Klemens Hoegenauer (Novartis, Switzerland)

Today, our #Iamamedicinalchemist is Klemens Hoegenauer  from Novartis, Switzerland

Discover his full-story below!

How did you get interested in Medicinal Chemistry?

I wanted to do something useful with my chemistry degree.

Where and when did you obtain your PhD diploma?

University of Vienna, Austria, 2001

What was the topic of your PhD project?

Development of a New Synthetic Strategy Towards the Skeleton of Huperzine A (total synthesis of an alkaloid natural product)

Where did you have your postdoc position?

University of Cambridge, UK

Where do you work at the moment and what is your current position?

Novartis Pharma, Basel, Switzerland as a Medicinal Chemist

What are your current research interests?

Targeted Protein Degradation

What do you like most in your job?

Doing top-class research in an interdisciplinary environment

What do you consider your biggest achievement in your scientific career?

Being part of the PI3Kδ project team that successfully advanced a compound into the clinic

What are the features of a successful PhD student or postdoc?

Scientific curiosity, openness, frustration tolerance

What is the most embarrassing thing you did in the lab while doing experiments?

I dropped a flask containing 8mg of an advanced natural product precursor (26 steps into the synthesis) into a super-dirty rotary evaporator bath. Luckily, the material was already mostly dry and I did not have to extract the water bath.

What would you guess to be the next major breakthrough in medicinal chemistry?

Successfully modifying target classes that were considered ‘undruggable’ 5-10 years ago.

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