Where and when did you obtain your PhD diploma?

I obtained the Ph.D. diploma in March 2017 at the University of Parma, spending four months at ETH of Zurich as visiting Ph.D. student.

What was the topic of your PhD project?

“New strategies to eradicate Microbial Resistance”, I’ve been involved into a very challenging and exciting project, from the synthesis of small molecules as inhibitors of pathogens’ “non-essential” pathways to the total synthesis of natural products derivatives endowed with antimicrobial activity.

Where did you have your postdoc position?

I had a postdoc position as a Medicinal Chemist at the University of Parma.

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

At the moment I am Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Food and Drug of the University of Parma and also, I am the representative of Medicinal Chemistry under-35 years old scientists at the Italian Chemical Society (Società di Chimica Italiana, SCI Giovani).

What are your current research interests?

Now I have the opportunity to work on different topics; I am still working on my former PhD project, trying to find small molecules as adjuvants of already existing antibiotics for which pathogens have developed resistance. From my point of view this is a very promising approach in this field because these targets that are “non-essential” are less prone to mutate and their inhibition make bacteria more susceptible to the attack of the host immune system and antibiotics. Another project in which I am involved is focused on the development of pharmacological chaperones able to restore the physiological activities of a mutated proteins underlying human diseases and, finally, I am also working on natural extracts in order to identify natural compounds endowed with interesting nutraceutical activities.

How would you describe yourself as a supervisor?

I always try to make my students curious about their work, pushing them to be patient, motivated, hard-working and creative which I think are the most important skills in this work. 

Which scientist do you admire the most and why?

Rita Levi Montalcini, the first and only (up to now) Italian woman which won the Nobel prize in Medicine and Physiology. In my opinion she has been one of the most important Italian scientists, and I appreciate her commitment in science but also in social problems at a time when women hardly have chances.

Did you experience any unfair situations during your scientific career?

Fortunately, no.

Which paper of yours you are the proudest of and why?

I am proud of every single paper I have contributed to publish in a scientific journal; there are a lot of studies and work behind all of them. Anyway, up to now, the paper of which I am proudest is my first as corresponding author, on the discovery of a new class of antifungal agents that selectively inhibits microbial carbonic anhydrase. Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry; 2018, 1, 1537-1544. 

Which field of medicinal chemistry do you consider the most promising in the future?

The concept of pharmacological chaperone therapy has been emerging in the last years and is very intriguing and interesting. Pharmacological chaperones are small molecules that bind into a target protein and stabilize its native structure helping mutated proteins to restore their biological function. The ability to restore the native physiological function of a protein trough a small molecule or bio-macromolecule is something really exciting and challenging to obtain. Such modulators can find large applications in misfolding human diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases, so I think that they will play an increasingly important role in medicinal chemistry in the next decades.

There will also be prizes of €100 for two runners-up.

In addition, the best pictures will appear in cover of several issues of the EFMC Newsletter “MedChemWatch” and will be showcased in the annual Yearbook.

Eligibility

We want scientists from any level (eg. students to expert professionals) and affiliation (eg. academia and industry) to take the best shot possible and enter the competition!

Judging Criteria

The pictures will be judged by a two-round public vote. First online and afterwards during the “EFMC-ASMC'19”, where the best shots will be printed out and displayed at the conference for participants to vote live!

Submit your picture!

Over 85 percent of the participants rated the course as very good; the remaining participants scored the course as good.

The participants also scored the different teachers, for the content of their presentation and the way of presentation of it both. Using a score  from 0 to 5, five being the highest, the lowest figure was 4.6, many scores of 5 were reached however.

Part of the success of the course is due to the pleasant venue in the midst of a beautiful park in the outskirts of Leyden, a city known for its rich history in arts (e.g., Rembrandt) and sciences.

The EFMC plans the next course on “New vistas in GPCR related drug discovery“ for Spring 2020. The course will be organized by Profs Gyorgy Keseru, Budapest and Rob Leurs, Amsterdam. Details on this course may be fund on the site of the EFMC soon.

