In a recent blog post Derek Lowe talked about "Virtual Screening Versus the Numbers" https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/virtual-screening-versus-numbers highlighting some of the issues around ultra large chemical libraries.

It seems quite timely that RSC CICAG is organising a meeting on Ultra Large Chemical libraries 10 August 2022 10:00-17:00, Burlington House, London, United Kingdom.

A decade ago a chemical library of a million compounds was considered large but over the last few years there has been a period of continuous growth in the size of both physical and virtual chemical libraries. As the libraries have grown the conventional search technologies have become unsustainable and new technologies are needed. This meeting will look at the challenges and solutions used to design, create, compare and search these ultra-large chemical libraries.

There are more details and registration here https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/73675/ultra-large-chemical-libraries.

It is now open for abstract submission (oral due by May 1st, posters June 2nd).

Registration fees

Delegate member early £95
Delegate non-member early £115
Delegate member std £120
Delegate non-member std £145
Student member early £65
Student non-member early £85
Student member std £90
Student non-member std £110

I'm really delighted to see that Dame Carol Robinson is the 2021 inductee to the RSC BMCS Hall of Fame. Her group's work on using Mass Spec to investigate biomolecular process is stunning science and her Keynote at the 2021 Cambridge MedChem meeting was one of the highlights of the meeting.

A lot has happened over the last year but one of the high spots was the latest inductee to the 2020 RSC BMCS Hall of Fame. https://www.rscbmcs.org/awards/halloffame/

The BMCS is delighted to announce that David Rees PhD, FRSC, FMedSci, Chief Scientific Officer at Astex Pharmaceuticals, will be the 2020 inductee to its Hall of Fame, and the recipient of the associated medal. David is recognised internationally for his innovative use of chemistry in drug discovery. His research has forged bridges between academia and industry and he has held prominent positions in learned societies such as the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has led collaborations resulting in the discovery of three launched drugs, the anaesthetic agent Sugammadex which has been used in over 30 million patients in 60 countries, and the anti-cancer agents Ribociclib and Erdafitinib, both predicted to achieve blockbuster status. Much of Astex’s industry-leading productivity has been dependant on David’s chemical expertise. David is well known for his calm authority, scientific rigor and enthusiasm, and has over 140 publications and patents.

David gave a fabulous presentation at the 21st RSC / SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium in Cambridge and I'm delighted that this talk has been converted into an article published in RSC Medicinal Chemistry.

As many of you know I'm a keen advocate of looking at the number of patients treated rather than simple sales figures and David makes this point very eloquently.

Nominations are now open for the 2022 RSC Medicinal Chemistry Emerging Investigator Lectureship and close on 08 October 2021. The lectureship is open to candidates who received their PhD in 2012 or later and who have made a significant contribution to medicinal chemistry in their early career.

The RSC welcome nominations from anyone, to be sent to our journal inbox at medchem-rsc@rsc.org, but ask that nominations include the name and affiliation of the researcher, along with at least one paragraph explaining their achievements and why they should be considered (a CV is not required, but is helpful if sent along with the nomination). Additionally, self-nominations are welcomed if accompanied by a letter of support from the nominees’ institute.

There are more details about nominations on our webpage here: https://www.rsc.org/journals-books-databases/about-journals/rsc-medicinal-chemistry/#Lectureship_MChemCom.

The 6th RSC-BMCS symposium on mastering medicinal chemistry, a virtual event Tuesday & Wednesday, 29th & 30th June 2021 (two afternoon sessions).

This is a fantastic opportunity, two days of high quality presentations, the best way to learn MedChem is to listen to Case Histories. Details are here https://www.cathyhillevents.co.uk/BMCS/MMCVI.html.

You can register here https://www.maggichurchouseevents.co.uk/bmcs/MMCVI-online_registration.htm.

Registration for the 21st RSC / SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium Monday-Wednesday, 13th-15th September 2021 hosted at Churchill College, Cambridge, UK is now open. Twitter hashtag - #CamMedChem21

As usual there is a stella lineup of presentations and there is still time for some submissions.

