EFMC AWARDS AND PRIZES

On the occasion of its major events, including the biennal EFMC-ISMC, EFMC awards the worldwide excellence in medicinal chemistry with awards and prizes.

During the 23rd edition of the EFMC-ISMC, the UCB-Erlich Award for excellence in medicinal chemistry was assigned to Dr. Craig Crews (Yale University, USA). The “UCB-Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry” was established to acknowledge and recognise outstanding research in the field of Medicinal Chemistry in its broadest sense. The Award is open to any scientist whose age does not exceed 50 years on January 1st of the year during which the Award is to be presented.

Previous recipients were Prof. Krysztof Jozwiak in 2012, Dr Anthony Wood in 2010, Prof. Peter H. Seeberger in 2008, Dr Bernd Riedl in 2006, Prof. Jesper Wengel in 2004 and Dr Jürg Zimmerman in 2002. The Award lecture delivered by Dr. Crews, by title “Small molecule control of intracellular protein level” touched many aspects related to the ability of interfering with intracellular mechanisms through small molecule modulators, on route towards new potential drugs.

The Nauta Award for Pharmacochemistry was assigned to Dr. Paul Leeson (GlaxoSmithKline, UK). The "Nauta Award for Pharmacochemistry" was established to honour the memory of Prof. Dr. W. Th. Nauta, whose activities have been very important for the advancement of Medicinal Chemistry in general, and the development of international organisational structures for this discipline.The Nauta Award will acknowledge outstanding results of scientific research in the field of Medicinal Chemistry obtained by scientists without restriction regarding nationality. Previous recipients were Prof. Alexander Levitzki in 2012, Prof. Camille George Wermuth in 2010, Prof. Hugo Kubinyi in 2008, Prof. P. Porthogese in 2006, Prof. C.R. Ganellin in 2004, Prof. B. Testa in 2002, Prof. Dr. E. De Clercq in 2000, Prof. Dr. H. Timmerman in 1998, Prof. Dr. P. Krogsgaard-Larsen in 1996, Dr. M. Petitou in 1994 and Dr. A.E. Brändström in 1992. The Award Lecture delivered by Dr. Leeson, entitled “Pursuing Compound Quality” was a reflection on the major achievements of his scientific careed, mostly devoted to the understanding of what physic-chemical properties make a molecule more druggable.

The third assigned Award was the Prous Institute-Overton & Meyer Award for new technologies in drug discovery. Dr. Gyorgy Ferenczy and Dr. Gyorgy Keseru, both from the Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest, were the recipient of the Award. The "Prous Institute-Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery" was established to encourage innovation and investigation in technologies related to drug discovery. The Award is given biennially to acknowledge the discovery, evaluation or use of a new technology. Previous recipients were Dr Harren Jhoti in 2012, Prof. Klaus Müller in 2010, Prof. V. Ley in 2008, Prof. D. Neri in 2006 and Prof. C.O. Kappe in 2004. The Award lecture, by title “Thermodynamics assisted Drug Discovery” was delivered by Dr. Keseru also on behalf of Dr. Ferenczy and covered the importance of thermodynamic measurements to ascertain the mode of binding of small molecules to protein and to derive guidance for their optimization.

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It is aim of EFMC also to give visibility to younger scientists, and this is achieve through two EFMC prizes, one for young medicinal chemist in the industry, and the other for a young medicinal chemistry in the academia.

The EFMC Prize for Young Medicinal Chemist in Industry” acknowledges and recognizes an outstanding young medicinal chemist (<10 years after PhD) working in industry within Europe. The Prize is given annually. The winner this year has been Dr. Grazia Piizzi (Novartis, Switzerland), and the two runners-up were Laurence Jung (Prestwick, France) and Pavel Mykhailiuk( Enamine, Ukraine). The title of Dr. Piizzi’s presentation was “Design, synthesis and properties of potent inhibitors of Pseudomonas Aureginosa deacetylase LpxC”.

The EFMC Prize for Young Medicinal Chemist in Academia” was established by the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) to acknowledge and recognize an outstanding young medicinal chemist (<10 years after PhD) working in academia within Europe. The Prize is given annually. The winner for this year edition is Dr. Christian A. Olsen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). His lecture was entitled: Inhibitors of substrates of the himan lysine deacylase enzymes.