DMCCB Newsletter #27 April 2024

As we are entering Q2 of 2024 we can already look back at several events organized or co-organized by the DMCCB: The DMCCB Basel Symposium 2024 “Therapeutics by Computational Design: Innovations in Drug Discovery and AI” took place in February at the Biozentrum in Basel. Over 130 of participants from all over the world attended, showing that AI is a growing field of interest for academia and industry. A symposium report will be published in the next issue of Chimiawhere you can read more on the event.

Just a few days before the Basel Symposium, the LS² annual meeting took place at the Syngenta site in Lausanne. The topic of the 2024 edition was “Exploring the Wonders of Life”.

Later this year the DMCCB will be organizing the Swiss Summer School in Chemical Biology and the Swiss Course on Medicinal Chemistry. Registration is open and there are still slots available! More details can be found in the Activities section of this Newsletter.

News from the DMCCB

At the general assembly during the SCS spring meeting we will be also electing the new president to the

DMCCB as Prof. Jean-Louis Raymond (University of Bern) retired from his position as of January 2024. You will be reading more on this in our next Newsletter. Stay tuned!

Activities of the DMCCB/SCS

The SCS Spring Meeting 2024. The Swiss Chemical Society Spring Meeting is a one-day symposium and provides a high-quality program with national and international speakers on a specific theme. The topic of the 2024 symposium is «Frontiers in Homogenous Catalysis». It will take place on June 7, 2024 from 9:00 to 17.30 at the Biozentrum (University of Basel, Lecture Hall U1.131). More information and registration links can be found on the SCS website.

The Seminar by Dr. Florian Kleinbeck Novartis AG (DIAC 2024/1 fellow): The talk with the title “Innovative and Breakthrough Solutions in Route Design, (Bio)Catalysis and Process Development at Novartis” will be given on June 21, 2026 at 17.00 at the Institute for Organic Chemistry of the University of Basel (St. Johanns-Ring 19, Big Lecture Hall). Dr. Kleinbeck receives the SCS Division of Industrial & Applied Chemistry (DIAC) Award 2024 for his tremendous impact on process chemistry and outstanding contributions in delivering innovative and breakthrough solutions in route design, (bio)catalysis, and process development for more important Novartis compounds such as Piqray, Entrestro or Leqvio. More info can be found at the SCS website.

The Peptide Therapeutics Forum 2024 will take place from August 22-23, 2024 at the Biozentrum Basel. The event provides an innovative platform to exchange on the various aspects of drug development with a focus on peptides. Similar to previous events in the framework of Basel Life, presentations highlight important new insights regarding the drug discovery of peptides including examples of successful development candidates. This forum disseminates information on the latest news in the broad field of therapeutic peptides and enables networking of interested parties from academia and industries. Deadline for Registration is August 11, 2024. More details can be found on the event’s website.

Swiss Summer School 2024 on Chemical Biology: The Swiss Summer School in Chemical Biology aims to provide PhD students, Post-Docs and industrial scientists from Switzerland and abroad with an interactive seminar week in beautiful alpine settings to expand their scientific horizon with latest developments, present their own work as posters and short presentations, and interact with speakers from Academia and Industry for networking and career development. It will take place from August 25 - 29, 2024 in Bergün (Graubünden). For more information check out the event’s website.

SCS Fall Meeting 2024: The SCS Fall Meeting 2024, is one of the largest annual research conferences held in Switzerland and offers a unique opportunity for all members of the community to share the results of their research initiatives and to connect with each other. It will take place on September 5, 2024 from 9:00 to 18.30 at the University of Fribourg (Department of Chemistry). More information will be posted soon on the SCS website.

Ilmac Lausanne 2024: llmac has its origins in the Swiss trade fair for international laboratory, measurement technology and automation in chemistry, which has been taking place since 1959. Today, the chemical and life science brand connects the industry both physically and digitally. With the performance promise "Inspiring the Future of Chemistry and Life Sciences", it encourages the development of new ideas and solutions and presents trends and innovations by research and industry in important locations such as Basel and Lausanne. SCS, as the initial founder of the fair, is partnering with Messe Schweiz and coordinates the collaboration with society partners and the Universities of Applies Sciences. It is also the official organizer of the ILMAC Forum activities. It will take place on September 18-19, 2024 from 9:00 to 16.30 at the Expo Beaulieu Lausanne. Registration is mandatory. With the SCS PrioCode (available as of June 2024) you can get your ticket for free. Please register then via the ilmac.ch website.

Swiss Course on Medicinal Chemistry 2024. This five-day Medicinal Chemistry School that is organized by the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology of the SCS will focus on most modern aspects associated with small molecule drug discovery. It will take place from October 13 - 18, 2024 in Leysin (Vaud). Detailed information will be published soon on the event website.

Activities & events from the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC)

EFMC-ISMC 2024: the XXVIII EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry: The biennial EFMC-ISMC is a key symposium in the field of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology in drug discovery. It traditionally attracts around 1.000 participants from both industry and academia. This event is taking place from September 1- 5, 2024 in Rome, Italy and is organized by the Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the Italian Chemical Society (Divisione di Chimica Farmaceutica – Società Chimica Italiana, DCF-SCI) on behalf of the EFMC. The programme includes plenary lectures by Nobel Laureate Prof. David MacMillan (Princeton University, Princeton, USA), Prof. Véronique Gouverneur (Univ. of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom), Mr Jacob Bradbury (Univ. of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom) and Dr. Emma Parmee (Janssen Research & Development, Spring House, USA). Visit the event’s website for registration and further details.

EFMC-Young Medicinal Chemists Symposium 2024: The 11th edition of this symposium will be held in Rome, Italy from September 5 - 6, 2024 and will be organised by the European Federation for Medicinal chemistry and Chemical biology (EFMC) and the EFMC Young Scientists Network (YSN). The event will be organised in connection with the XXVIII EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC-ISMC 2024). Further information can be found on the event’s website.

2^nd EFMC International Symposium on Chemical Biology (EFMC-ISCB 2025): EFMC and the DMCCB will organize the International Symposium on Chemical Biology (EFMC-ISCB) on January 29-31, 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. The symposium will be co-chaired by Uwe Grether (Roche) and Claudia Höbartner (Uni Würzburg). The programme will include plenary and invited lectures, short communications selected from submitted abstracts, a poster session, and a commercial exhibition - with ample time for discussion and networking. More details can be found on the event’s webpage. 

Did you know?

EFMC Job Portal
If you have an open position in your group, take advantage of the EFMC job portal: The posting of Job/PhD & Post-Doc offers is free for any medicinal chemistry or chemical biology related jobs, in industry and academic positions. – it’s very easy to reach the whole community by providing the link to the original job offer under EFMC Submit a job.

The assembled material is available in several formats: freely accessible webinars on the EFMC youtube channel, educational slide decks and case studies. These will be made freely accessible for personal use or for use in further training or teaching material. More information can be found here.