News from the Societies

MEETING REPORT
XXII National Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry

The 22nd edition of the National Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry (XXII NMMC) was organized by the Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the Italian Chemical Society in the Campus of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, on September 10-13, 2013. The XXII NMMC took place under the patronages of the Italian Chemical Society, European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) and other Italian institutions, and was sponsored by several pharma and related industries. This Meeting aimed to disseminate the results of top quality scientific research, stimulating continuous innovation and international collaborations in the field of the drug chemistry, pharmaceutical technology and food sciences.

325 registered participants attended the XXII NMMC, whereof 252 (77 %) were Italians; 42 (13%) attendants arrived from other European countries and 23 (7%) were from non-EU countries. The Meeting got 65 (20%) trainees registrations, and 23 (7%) attendants were from industry. The XXII NMMC covered a number of topics of leading research areas, namely Oncology and Epigenetics, Inflammatory, Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases, Analytical Tools in Drug Discovery and Development, Infectious Diseases and Drug Resistance, Natural Products and Nutraceuticals, Computational Science in Drug Discovery, New Approaches in Drug Discovery and CNS Diseases. In summary, the XXII NMMC provided 69 lectures covering 8 topics and 128 posters over 2 poster sessions. 12 selected short communications were supported by the Italian Division of Medicinal Chemistry as a part of the young scientists support program.

The venue on September 10 was located at the Aula Magna room of Campus Sapienza. The XXII NMMC opening ceremony started with the greetings of the Rector of Sapienza University Luigi Frati. After the Farmindustria and Musaio Awards, the Meeting began with the opening lecture led by Dario Neri (ETH, Zurich; Armed antibodies and targeted cytotoxics: from the bench to the clinic) and the plenary lecture (P) by Uli Stilz (Sanofi-Aventis, Frankfurt a.M.; Cross talk between small molecules and biological systems: potential for systems medicine in industry) as the President of EFMC. The opening session followed by welcome dinner at the terrace behind the Aula Magna room.

On days 2 to 4 the activities of the XXII NMMC were then hosted by Department of Drug Chemistry and Technologies. On September 11 (day 2) the program began with the P led by Stefan Laufer (EK University, Tübingen; Next generation protein kinase inhibitors: When selectivity counts) After this P, the meeting program split into two parallel oral sessions. The first session on Oncology and Epigenetics provided keynote (K) lectures led by Andrew Westwell (Cardiff University, UK) and Claudiu Supuran (University of Firenze), while the parallel session Inflammatory, Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases started on with the K by Marcello Allegretti (Dompè). The afternoon session showed the Ks led by Takayoshi Suzuki (Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan) and Gianluca Sbardella (University of Salerno) of Oncology and Epigenetics, and the Ks by Klaus Wanner (Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich) and Federico Riccardi Sirtori (Nerviano Medical Sciences, Nerviano) of Analytical Tools in Drug Discovery and Development. Poster session I on September 11 exhibited 66 posters of these topics. On September 12 (day 3) the program began with the P performed by Anna Tramontano (Sapienza University, Roma; The computational analysis of biomolecular interactions and its potential impact on drug discovery). Infectious Diseases and Drug Resistance showed Ks managed by Chris Meier (University of Hamburg), Robert Bates (GlaxoSmithKline, Madrid), and Andrea Brancale (Cardiff University), while the parallel sessions Natural Products and Nutraceuticals and Computational Sciences in Drug Discovery had Ks led by Fulvio Mattivi (Edmund Mach Foundation, S.M. all’Adige) and Ashraf Virmani (Sigma-Tau, Pomezia) and Andrea Cavalli (University of Bologna), respectively. Poster session II September 12 exhibited 62 posters including topics of days 3 and 4. On September 13 (day 4) Adrian Ijzerman (Leiden University) held the P (A case for G protein-peopled receptors). The following sessions were New Approaches in Drug Discovery with the Ks led by Enrico Stura (CEA, Division of Life Sciences) and Daniel Rauh (Technische Universität Dortmund), and CNS Diseases, with Ks by Ferdinando Nicoletti (Sapienza University of Roma) and Piero A. Salvadori (CNR of Pisa).

The XXII NMMC was successfully completed. The participants highly appreciated the qualities of the speakers and careful organization. During the meeting, continued effort to ensure quality of scientific research was impressive. This meeting has been a good forum to exchange experiences and establish promising working collaborations in the areas of pharmaceutical, technological and food sciences.

The Malcolm Campbell Memorial Award is awarded biennially by the RSC BMCS to commemorate Professor Campbell's outstanding contributions in a broad range of chemistry and their applications to the understanding of bioactivity. The award comprises £2000 and a medal and this year was awarded to the team at AstraZeneca for work involved in the discovery of BrilintaTM/BriliqueTM. This was presented to the winning team at the RSC/SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium on 10th September by the local Member of Parliament Julian Huppert. Garry Pairaudeau accepted the award on behalf of the other team members who were Dave Chapman, John Dixon, Simon Guile and Bob Humphries.

See http://www.rsc.org/Membership/Networking/InterestGroups/BMCS/index.asp for more info.