I'd like to highlight one talk that is close to my heart. Ed Griffen will talking about The COVID Moonshot: SARS-CoV2 oral antiviral therapeutics from an Open Science global collaboration.

The COVID Moonshot is an ambitious crowdsourced initiative to accelerate the development of a COVID antiviral. We work in the open with no intellectual property constraints. This way, any scientist can view submitted drug designs and experimental data to inspire new design ideas. We use our cutting-edge machine learning tools and Folding@home's crowdsourced supercomputer to determine which drug designs to send to our partners to make and test in the lab. With each drug design tested, we get closer to our goal.

This talk will be in the late breaker session and because of the open nature of the project it will be a chance to really see the very latest results "hot off the press".

You can have a look at the latest results here now. https://covid.postera.ai/covid.

30th April: Late breaker and early poster deadline
23rd July: Final poster deadline

Registration link https://www.maggichurchouseevents.co.uk/bmcs/cmc21/index.htm

As someone who had to make a major career change due to personal circumstances I really recommend this sort of webinar that has been organised by the RSC.

Career choices when faced with changes of life

Join Career Consultants Cath Elmer and John Toscano who will spend an evening helping you give your working lives a well-deserved health check! Together we will look at some of the reasons career circumstances can change - out of choice or otherwise. We will discuss some of the career theories behind our decision-making processes to help us assess where we are and be better prepared for the future. This interactive event will be of interest whatever stage of your career.

Thursday 15th April 6:00-8:00 pm

Link https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/46366/career-choices-when-faced-with-changes-of-life.

A lot has happened over the last couple of months but I wanted to highlight the latest inductee to the 2020 RSC BMCS Hall of Fame. https://www.rscbmcs.org/awards/halloffame/

The BMCS is delighted to announce that David Rees PhD, FRSC, FMedSci, Chief Scientific Officer at Astex Pharmaceuticals, will be the 2020 inductee to its Hall of Fame, and the recipient of the associated medal. David is recognised internationally for his innovative use of chemistry in drug discovery. His research has forged bridges between academia and industry and he has held prominent positions in learned societies such as the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has led collaborations resulting in the discovery of three launched drugs, the anaesthetic agent Sugammadex which has been used in over 30 million patients in 60 countries, and the anti-cancer agents Ribociclib and Erdafitinib, both predicted to achieve blockbuster status. Much of Astex’s industry-leading productivity has been dependant on David’s chemical expertise. David is well known for his calm authority, scientific rigor and enthusiasm, and has over 140 publications and patents.

The current pandemic means that the formal presentation has been delayed but I'm sure many will want to join me in congratulating David on this well-deserved prestigious award.

My RSC membership renewal form has just dropped though the letterbox.

It is the ideal time to think about joining one of the RSC Interest groups.

Interest groups are scientific networks run by members for their community. Each group is themed around a specific area or application of the chemical sciences. They organise an annual series of events to cater for both their members and the wider scientific community. These events vary from: multi-day conferences and workshops to training events.

If you are interested in the computational side of drug discovery why not join the Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group CICAG code 86.

The first circular for the 21st Cambridge MedChem Meeting, 12-15th September 2021, Churchill College, Cambridge. #CamMedChem21

Full details on the website.

The Emerging Technologies Competition is the Royal Society of Chemistry’s annual initiative for early stage companies and academic entrepreneurs who want to commercialise their technologies to make a global impact.

They are seeking applications from entrepreneurs who are developing technologies that have a strong chemistry component and fall within one of the following categories:

• Health
• Food & Drink
• Energy & Environment
• Enabling Technologies

From the application round, 24 finalists are selected to present their technologies to a panel of judges. These judges then choose 4 winners (1 per category). Winners receive £20,000 and mentorship. Applications close 12 July 2020.

