News

EFMC strongly condemns the recent terrorist attacks made against the state of Israel, and express its support to the scientific community and to the population impacted by these dramatic events. We have a particular thought for the members of the Medicinal Chemistry Section of the Israel Chemical Society, to whom we wish courage in these hard times. 

EFMC calls all leaders at national and international level to aim at a diplomatic deescalate of the conflict.

Rui Moreira
EFMC President

The 2024 IUPAC-Richter-Prize will be presented during the XXVIII EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (September 1-5, 2024) in Rome (Italy) and the recipient will also give a lecture on the subject of their research at the 38th ACS National Medicinal Chemistry Symposium (June 23-26) in Seattle, WA, United States. The prize is to be awarded to an internationally recognized scientist, preferably a medicinal chemist, whose activities or published accounts have made an outstanding contribution to the practice of medicinal chemistry or to an outstanding example of new drug discovery

Prize USD 10 000

The Prize has been established by a generous gift from the Chemical Works of Gedeon Richter, Plc. (Budapest, Hungary) to acknowledge the key role that medicinal chemistry plays toward improving human health.

Applicants should be received by NOMINATION only, with just one person needing to serve in that capacity, although a total of five (5) individuals should be listed as referees overall. The package must be submitted electronically and should contain a complete resume, a professional biography of not more than two pages, and a one-page summary of what the individual considers to be their activities, accomplishments and/or publications that have had the most significant impact upon the field of Medicinal Chemistry. The material will be forwarded confidentially to an independent selection committee appointed by the IUPAC Subcommittee on Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development.

For further information please contact Prof. Janos Fischer, Member of the IUPAC Subcommittee on Drug Discovery and Development, by email at j.fischer@richter.hu.

Nomination materials should be uploaded by 15 December 2023 to IUPAC Secretariat via the following form.

The EU, through the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), has launched a proposal that aims to extensively restrict the manufacture, supply, and use of all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. PFAS include a vast range of fluoroalkyl materials, ranging from simple fluorinated reagents and starting materials used in drug discovery and development (including the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients), to thermoplastic polymers found in laboratory commodities such as stirring bars or O-rings. Several PFAS are environmental pollutants and some of them have detrimental effects on human health. Their extensive use throughout the society, combined with the low reactivity displayed by many fluoroalkyl chemicals, magnifies the potential for accumulation in the environment and contamination of food and water supplies.

However, the entire ban of these materials can lead to major disruptions in all research, development, and innovation activities related to medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. Ultimately, it can have long-term implications on the innovation potential of EU research.

Importantly, there are currently a significant number of compounds in clinical use or in Phase III of clinical trials (the last stage before approval and marketing) containing fluorinated groups such as CF3 and CF2, or combination of both, in their structure. These are life-saving compounds, and thus a transition period should be considered to enable a detailed analysis of the socio-economic impacts of a ban in the short-term and to find efficient, safe and economically viable alternatives.

The International Chemical Biology Society invites you to its 12th Official Conference of the International Chemical Biology Society (ICBS2023). The meeting will carry the broader thematic of "Enabling Translational Science" and will be hosted in Ann Arbor, MI, USA on October 8-11, 2023. 

ICBS2023 will feature the following scientific sessions:

Keynote Lecturers: 

• Stefan Knapp Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• Shaomeng Wang University of Michigan, USA
• Ingrid Wertz, Lyterian Therapeutics, USA

Early Registration ends on August 31st. Abstract Submission ends on August 16th.

For more information visit www.chemical-biology.org or e-mail at 2023ICBS@gmail.com.

Wondering how researchers work in other companies or in academia? Are there important trends or new technologies that you may have missed? Looking for general guidelines or tips and tricks on important topics in drug discovery?

EFMC is tackling this challenge with a team of experienced practitioners from industry and academia, and is sharing training and course materials in several formats: freely accessible webinars on the EFMC youtube channel, educational slide decks and case studies.

These are freely accessible for personal use or for use in further training or teaching material, so have a look and spread the news! 

• Validating Chemical Probes

What are chemical probes and why are they important? Chemical probes are designed to selectively address a biological question; this is distinctly different from a drug, which is designed to produce a clinical outcome! Simple guidelines can be used to generate high-quality chemical probes and obtain reliable data to further our understanding of human biology and disease.

Link to the material.

• Phenotypic Drug Discovery (PDD)

Recent years have seen a renaissance of Phenotypic drug discovery (PPD) with novel screening technologies and a track record that is thought to match or surpass that of target-centric approaches. We present a view on best practices to consider when running phenotypic drug discovery campaigns to increase the chance of success of these black box approachs.

Link to the material.

• Hit Generation

Hit Generation is a crucial step of all drug discovery campaigns that will determine the speed and chance of success of identifying drug candidates.

We cover the essential approaches for hit generation and the opportunities and challenges they come with. We then provide guidance on how to validate hits to ensure medicinal chemistry is only performed on compounds and scaffolds that engage the target of interest and have the desired mode of action. Finally, we discuss the design of integrated hit generation strategies that combine several approaches to maximize the chance of identifying high quality starting points.

