Awards
Italian Chemical Society
The "Amedeo Avogadro" Medal
for Excellence in Chemistry
for Professor Roberto Pellicciari
University of Perugia, Italy
Professor Roberto Pellicciari, Past President of EFMC, has been awarded with the "Amedeo Avogadro" Medal during the XXIII National Congress of the Italian Chemical Society, held in Sorrento from 5 to 10 July, 2009. The Italian Chemical Society, that at the Sorrento Congress celebrated the 100 years (1909-2009) of its activity, typically confers the “Amedeo Avogadro” Medal to an eminent scientist who gave outstanding contributes for amplifying the chemical knowledge, and distinguished himself by excellent chemical researches at a international level.
Prof. Pellicciari receives the Avogadrdo’s Medal from Luigi Campanella, President
of the Italian Chemical Society, and Ettore Novellino (left) and Vincenzo Barone
(right), chaimen of the XXIII National Congress of the Italian Chemical Society.
Professor Pellicciari was honored with the "Avogadro" Medal for the relevant results obtained in the development of innovatory synthetic and computational methods, aimed to prepare new stereochemically complex entities, greatly useful for pharmacology characterization of receptors and enzymes highly involved in CNS pathologies. This central role in the Medicinal Chemistry research field, at both national and international level, was always joined to a deep engagement and a great enthusiasm, profusely shown by Professor Pellicciari with his significant research team.
The Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society awarded Professor Ettore Novellino with the “Pietro Pratesi” Medal, a prize assigned to an eminent scientist for his prominent Medicinal Chemistry researches at international level.Professor Novellino has been awarded for his relevant contributions on computer-aided design and synthesis of novel therapeutics, ranging from anticancer to neuroprotective, antidiabetes, and antiobesity agents, by creating a wide network of collaboration with national/international high-level research groups.
Events
The XIXth National Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry (NMMCVerona 2008). The event, organized by the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society, under the auspices of the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC), took place at the GlaxoSmithKline R&D Auditorium, September 14-18, 2008. In 2008, the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society took the bold decision to hold the XIXth National Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry in English. The result was a truly international conference, with delegates and speakers from around the world.
This National Congress has arisen from a close relationship between the academic world and GlaxoSmithKline Verona (Italy) which offered their wonderful hospitality and cooperation.
There were 360 participants; 12 different countries outside Italy were represented, with a significant number of attendees coming. Furthermore, the participation of industry was consistent, with coming from several national and multinational companies.
The Awards ceremony was held in honour of Prof. Giorgio Tarzia (University of Urbino), recipient of the Giacomello Medal, and the opening lecture was given by Nobel Laureate Richard R. Ernst (ETH Zürich), who gave an enthusiastic and very attractive speech on who benefits from drug discovery -industry, society, or both?. At a challenging time for the field of chemistry, particularly for medicinal chemistry, the NMMCVerona2008 reached the aim to improve the global profile of medicinal sciences by promoting relationships and interdisciplinary approaches among national and international academic and industrial pharmaceutical organizations and by launching any possible initiatives, for young medicinal chemists in particular, to give them opportunities in the early stages of their careers.
The Division participated in the Joint German-Swiss Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry,
"Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry", in Heidelberg (Germany), in March 2009. This congress
focused on recent developments and trends in the fields of: Target-Families: Kinases and
Nuclear Hormone Receptors - Inflammatory Diseases / Atherosclerosis – Neuropsychiatry -
New Technologies / Drug Proteomics - and other Highlights in Medicinal Chemistry. The
concept of a well-balanced mixture of case studies and more educative lectures proved to be
very attractive.
Future activities of division planned in 2009 and 2010:
September 04, 2009: Division of Medicinal Chemistry oral and poster session at the Fall
Meeting of the Swiss Chemical Society, EPFL Lausanne.
May 27, 2010: Mini-Symposium on 'Channels and Transporter'; Department of Chemistry,
University of Basel, comprising overview lectures by Beat Ernst, Raimund Dutzler and Dietrich Keppler and two specific case studies (no registration, free entrance).
September 16, 2010: Division of Medicinal Chemistry oral and poster session at the Fall
Meeting of the Swiss Chemical Society, ETH Zürich.
September 21-24, 2010: ILMAC Scientific Forum on Polymers, with a specific section
dedicated to Biopolymers and Polymer Based Drug Delivery, MCH Basel.
October 10-15, 2010: 9th Swiss Course on Medicinal Chemistry, organized by Professor Beat
Ernst in Leysin, a pittoresque Swiss mountain village. These courses are held biennially. They offer young scientists with a few years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and
interested Ph.D. students a broad overview of key disciplines important for modern preclinical drug research. Active participation in tutorials and a broad variety of lectures and case histories are important elements of the course (see also www.swiss-chem-soc.ch/events).
