Category: News

After more than three decades, there is a Hungarian member in the Executive Committee of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr EC). Petra Bombicz has been elected to the role of General Secretary and Treasurer of IUCr during the Congress and General Assembly of IUCr in Calgary, Canada, 2026 for the next triennium. It is an honour and a privilege to serve the international community of crystallographers to advance structural science globally. The Executive Committee is the IUCr’s governing body Read More …

Vadadi-Fülöp Csaba (Scientific Secretary of HUN-REN RCNS); Jasbir Singh, Director of the Government Scientific Advisors Office at the National Research Foundation; Hafizah Osman, Head of Communications; Heng Swee Keat, Chairman of National Research Foundation, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance; András Tompos, Deputy Main Director of HUN-REN RCNS, Director of the Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry; Daniel Paulin, Associate Professor at the College of Computing & Data Science (CCDS) and the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Read More …

Johan Ø. Ipsen, Magnus Hallas-Møller, Søren Brander, Leila Lo Leggio, Katja S. Johansen; Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases and other histidine-brace copper proteins: structure, oxygen activation and biotechnological applications. Biochem Soc Trans 26 February 2021; 49 (1): 531–540. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20201031 In the framework of our common project titled “Structural investigation of enzym-mimicking complexes used in biomass processing” Azza Hassoon (PhD) visited our Laboratory in May 2026. Biomass refers to the mass of organic matter produced biologically. In the biosphere’s material and energy cycle, dead organic matter is either decomposed Read More …

The structural research topics currently underway in our research group generated significant interest at the Expo. Crystals, in-situ crystallization, and molecular models were presented. They drew attention to the single-crystal growth and structural research project, successfully carried out on board the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025 by the invitation of the Space Applications Services, and coordination of the Japan Manned Space Systems, took place in the frame of the HUNOR program. HUN-REN’s eight institutions involved in space research were Read More …

Two members of our research group are listed as co-authors in one of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ featured publications. Tamás Holczbauer co-authord the article: Reimagining o-Carborane-Based Fluorophores: Charge-Transfer from Boron Substituents Triggers Aggregation- and Crystallization-Induced Emission published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2026 byBalázs Szathmári, Yanhong Gao, Dániel Buzsáki, Dániel Zámbó, Tamás Holczbauer, Antal Udvardy, Pál Szabó, Júlia Kertész, Dóra Hessz and Zsolt Kelemen. (https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202521741) o-Carborane-based fluorophores are widely recognized for their aggregation-induced and crystallization-induced emission (AIE and CIE) properties, making them Read More …

On 15th December 2025, a memorial plaque was unveiled in honour of Professor Alajos Kálmán at the Szent László High School in Kőbánya. Alajos Kálmán was one of the most outstanding and influential Hungarian scientists of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Prof. Alajos Kálmán headed the X-ray diffraction department for three decades, which is active in the fields of chemical crystallography and molecular structure research. The research group has been operating Read More …

Our research group, together with two other groups, represented HUN-REN TTK at the Science Expo 2025 exhibition. Our goal was to bring structural research, which is the basis of most chemical and biological research, closer to young people and those interested in the field. We used molecular structure models and microscopes to make the invisible world tangible.

Anna Bell and Petra Bombicz in Visegrad. Anna Ben, PhD student from the Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Łódź, Poland spent three weeks in our research laboratory from 15 Sept to 5 Oct 2025 in the frame of a Visegrád fellowship. Her primarily aim was to learn isostructurality calculation, analysis of structural similarity. She had also API compounds with her for cocrystal formation. We enjoyed her advanced knowledge of crystallography and her company.

Sourav De, Petra Bombicz and Szymon Sobczak at the ECM35 in Poznań. Two members of our research group attended the 35th European Crystallography Meeting in Poznań, Poland. The conference was great in science and was well organized. One lecture and two posters were presented: Petra Bombicz: Comparing crystal structures: isostructurality Sourav De, Szymon Sobczak, Paulina Ratajczyk, Natalia Sacharczuk, Tibor Soós, Petra Bombicz, Andrzej Katrusiak, Tamás Holczbauer: Influence of high pressure on the crystal structure of quinine catalyst Gracjan Russ, Tamás Read More …