Confirmed speakers to date

• Ignacio Alfonso (IQAC-CSIC, Spain)

• José Ignacio Andrés (Janssen Research & Development, Spain)

• Gonçalo Bernardes (University of Cambridge, UK)

• Maria Laura Bolognesi (University of Bologna, Italy)

• Erick M. Carreira (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)

• Kristof van Emelen (ProDigest BVBA, Belgium)

• Benoit Gauthier (CABIMER, Spain)

• Yvette van Kooyk (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

• Luis M. Liz-Marzán (CIC Biomagune, Spain)

• Modesto J. Remuiñan (GlaxoSmithKline, Spain)

• Gianluca Sbardella (University of Salerno, Italy)

For further information and regular updates, please visit the website www.congresoSEQT2019.es

BMCS Hall of Fame: call for nominations

The BMCS Hall of Fame aims to recognize prominent chemists for outstanding, sustained, contributions to any area of interest to the BMCS. This is an Individual award to recognize prominence and significant, sustained, scientific impact in the field of medicinal chemistry, agriscience or chemical biology, including teaching excellence, outstanding contributions to the BMCS, or any combination thereof.

Process

Independent nominations should include a one page synopsis detailing the justification and the candidate’s CV & publication list. The nomination may be further bolstered by additional independent letters of support. Nominations should be submitted by the end of September 2019.

For more information go to https://www.rsc.org/Membership/Networking/InterestGroups/BMCS/Activities/HallofFame.asp

Capps Green Zomaya Memorial Award 2020: Call for Nominations

The Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector of the Royal Society of Chemistry is pleased to invite nominations for the ninth Capps Green Zomaya Memorial Award in medicinal or computational chemistry.

The Award will be given to the individual judged to have made an important contribution to the discovery or development of new medicines. Nominations are invited for candidates, up to the age of 40, working in UK or international laboratories (candidates over the age of 40, who have taken career breaks, will be considered).

A Royal Society of Chemistry commemorative medal and certificate will be awarded to accompany the prize of £2,000.

Nominations should be submitted no later than 31^st October 2019 to: Maggi Churchouse, RSC-BMCS Secretariat: E-mail:  maggi@maggichurchouseevents.co.uk

For further details, please access the activities link on www.rsc.org/bmcs

2^nd RSC BMCS/ RSC CICAG Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry Symposium

2^nd to 3^rd September 2019, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, UK

The call for poster abstracts will close on 5^th July

Website:  http://www.rsc.org/events/detail/38130/2nd-rsc-bmcs-rsc-cicag-artificial-intelligence-in-chemistry

Synopsis: AI is experiencing a renaissance in development of new methods and practical applications to ongoing challenges in chemistry. This two-day conference will present the current efforts in applying these new methods.  We will combine aspects of artificial intelligence and deep machine learning methods to applications in chemistry, agriscience, bioorganic chemistry, and chemical biology.

20^th RSC / SCI Cambridge MedChem Symposium

8^th to 11^th September, Churchill College, Cambridge, UK

Website:  http://www.rsc.org/events/detail/35363/20th-sci-rsc-medicinal-chemistry-symposium

Synopsis: The 20^th symposium, Europe’s premier biennial Medicinal Chemistry event, focussing on first disclosures and new strategies in Medicinal Chemistry. This conference will be of interest to both academic and industrial scientists engaged in all aspects of the drug discovery and development process.

NOTUM is a carboxylesterase that has been shown to act by mediating the O-depalmitoleoylation of Wnt proteins resulting in suppression of Wnt signaling. Here, we describe the development of NOTUM inhibitors that restore Wnt signaling for use in in vitro disease models where NOTUM over activity is an underlying cause. A crystallographic fragment screen with NOTUM identified 2-phenoxyacetamide 3 as binding in the palmitoleate pocket with modest inhibition activity (IC₅₀ 33 μM). Optimization of hit 3 by SAR studies guided by SBDD identified indazole 38 (IC₅₀ 0.032 μM) and isoquinoline 45 (IC₅₀ 0.085 μM) as potent inhibitors of NOTUM. The binding of 45 to NOTUM was rationalized through an X-ray co-crystal structure determination which showed a flipped binding orientation compared to 3. However, it was not possible to combine NOTUM inhibition activity with metabolic stability as the majority of the compounds tested were rapidly metabolized in an NADPH-independent manner.

Read the article !

This article is part of the themed collection: Celebrating the 25th EFMC-ISMC