There are more details here https://www.rsc.org/competitions/emerging-technologies/

The Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry in Eastern England, known colloquially as the "Hatfield MedChem" meeting, is a highly successful, long-standing, one-day meeting which runs annually. The scientific program comprises of presentations showcasing medicinal chemistry case studies from tools to candidates, across a range of modalities, therapeutic areas and target classes, as well as covering more general topics from the forefront of drug discovery of relevance to medicinal chemists. The meeting aims to be informal and interactive and the event will offer excellent scientific and networking opportunities for all those working in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery.

It will take place on Thursday 30th April 2020 at The Fielder Centre, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK

Registration is now open.

Full details of the scientific programme and registration details are on the website https://www.maggichurchouseevents.co.uk/bmcs/hatfield_symposium-31.htm

Always a very popular meeting so registration early is recommended.

Twitter hashtag #HatfieldMedChem20

It has been over twenty years since Lipinski published his work determining the properties of drug molecules associated with good solubility and permeability. Since then, there have been a number of additions and expansions to these “rules”. There has also been keen interest in the application of these guidelines in the drug discovery process and how these apply to new emerging chemical structures such as macrocycles. This symposium brought together researchers from a number of different areas of drug discovery and provided a historical overview of the use of Lipinski’s rules, as well as looking to the future and how we use these rules in the changing drug compound landscape.

The 20 Years of the Rule of Five Meeting brought together researchers from a number of different areas of drug discovery and provided both a historical overview of the use of Lipinski’s rules, as well as looking to the future and how these rules might evolve in the changing drug compound landscape. The meeting had a capacity attendance of over 100, with Sygnature kindly providing the venue. The audience was a nice mix of industry “veterans”, students and those new to the industry. The meeting format was a morning session giving a historical viewpoint followed by a panel discussion, and the afternoon was dedicated by a more forward looking session again followed by a panel discussion.

The full report is here in PDF format Full Report, many thanks to the presenters for permission to use the images.

More details and the available slide decks are here, Twitter hashtag - #RuleofFive2019.

I just thought I'd mention a couple of meetings I'm helping to organise.

2nd RSC-BMCS / RSC-CICAG Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry

Artificial Intelligence is presently experiencing a renaissance in development of new methods and practical applications to ongoing challenges in Chemistry. Following the success of the inaugural “Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry” meeting in 2018 a second meeting has been organised at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (2nd to 3rd September 2019). The lineup is now finalised and looks like a great selection of speakers. There is still time to submit posters (closing date 5th July).

Registration is open and there are discounts for RSC members.

The Twitter hashtag - #AIChem19 is already being actively used.

20th SCI/RSC Medicinal Chemistry Symposium

This is Europe’s premier biennial Medicinal Chemistry event, focussing on first disclosures and new strategies in Medicinal Chemistry. It takes place a Churchill College, Cambridge UK, 8 September - 11 September 2019. There is a fantastic lineup of speakers and looks to be one of the highlights of the MedChem calendar. Early career scientists can also take part in a Medicinal chemistry workshop on the Sunday afternoon, a great way for people to learn medicinal chemistry and meet other scientists in a fun and informal setting.

You can register here both RSC and SCI members get a reduced rate, and despite the slightly confusing page on the SCI website you don't have to be a member to attend, just select "Event Member FREE from the dropdown menu and you can register for the event without membership.

Twenty Years of the Rule of Five

It has been over twenty years since Lipinski published his work determining the properties of drug molecules associated with good solubility and permeability. Since then, there have been a number of additions and expansions to these “rules”. There has also been keen interest in the application of these guidelines in the drug discovery process and how these apply to new emerging chemical structures such as macrocycles.

This meeting aims to have a look at the impact the Ro5 has had on drug discovery and as well as looking to the future and how we use these rules in the changing drug compound landscape as drug discovery moves into novel areas of chemistry.

There is a very exciting group of speakers and the timetable has been designed to allow a panel discussion after each session. Given the topic and the speakers I'm sure these will be entertaining sessions.

