We are pleased to announce that the Crystallography Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Crystallographic Diamonds for publications that appeared in 2025. This prestigious award is presented annually to five publications for the best articles in the field of crystallography by Polish researchers. It serves as a mark of recognition for scientific achievements and promotes Polish crystallography on the national and international stage.

Two publications by researchers at the Institute of Biooorganic Chemistry PAS have been honoured with ‘Crystallographic Diamonds:

• Naphthyridine carbamate dimer ligand induces formation of Z-RNA-like fold of disease-related RNA and exhibits a molecular glue characteristics in crystal lattice formation

Martyna Mateja-Pluta, Leszek Błaszczyk, Magdalena Bejger, Kazuhiko Nakatani, Agnieszka Kiliszek*

Nucleic Acids Research, 2025, 53, gkaf924, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf924

•    Periodic arrangements of closely packed spheres

M. Jaskolski*, B. Naskrecki, Z. Dauter

ChemTexts, 2025, 11:2, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40828-024-00199-8

The first paper was recognised for its discovery of the potential of the synthetic NCD molecule to induce structural rearrangement of RNA and stabilise an unusual RNA conformation resembling a Z-helix, as well as for its use as a so-called ‘molecular glue’ in the crystallisation of RNA molecules. The second, meanwhile, was honoured for its didactic description of the dense packing of Barlow spheres, focusing on their symmetry and the number of permutations.

Information regarding the award has been posted on the website of the Crystallography Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences and will be officially presented during this year’s 67th Crystallography Symposium – a conference for crystallographers working in Poland, which will take place in Wrocław on 24–26 June 2026.

Congratulations!

Photo Prof. Mariusz Jaskólski – Adrian Wykrota