EFMC is funding grants for EFMC organised events with the aim to support the participation of young academic scientists. Upon application, up to 50% of the registration fee for EFMC-ISMC, EFMC-ASMC, Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry, EFMC Short Courses or the EFMC Accredited School will be covered by EFMC. Applications should reach the Administrative Secretariat (administration@efmc.info ) at least six weeks prior to the event and should consist of a CV and a short motivation letter.
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The EFMC website offers links to the job portals of EFMC corporate members as well as information on current vacant positions. The posting of job offers is free and is available for any medchem related jobs, in industry as well as academic positions. To have your job offer published on the website, please fill in the application form available on the site ( http://www.efmc.info/job_portal )
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We also invite you to have a look at the renewed meeting calendar, aimed to become a one stop shop for all medicinal chemists. Monthly tabs and a search function give you the possibility to navigate easily through the list of worldwide organized medchem events. The calendar is updated and completed on a regularly basis (http://www.efmc.info/meeting_calendar )
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At the Council Meeting, which will take place on occasion of the XXI International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (September 5-9, 2010), the council will elect 6 positions for the Executive Committee. The positions to be elected are president-elect, treasurer, secretary, and three additional members. The terms for all the elected EC-members will start on Jan 1st, 2011 and last for two years. The president-elect will automatically become president on Jan 1st, 2012.
The EFMC Council will also decide on the organizers of the 2014 edition of the International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry. EFMC is the initiator and sponsor of this series of symposia, each of which is organized in a European city in collaboration with one or more EFMC National Adhering Organization(s). ISMC 2012 will be held in Berlin.
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After the success of the first EFMC Short Course in 2009 at Kasteel Oud Poelgeest near Leiden in the Netherlands, it was decided to organise further short courses at regular intervals in the same centre. Aimed primarily at Medicinal Chemists in industry it was also decided these would all be at an advanced level.
The second short course in the series covering Safety and Attrition was held from 11-14 April 2010. Alan Stobie (Pfizer UK) was responsible for the programme and selection of the contributors. Alan and Henk Timmerman acted as course directors. The course, like the first one, was fully booked with 34 participants, most of whom were from European, but with some from as far away, as Canada and Singapore. Most participants were from industry, but there were also two academics.
The course was a major success, with participants enthusiastic about the programme, the quality of the lectures and the venue. Most of the lecturers stayed for the whole of the course, allowing intensive discussions with the participants. The course was “evaluated” by means of a questionnaire; with individual contributions scored by participants for both contents and for quality of the presentation on a scale 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). The score of all contributors was very high with an average of 4.35 for quality of the presentation and 4.18 for the contents.
A third short course will be announced later this year and will most likely occur in April 2011.
By Nele Coulier and Koen Augustyns
