CCP4 Commercial Users

CCP4 stands for Collaborative Computing Project, No. 4. The project was established in 1978/79 to encourage collaborative development of software for macromolecular crystallography in the UK and has developed a collection of programs, known as the CCP4 suite, which are widely used around the world for macromolecular structure determination by X-ray crystallography. The suite of approximately 200 programs, is designed to be flexible, allowing users a number of methods of achieving their aims and so there may be more than one program to cover each function.

The suite is licensed free of charge to academic institutions. Commercial organisations should contact us directly to arrange a licence. The normal distribution method is by FTP from STFC, or from mirror sites at the San Diego Supercomputer Centre (U.S.A.) and the Photon Factory (Japan).

The program suite has been ported to Linux platforms, Macs and Windows. A graphical user interface, known as CCP4i, has been developed. This interface gives a user friendly environment both to run CCP4 programs and organise a structure solution process.

CCP4 also plays a key role in the training of macromolecular crystallographers, mainly through the organisation of an annual Study Weekend. Each year this covers one aspect of macromolecular crystallography. We are able to provide substantial support for many of the students and young scientists who attend. Speakers at the Study Weekend contribute written articles which are collated to produce the CCP4 proceedings, now published in Acta Crystallographica D.

The CCP4 Bulletin Board provides a lively forum for discussions on a wide range of protein crystallography topics, and CCP4 also produce 2 biannual Newsletters which contain articles of general interest to crystallographers. Details of all the above can be found via our WWW pages.

Acknowledgements:

The project is supported by the BBSRC, by income from commercial distribution and by STFC. Many people have contributed to the CCP4 project since its inception. Special thanks are due to members of the working groups and to Daresbury/Rutherford Appleton staff.

CCP4 relies on contribution of programs from many protein crystallographers. We would like to thank them all for their efforts and their generosity in allowing us to distribute their code, thus making it available to a wide community of users. Details of authors of individual programs are given in the corresponding program documentation.

For details of how to obtain a copy of the CCP4 package for commercial use please contact CCP4 via:
Email: ccp4@stfc.ac.uk
Telephone: (+44) 1235 445790
CCP4 Website: http://www.ccp4.ac.uk