and engineers from academia and industry active in the field of magnetic resonance, by allowing them to access and showcase recent developments in NMR, MRI and EPR in all their diversity. The aim of the 2025 conference is to create a fruitful occasion of discussing the most recent developments and applications of the French MR community to many diverse fields of chemistry. All the main MR fields will be equally represented by 10 invited speakers (already confirmed, see list below) and by 20 promoted participant’s contributions. The conference will provide a great impetus to the French MR community and it will be a perfect occasion for fostering new exchanges. An important aim of the GERM association – as of this conference – is the promotion and education of young scientists, to whom a special attention will be paid, by encouraging and facilitating their attendance, the possibility of delivering oral/poster communications and the opportunity of receiving competitive awards. In particular, during the 2025 conference in Autrans, in addition to the traditional “best oral communication” and “best poster” award, the GERM association will award the first “GERM PhD thesis award”. This prize is intended for a young researcher having defended his·her PhD between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2024 in France in the field of magnetic resonance (NMR, EPR, MRI). Along the same lines, the panel of invited speakers (see below) reflects the intent of the conference to support young and promising French PI’s to gain further visibility in the community. The invited speakers will cover topics related to cutting-edge MR research, consisting in the latest methodological developments in NMR, EPR and MRI and very innovative applications of MR to the understanding of crucial topics in biochemistry and biology, human health and materials. Furthermore, the promoted oral sessions will be open to the most significant contributions in MR applications and developments coming from the conference participants, especially young scientists. List of invited speakers (confirmed): Mathieu Baudin LCBPT, CNRS, Paris Elsa Caytan RICS, CNRS, Rennes Cyril Charlier TBI, CNRS, Toulouse Samuel Cousin ICR, CNRS, Marseille Eddy Dib CEMHTI, CNRS, Orléans Lauriane Lecoq MMSB, CNRS, Lyon Covadonga Lucas-Torres LCM, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris Marlène Martinho IMM, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille Corinne Rondeau OPAALE, INRAE, Rennes Kévin Tse Ve Koon CREATIS, CNRS, Lyon

This symposium will bring together diverse audiences who develop and apply a wide range of magnetic resonance spectroscopies. This includes experts in solid-state NMR, solution NMR, and potentially electron paramagnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging. The symposium also seeks to include, beyond experts, routine practitioners of magnetic resonance methodologies with applications across the chemical, biochemical, and materials sciences. We therefore anticipate contributions from physical chemists, inorganic chemists, materials chemists, and biochemists.