Link to the material.

The competition was fierce between the 10 candidates who joined the second round of selection for the Symeres PhD Prize, hosted at the Symeres Facilities in Nijmegen on July 10-11, 2023.

The jury proudly announces the awardees:

• 1st Place: Jan Gabriel Felber, LMU Munich, Germany
• 2nd Place: Zhangping Xiao, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
• 3rd Place: Vanesa Nozal Garcia, University of Antwerp, Belgium

As per the regulations of the prize, the winner will be invited to deliver an oral communication at the 10th EFMC Young Medicinal Chemists' Symposium (EFMC-YMCS).

The committee would also like to congratulate the other contestants, whose presentations were of a very high level, making the final selection difficult.

• Fabio Begnini, Aarhus University, Denmark
• Elena Detta, Aicuris Anti-Infective Cures AG, Germany
• Margarida Espadinha, University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Emma Grant, University of Strathclyde/GlaxoSmithKline, United Kingdom
• Ahmed Hazem, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• Roberta Pacifico, University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Marta Serafini, Università Del Piemonte Orientale, Italy

Congratulations to all! 

EFMC is funding grants for EFMC organised events with the aim to support the participation of young academic scientists. In 2023, the following grants have been distributed:

17th EFMC Short Course in Medicinal Chemistry

• Giulia BONONI, University of Pisa, Italy

ACSMEDI-EFMC Medicinal Chemistry Frontiers 2023

• Jonathan NUE, University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Federico RIU, Uppsala University, Sweden
• Katharina Erlitz, WWU Münster, Germany
• Julia Schoenfeld, Goethe University, Germany

EFMC International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC-ASMC 2023) & 10th EFMC Young Medicinal Chemists’ Symposium (EFMC-YMCS 2023)

• Jihed AZZOUZ, University of Côte d'Azur, France
• Carola CASTIELLO, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
• Isabella FERRARA, University of Zurich, Switzerland
• Alex James HALLATT, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
• Yudibeth SIXTO, University of Granada, Spain
• Vanrajsinh THAKOR, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
• Iva ZONJIC, IRB, Croatia

Two additional grants have been funded by Prof. Georg Winter, winner of the 2023 EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist or Chemical Biologist in Academia, who donated his prize money to support the participation of young researchers.

• Jelena KESIC, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
• Katarzyna MALARZ, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland

EFMC International Symposium on Chemical Biology (EFMC-ISCB 2023)

• Beerkens BERT, Leiden University, The Netherlands
• Sara HUMMEID, University of Lisbon, Portugal
• Noemí MARTÍNEZ CONDE, University of Barcelona, Spain
• Athanasios PANAGIOTOPOULOS, University of Crete, Greece
• Janne TAMPIO, University of Eastern Finland, Finland

The EFMC is excited to announce the winner of the first EFMC-WuXi AppTec Award for Excellence in Chemical Biology:

• Prof. Gonçalo Bernardes (University of Cambridge, UK & IMM Lisboa, Portugal)

We proudly announce the names of the first awardees of the YSN-YMCC Grant to attend ACSMEDI|EFMC Medicinal Chemistry Frontiers.

• Dr Aleša Bricelj, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Aleša Bricelj obtained her master’s degree in pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University in Ljubljana in 2019. She is currently a fourth-year PhD student under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Izidor Sosic and Prof. Marko Anderluh at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana. Her research focuses on utilising PROTACs for targeted protein degradation of various proteins involved in malignancies.

• Dr Andreas Luttens, Uppsala University, Sweden

Andreas Luttens has received his Master's degree in Molecular Design in Chemistry from Ghent University, Belgium. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Molecular Life Sciences at Uppsala University, Sweden. Andreas joined the lab of Jens Carlsson in 2017 and works on novel strategies to navigate vast chemical spaces using virtual screening

As we reached the tragic first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, EFMC renews its strong condemnation of the actions taken by the Russian government and expresses its support to the scientific community and to the Ukrainian people.

Being an independent learned society supporting all members of the medicinal chemistry and chemical biology community, EFMC however believes that scientific researchers in Russia should not be outcasted because of the actions of their government. True to our principles, we aim towards promoting cooperation and encouraging exchanges between scientific researchers in Europe and around the World.

The official EFMC Yearbook 2023, "Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology in Europe" is a valuable resource for those interested in quickly finding information on all things EFMC, such as the activities and composition of Member Societies, Corporate Members and the initiatives and events of EFMC and its working groups.

• It is available to read online or to download and keep.

Chemistry Europe journals ChemMedChem and ChemBioChem to become official journals of European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC)

Weinheim, Germany; Bern, Switzerland; April 5, 2022 — Chemistry Europe, an association of 16 chemical societies from 15 European countries publishing a family of high-quality scholarly chemistry journals, today announced that it has entered into a multi-year collaboration with the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC), an independent association representing 29 scientific organizations from 25 European countries to advance the science of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. Under the terms of the agreement, the Chemistry Europe journals ChemMedChem and ChemBioChem will become official journals of EFMC.

