ISC 2009

The International School of Crystallisation: Foods, Drugs and Agrochemicals was held in Granada (Spain) May 25-29^th, 2009 under the auspices of the International Union of Crystallography through the Commission of Crystal Growth. Its main focus has been on the fundamentals of crystallisation from solutions and its applications to the field of the food, drug technology and agrochemical industry.

ISC covered five days of lectures and practical demonstrations carried out by 18 selected experts in the field of crystallisation of food, drug and agrochemical industry. The first day of the School dealt with the fundamentals of crystallisation from solution, nucleation theories, crystal growth kinetics, crystal morphology and analytical techniques typically used in crystallisation experiments.

The second day of the School focused on both classical and novel crystallisation techniques such as gel growth, hydrothermal growth or crystallisation from melts. The third day was devoted to polymorphism. The fourth day was dedicated to a “Demonstration Fair”, at which 17 experts offered short (20-40 minutes) practical sessions periodically at scheduled times. Participants were able to choose what sessions they wanted to attend and in the order they wished, so that they selected their own learning programme “a la carte”. The Demonstrations’ Fair proved to be an excellent teaching tool as it provided students with plenty of opportunities to interact on a personal basis with the teachers and to watch closely how to perform crystallisation experiments.

Finally, the last day was used to discuss some special and hot topics such as chiral crystallisation, crystallisation in space or the interface between drug substance and drug product. The School was closed with the presentation of prizes offered by the International Union of Crystallography (International Tables Volume A, F, and the Teaching Guide to Volume A) and Triana Science & Technology (GCBs and Crystallisation mushrooms) to the four best posters.

Attendance

There were a total of 92 participants from all over the world. From the 48 students who attended the School, 22 were granted.