EFMC News

 

The 5th edition of the International Symposium on Advances in Medicinal Chemistry (ASMC 2013) took place in Moscow, Russia on May 5-8, 2013. Prof. Peter Seeberger (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, DE) and Dr Alan Palkowitz (Eli Lilly & Company, USA) were the chairmen of the symposium, where American and European chemists met Eastern European scientists in the areas of synthetic and medicinal chemistry. The symposium, organised by EFMC and ChemBridge Corporation attracted 235 participants representing a large number of countries, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic institutions. The next edition of the symposium will take place in Kiev, Ukraine on May 3-7, 2015.

_________________________________________________________________

Together with the American Chemical Society (ACS), EFMC organized the Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry Meeting, which took place in San Francisco on June 23-26, 2013. This symposium is the fourth in the series initiated in Siena, Italy in 2007 and continued in Barcelona, Spain in 2009 and Stockholm, Sweden in 2011. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Emerging Targets, Novel Candidates and Innovative Strategies, and with 288 participants, the 2013 edition was a big success! The next edition will be held in 2015 in Europe.

_________________________________________________________________

For 2014, EFMC and the Group of Medicinal Chemistry of the Portuguese Chemical Society are preparing the XXIII EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC-ISMC), scheduled to be held on September 7-11, 2014 in Lisbon, Portugal. The 2014 edition will continue the tradition established by these biennial symposia and will cover drug discovery advances in the major therapeutic areas, including neglected diseases, CNS disorders, inflammation, metabolic disorders, and oncology. EFMC-ISMC 2014 will present the most recent advances in lead identification and optimization strategies, drug design and profiling technologies, and illustrate the impact of biomarkers and imaging at the interfaces between chemistry, biology and experimental medicine. Particular emphasis will be put on first time disclosures, recent highlights in medicinal chemistry, and organic synthesis which had a strong impact on medicinal chemistry. Online registration and abstract submission are now open! All info is available on the website www.efmc-ismc.org

_________________________________________________________________

To create a network of young European investigators in Medicinal Chemistry, to stimulate young European investigators in Medicinal Chemistry to share their scientific work with peers and inspiring leaders in the field, and to create competition and excellence in Medicinal Chemistry within Europe, the EFMC decided to organize a Young Medicinal Chemist Symposium on the Saturday preceding the EFMC-ISMC Symposium. More details will soon be available on the websites www.efmc.info and www.efmc-ismc.org and young scientists will be encouraged to participate!

_________________________________________________________________

At the annual EFMC Council meeting, the Council unanimously elected Prof. Koen Augustyns (University of Antwerp, Belgium), current secretary, as President Elect. His term will start on January 1st 2014, and on January 1st 2015 he will automatically become EFMC President. Phil Jones (UK) has been reelected as EC member for a period of 2 years, and also Pascal Geoge (France) has been elected EC member. Their terms will start on January 1st, 2014.

_________________________________________________________________

To acknowledge outstanding achievements in the field of Medicinal Chemistry, EFMC is conferring every two years three Awards on the occasion of an International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry. The 2014 Awards will be conferred on the occasion of the XXIII EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC-ISMC) to be held in Lisbon, Portugal on September 7-11, 2014.

The EFMC Awards include the Nauta Award for Pharmacochemistry, the UCB-Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry and the Prous Institute-Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery. The three awards consist of a diploma, € 7.500 and an invitation for a lecture by the Award recipient at the upcoming EFMC-ISMC. Deadline for submission is January 31, 2014. Self-nominations are also accepted. Regulations and information on the submission process are available on the EFMC website www.efmc.info

_________________________________________________________________

To acknowledge and recognize an outstanding young medicinal chemist (< 10 years after PhD) working in industry or in academia within Europe, EFMC established the EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist in Industry and the EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist in Academia. The Prizes consist of a diploma, € 1.000 and an invitation for a short presentation at the upcoming XXIII EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC-ISMC), scheduled to take place on September 7-11, 2014 in Lisbon, Portugal. Deadline for nominations/applications is January 31, 2014. More information is available on www.efmc.info

_________________________________________________________________

The publication of the 12th edition of the EFMC Yearbook is scheduled for January 2014. The Yearbook will be distributed electronically to all members of the EFMC database, as well as to the members of the National Adhering Organisations (25 scientific organisations from 23 European countries). In addition, hard copies of the EFMC Yearbook will be distributed at all scientific meetings organised or sponsored by EFMC. If you would like to receive the electronic version of the EFMC Yearbook 2014, we invite you to register via the EFMC website www.efmc.info

_________________________________________________________________

With the aim to support training and networking within the medicinal chemistry community, EFMC is organising twice a year an EFMC Short Course on Medicinal Chemistry. In March 2014, Dr Jesper Lau (Novo Nordisk, Denmark) will organize the 8th EFMC Short Course on “Engineering of Biopharmaceuticals”. This Spring 2014 Short Course is planned for March 16-19, 2014 and will take place in Oegstgeest (near Leiden), The Netherlands. For more information and registration, we refer to the website www.efmcshortcourses.org

_________________________________________________________________