News from the Societies

1st AGRI-science Chemical Biology Postgraduate Symposium on 8 November 2012 at Imperial College London

The 1st Agri-science Chemical Biology Postgraduate Symposium was hosted by The Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector of the RSC and The Chemical Biology Interface Division of the RSC in partnership with AGRI-net, BAYER Crop Science, Syngenta and the Biochemical Society.

The theme of the meeting was Agri-science Chemical Biology. Chemical Biology in this context was referring to physical sciences tools and technologies (in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Engineering) which were applied to tackle biological problems in the agri-sciences, on a molecular level. This conference brought together PhD and postdoctoral students from these different research communities to showcase the current state of fungal, insect and plant chemical biology achievements within a spirit of multidisciplinary interaction and engagement.

For more information and photos of the prize-winners, please go to http://www.agri-net.net/news/agri-science-chemical-biology-postgraduate-symposium

Join AGRI-net today! AGRI-net welcomes all interested scientists working in either academia or industry along with policy makers from government agencies. Membership is free and gives access to our networking area, where you can meet and interact with other members. It will also enable you to take part in our meetings, conferences and creativity events and apply for seed funding to support collaborative ideas.

MedChem 2012 – Annual SRC & KVCV Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry

The annual Belgian Medicinal Chemistry Symposium, co-organized by SRC and KVCV, took place at Château de Colonster, University of Liège, on November 30. It attracted about 170 participants, half from Belgium and half from abroad, half from academia and half from industry – a well-balanced attendance, and a witness of the timeliness of the symposium theme “From Rapid Dissociation to Irreversible Inhibition - Optimisation of Drug-Target Residence Time”.

Indeed, earlier this year the European Union selected a consortium, called “K4DD” and led by Bayer and Leiden University to pave the way for ‘optimizing binding kinetics’. It is a major strategic project and part of IMI, the Innovative Medicines Initiative, a joint undertaking between the European Union and the pharmaceutical industry association EFPIA, and Europe's largest public-private initiative aiming to speed up the development of better and safer medicines for patients (see also http://www.imi.europa.eu/content/ongoing-projects).

Prof Ad IJzerman, from Leiden University, one of the coordinators of this consortium, chaired the meeting, which covered the entire range of interactions between a ligand and its target, from rapid dissociation to irreversible inhibition, and included six invited lectures, three oral communications and a poster session. A variety of targets were discussed and addressed, from G protein-coupled receptors to proteases, from kinases to phosphorylases. Further emphasis was on the development of suitable screening assays, also with the aim to move towards higher-throughput screening formats.

The presentations were followed by lively Q&A sessions, highlighting again the interest of the participants in an area which has so far been underestimated in drug discovery.

For more information on the programme, see www.medchem.be