The collaboration agreement aims to increase the visibility of ChemMedChem and ChemBioChem, bring valuable additional benefits to readers, authors, and early-career researchers, and thus strengthen the science of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. ChemMedChem and ChemBioChem will become official journals of EFMC but continue to be owned by Chemistry Europe. The journals will display the label "official journal of EFMC" on their covers.

“We are looking forward to starting our collaboration with the EFMC. Our partnership is not only expected to increase the visibility of our journals ChemMedChem and ChemBioChem, but more importantly to strengthen the impact of the research of the European scientific community of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology on the wider global scenario. A number of exciting editorial projects will be developed within this agreement, also highlighting the contribution of young researchers.” says Professor Gianluca Farinola, Chemistry Europe Council Member in charge of ChemMedChem and Vice President of Società Chimica Italiana.

“We are very happy for this new step in the collaboration with Chemistry Europe, which allows for a broader dissemination and visibility of the excellent research carried out by the medicinal chemistry and chemical biology communities across Europe”, says Professor Rui Moreira, President of the EFMC.

Chemistry Europe publishes 19 high-quality scientific chemistry journals covering a very wide range of disciplines and supports scientists at every stage of their careers. EFMC promotes and strengthens the science of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology by organizing symposia and short courses, sponsoring meetings and schools, publishing on relevant topics, and presenting awards and prizes. The collaboration underscores the commitment of Chemistry Europe and EFMC to strengthen the scientific excellence of chemistry researchers from around the world.

Link https://www.chemistryviews.org/details/advertorial/11346095/Chemistry_Europe_Signs_Collaboration_Agreement_with_EFMC.html

Media Contact:
Dr. Vera Koester
Editor in Chief ChemistryViews (The Magazine of Chemistry Europe)
vkoester@wiley-vch.de
++49(0)172 3999 826

Mr Brieuc Matagne
EFMC Administrative Secretariat
administration@efmc.info

About Chemistry Europe

Founded in 1995, Chemistry Europe is an association of 16 chemical societies from 15 European countries, representing over 75,000 chemists. It publishes a family of high-quality scholarly chemistry journals, covering a very broad range of disciplines. Wiley-VCH is their publisher.

The mission of Chemistry Europe is to evaluate, publish, disseminate, and amplify the scientific excellence of chemistry researchers from around the globe in high-quality publications. It supports its members at every stage of their careers as they strive to solve the challenges that impact humankind. In all its work, Chemistry Europe values integrity, openness, diversity, cooperation, and freedom of thought. https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

About European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC)

The European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC) is an independent association founded in December 1969 that represents 29 scientific organizations from 25 European countries. Its objective is to advance the science of medicinal chemistry & chemical biology by promoting cooperation and encouraging strong links between the national adhering organizations in order to deepen contacts and exchanges between medicinal chemists & chemical biologists in Europe and around the World. EFMC fulfills this objective by organizing symposia and short courses, by sponsoring meetings and medicinal chemistry schools, by publishing on relevant topics and by conferring awards and prizes. https://www.efmc.info/

About Wiley-VCH

Originally founded in 1921 as Verlag Chemie, Wiley-VCH plays an important role in providing scientists, engineers, and economists with high-quality information. Its integration within the global John Wiley & Sons Group since 1996 allows the company to distribute its program in every country on this planet. Our strength is based on our joint endeavors and success with people all over the world. From the very beginning, the publishing program covers most areas of the natural sciences, such as chemistry, physics, life sciences, medicine, engineering, and now also economics. While such information has traditionally been published in the form of journals, databases, reference works and books, online and offline services are now becoming increasingly important, alongside inter- and transdisciplinary portals. The company's staff in Weinheim, Berlin, and Zurich represent the foundation of all our services with their professional expertise and experience. https://www.wiley-vch.de/en/

EFMC is proud to support the ‘Stick to Science’ campaign, launched on 8 February, urging EU leaders, as well as the UK and Swiss governments, to place science collaboration before politics, and to quickly reach the UK’s and Switzerland’s association to Horizon Europe. Since the launch, the campaign has reached close to 4 million people on Twitter, and gathered a total of over 3400 signatures.

If you haven’t signed up to the initiative yet, please do so! These signatures are important in ensuring that we get the attention of European leaders and secure association to Horizon Europe. The initiative is open for all to sign, both as an individual or as an organisation on the dedicated website.

The site also includes a range of resources for supporters, including suggested social media posts, banners and email signature templates.

The posting of Job/PhD & Post-Doc offers is free and is available for any Med Chem related jobs, in industry as well as academic positions.

Job posting is now made even simplier, you only have to provide the URL of the job application. 

Once reviewed, the position will be available on the EFMC website and in the monthly newsletter "MedChemWatch".