DMCCB Newsletter #12 June 2019

Dear Members of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biology,

This spring, the DMCCB chaired a session at the LS2 annual meeting 2019 and was involved in the co-organisation of the Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry meeting in Würzburg. Both events brought together a very interesting group of scientists and showcased great science. If you did not have the chance to join, you can find a summary below under the “News from the DMCCB” section.

As you know, every other year, the DMCCB organizes a symposium in Basel gathering top-class speakers. The organization of the 2020 edition already started and the event will be extended to a full day, including opportunities for posters and short talks from students. More information will be shared in the next newsletter, together with a chance for all DMCCB members to vote for the theme of this one-day event. Do not miss the opportunity to support your favorite topic, and please remember that you are always welcome to make suggestions for the themes of our future events.

News from the DMCCB

181208 DMCCB-Newsletter4-2LS2 annual meeting 2019 – DMCCB Session – Irchel Campus, Zürich – February 14-15, 2019: The DMCCB organized a session on "Chemical Biology & Drug Development", which was chaired by Radka Snajdrova (Novartis Pharma AG) and Christian Heinis (EPFL). The session was well attended and received good feedback from the participants. Its topic was selected to illustrate the intersection of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry. Four speakers, Prof. Sabine Flitsch (University of Manchester), Prof. Thomas Ward (University of Basel), Dr. Reka Nagy (Promega) and Simone Haag (EPFL) presented exciting science on de novo biosynthetic pathways, artificial metalloenzymes, monitoring protein degradation and STING inhibitors. In addition, four flash poster talks from students gave insights into a diversity of research projects. More information about the partnership of the DMCCB and LS2, and jointly organized meetings can be found in the recent CHIMIA article "The Partnership of DMCCB and LS2".

Pic3Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry: A biennial DMCCB, GDCh and DPhG partnership
Every second year, the DMCCB partners with its German colleagues to co-organize the Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry meeting. After a previous joint event in Bern, FiMC 2019 took place in Würzburg, Germany, on March 24-27th. The city has a rich history and is very pleasant to visit. Some of you might know that Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-radiation in Würzburg, in 1895. Besides a Scientific Highlights and a Young Investigators session, the program focused on target engagement, GPCRs, CADD and AI, as well as on the presentation of case studies. Eight speakers from both academia and industry represented the DMCCB. They talked about a diversity of topics, from PET imaging and biocatalysis, artificial intelligence, to cases studies and innovation in medicinal chemistry.
It is an aim of the FiMC meeting to facilitate interactions, and it was good to see that all Swiss participants actively interacted with the German medicinal chemistry and chemical biology community - including during the conference dinner in the impressive cellar of the Prince-Bishop’s residence. We proposed to bring a future edition of the event back to Switzerland, and all partners were clearly in favor of it. We are looking forward to that!

Swiss Chemical Society Events

Icon FM19SCS Fall Meeting 2019 – University of Zürich, Irchel Campus – September 6, 2019: Did you know the SCS Fall Meeting is one of the largest annual research conferences held in Switzerland? This year’s major Swiss chemistry event will take place at the campus Irchel at the University of Zürich. Close to 1000 participants are expected. As usual, the DMCCB will chair a session featuring young and experimented (experienced?) researchers from industry and academia, who will present their work in medicinal chemistry or chemical biology. Do not miss a chance to showcase your work. Registration possible until August 23, 2019.

Icon SCSEventsOther SCS Events in Fall 2019:
- Swiss Summer School «Organic Synthesis», Villars, Aug 18-22, 2019
- ILMAC 2019, Basel, Sep 24-27, 2019
- Swiss Green & Sustainable Chemistry Days, Basel, Sep 25-27, 2019
- SCS Seminar 2/2019 «G&SC», Basel, Sep 25-27, 2019
- SCS Syngenta Symposium, Stein (AG), Oct 17, 2019

Activities & events from the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC)

Icon EFMC-WebsiteEFMC has a new website:Modernized, easier to use and informative, a few clicks will provide access to all information related e.g. to EFMC’s latest photo contest, awards, scientific events, or to the Young Scientist Network (YSN). The aim of the EFMC-YSN is to inspire, connect and provide opportunities to medicinal chemists and chemical biologists early in their career. If you do not know about it yet, it’s time to check it out: EFMC-YSN

 

Pic4-2EFMC-ACSMEDI – Medicinal Chemistry Frontiers 2019 – Krakow, Poland – June 10-13, 2019:The Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry symposium is co-organized on a biennial basis, as a collaboration between the ACS (American Chemical Society) division of Medicinal Chemistry and the EFMC (European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry). The next edition will take place in Krakow, Poland, with the support of the Polish Society of Medicinal Chemistry.

Pic5-2

EFMC-ASMC’19 – International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry – Athens, Greece – September 1-5, 2019:The EFMC, the Hellenic Society of Medicinal Chemistry and ChemBridge Corporation will jointly organize the ASMC’19 in Athens, in the series which started in Moscow in 2004 (ASCMC'04 and ASMC'13), followed by St. Peterburg (ASMC'07 and ASMC'11), Kiev (ASMC'09), Rehovot, Israel (ASMC'15) and the latest one in Vienna (ASMC’17). This symposium aims to bring together chemists from industry, academia and start-up companies from around the world to present latest advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry.


Pic6-2EFMC-ISMC 2020 – XXVI EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry – Basel – September 6-10, 2020:An event no one should miss, the EFMC-ISMC 2020 will be organized in Basel at the Mustermesse. It is organized by the DMCCB on behalf of EFMC. The International Organizing Committee (IOC) has already met twice in Basel, in December 2018 and in March 2019. The general structure of the conference has been discussed and the feedback from participants of previous meetings have been used to improve it further. Plenary speakers and session topic have now been selected. Overall, the preparation of the conference is proceeding well and is fully on track. You will find more information on the conference websitesoon!
You can sign up for updates on: https://www.efmc-ismc.org/ 

Did you know …

The DMCCB is regularly publishing columns in CHIMIA discussing new trends in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. DMCCB members interested to publish in this column and contribute a timely highlight are welcome to do so. Do not hesitate to send us a message on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter or contact us directly for suggestions. 

For scientists, visibility is key for securing funding and collaborations, which is why scientific events and speaking opportunities are so important in our community. To find complete lists of major medicinal chemistry and chemical biology events in Europe and beyond, you can go on the homepage of the SCS. There are links to the calendars of EFMC, EuChemS, GDCh, RSC and a few more.