EFMC-ISMC 2008
XXth International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (ISMM)
Vienna, August 31- September 4, 2008
The publication of the report of the XXth International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry within little more than five months after the close of the meeting reflects credit on all the scientist and organizational staff concerned. Organized by the Austrian Chemical Society on behalf of the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry, the meeting was held in the imperial city of Vienna, Austria, from August 31 to September 4, 2008.
This Symposium is recognized worldwide as one of the leading Medicinal Chemistry meetings and the XXth edition was a resounding success with more than 1390 delegates from all over Europe, United States and Asia.
Welcome reception of delegates (Additional photos may be found at
www.ismc2008.org)
Distribution of delegates according to their affiliation.
Top twenty countries with the higher number of delegates.
The program of the Symposium covered important new scientific and technological developments in drug discovery focusing on those relevant to medicinal chemistry.
Key sessions of the XXth edition were Chemistry Strategies to Reduce Attrition, Predictive ADME/Tox Methods, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Oncology, Pain, Exploring the Chemical Space, Systems Biology & Medicinal Chemistry, Imaging Ligands and Biomarkers, this latter sponsored by EUFEPS. Full audio recording with synchronized slides of selected presentations delivered in some of the above sessions are available via the official webcasts of the Symposium (http://webcasts.prous.com/ISMC2008).
Inaugurated by the chairman of the organizing committee, Dr. Peter Ettmayer (Boehringer Ingelheim, Vienna, Austria), and Prof. Roberto Pellicciari (University of Perugia, Italy), president of the EFMC, the opening day of the Symposium saw the ceremony of the EFMC awards and GSK prize, with Prof. Hugo Kubinyi being awarded with the Nauta Prize for Pharmacochemistry, Prof. Peter H. Seeberger with the UCB – Ehrlich Prize for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry, Prof. Steven V. Ley with Prous Institute – Overton and Meyer Prize for New Technologies in Drug Discovery, and Prof. Michael Famulok being awarded with the GlaxoSmithKline Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Chemical Biology.
Opening ceremony chaired by Dr Peter Ettmayer (Boehringer Ingelheim, Vienna, Austria).
The winners of the EFMC awards and GSK prize in the centre with members of the Award Committee.
The opening day was concluded with the award lecture of Prof. Kubinyi and an interesting plenary lecture given by Prof. Chris Dobson (University of Cambridge, UK) on protein misfolding diseases. In the following days, professors, lecturers, students, representatives from the pharma industry and exhibitors attended a profitable programme of 6 plenary lectures, 27 parallel sessions including more than 80 lectures, one forum discussion, two workshops and three poster sessions including 591 posters, all held in the halls of the stately building Austria Center Vienna (ACV).
Among the posters presented, three were awarded with prizes offered by the ChemMedChem journal and ten were awarded with travel grants offered to young researchers by the Bentham Science Publishers.
Standing by the posters. 591 Posters were presented in three sessions with an excellent attendance.
Of particular interest in the field of education, Prof. Peter Matyus (Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary) moderated over a discussion forum about "How to close the gap between academic training in medicinal chemistry and industrial reality". Invited participants of the forum were Dr. Javier Fernandez, Prof. Robin Ganellin, Dr. Gloria Serra, Prof. Noel de Souza, Prof. Henk Timmerman and Prof. Hugo Kubinyi.
The Symposium had the impact it sought to have and has carried the message that medicinal chemistry is the golden key in the drug discovery process and has a pivotal role in linking and exploiting the associated biological sciences.
The XXIst edition of the ISMC-EFMC Symposium, which will continue the tradition of the ISMC-EFMC Symposia to create a forum for all scientists interested in medicinal chemistry and related fields, is planned on August 2010 in Brussels, Belgium, and will be organized by the Medicinal and Bioorganic Chemistry Division of Royal Flemish Chemical Society (KVCV) and by the Société Royale de Chimie (SRC), Medicinal Chemistry Division (Belgium). The first details will appear on the EFMC website.
Two extraordinary moments of the social programme. Left picture, Concert in Zeremoniensaal at Hofburg, by the Vienna Hofburg Orchestra. Right picture, Gala Dinner in the beautiful setting of the Town Hall of Vienna under the motto: "The congress dances". The Gala Dinner was preceded by a classical Viennese dance opening, followed by an evening full of various dancing opportunities.
By Antonio Macchiarulo
The First EFMC Short-Course on Medicinal Chemistry was very Successful
EFMC has recently launched the series of Short-Course on Medicinal Chemistry as a new initiative organized by the Education and Training Committee. The new series intends to cover at an advanced level well defined subjects within the broad area of drug discovery.
A feature of the courses is the a relatively low fee, which should allow for a broad participation of the academic community.
The EFMC started the new initiative as a service to the international community of medicinal chemists, with the aim to contribute to fill the gaps among scientists coming from different scientific environments and specialisations.
The topic for the first course was "Improving Compound Quality" and Han van de Waterbeemd, a leading scientist in the field, haccepted to act as chairman and, together with Henk Timmerman, as director of the course. The organization was in the hands of the EFMC secretariat, Mrs Ly Differding. The meeting took place from 22-25 March at Castle "Oud Poelgest" near Leiden in The Netherlands. The course was overbooked; 37 participants were admitted, 9 of the total came from universities. The teaching staff counted six members, of which five had an industrial background.
The curse was very well received by participants. The very friendly, informal atmosphere was much appreciated and the presence of the lecturers throughout the entire course was very productive for the participants, having this allowed and promoted broad and informal discussion. The venue was considered to be excellent.
EFMC is considering the next events in the series, with the same format, at affordable fees, each on well selected subjects (proposal are welcome!) and cordially thanks the teaching staff, especially Han van de Waterbeemd for their enthusiastic and very professional contributions!
The teaching staff of the First Short Course: from the left: Bernard Testa, Chris Kohl, Don Walker, Han van de Waterbeemd, Barbara Mason, Andy Mason. The figure at the basckground is Herman Boerhave , a famous Dutch chemist/medical doctor, who had the castle as his residency.
By Henk Timmerman