You can register here and there are discounts for RSC members

Twitter hashtag - #RuleofFive2019

RSC-BMCS and RSC-CICAG are delighted to announce registration is now open for Twenty Years of the Rule of Five, Wednesday, 20th November 2019, Sygnature Discovery, BioCity, Nottingham, UK. #RuleofFive2019

It has been over twenty years since Lipinski published his work determining the properties of drug molecules associated with good solubility and permeability. Since then, there have been a number of additions and expansions to these “rules”. There has also been keen interest in the application of these guidelines in the drug discovery process and how these apply to new emerging chemical structures such as macrocycles.

This symposium will bring together researchers from a number of different areas of drug discovery and will provide a historical overview of the use of Lipinski’s rules, as well as looking to the future and how we use these rules in the changing drug compound landscape.

Full details and registration are here https://www.maggichurchouseevents.co.uk/bmcs/twenty-years-Ro5.htm.

I know the is eagerly anticipated because I have folder of email enquiries I can now respond to.

Registration for the 20th Cambridge MedChem Meeting is now open !!

https://www.soci.org/events/20th-scirsc-medicinal-chemistry-symposium.

Really is a fabulous lineup of speakers. Also includes Malcolm Campbell Memorial Prize presentation

In many companies/institutions/universities new arrivals are presented with a variety of desktop tools with little or no advice on how to use them other than "pick it up as you along". This workshop is intended to provide expert tutorials to get you started and show what can be achieved with the software.

The tutorials will be given a series of outstanding experts Christian Lemmen (BioSolveIT), Akos Tarcsay (ChemAxon), Giovanna Tedesco (Cresset), Dan Ormsby (Dotmatics) Greg Landrum (Knime ) and Matt Segall (Optibrium), you will be able to install the software packages on you own laptops together with a license to allow you to use it for a limited period after the event.

Registration opened just before Christmas and apparently there were a number of people sign up over the festive period. Remember there are a limited number of places and it is first come first served.

Registration and full details are here.

Also a free one-day symposium Streamlining Drug Discovery" in Frankfurt
The very successful symposia series "Streamlining Drug Discovery" comes to Frankfurt on 14 February 2019. Jointly BioSolveIT, Optibrium, Lhasa and Elsevier invite you for this free one-day event highlighting new approaches and technologies being applied to the search for future therapeutics. For further details please visit the symposium website https://www.biosolveit.de/symposium/2019-02-14/

Update

I'm delighted to report that over 200 people have now watched the video online, looks like it was a valuable resource.

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One of the nice things about my job is I get the chance to take part in some truly inspiring events. Last month I had the honour of chairing a session on Neglected and Tropical Diseases at the 19th Cambridge MedChem Meeting. In an effort of extend the exposure of the brilliant science undertaken in this important therapeutic area the conference organisers arranged for this to be a live webinar. The session was also recorded and is now available online.

https://youtu.be/XLOCFrjrMEY

This is a recording of the Neglected and Tropical Diseases Session at the 19th Cambridge MedChem Meeting, 11-13 September 2017. The speakers are Kelly Chibale (Univ of Capetown), Christoph Boss (Actelion), Rob Young (GlaxoSmithKline), Jonathan Large (LifeArc) and Charles Mowbray (DNDI).

Please feel free to share. #19thCamMedChem.

Nominations close on 31 October 2017

This Award was founded in 2002 in memory of the chemists Nigel Capps, Richard Green and Alex Zomaya to recognise outstanding contributions to medicinal or computational medicinal chemistry.

• Run biennially
• The winner receives £2000, a certificate and a medal
• The winner is invited to give the 'Capps Green Zomaya Memorial Lecture' at the East of England
• Medicinal Chemistry Symposium in April 2018
• The winner will be chosen by an independent panel of senior chemists, selected by the Committee of the RSC Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector (BMCS) and the Capps Green Zomaya Trust.

More details are here http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/CappsGreenZoyama/

Friday 8th December 2017, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge

Closing date for abstract submission is 15th September 2017

The Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector (BMCS) of the Royal Society of Chemistry will be hosting its 11th postgraduate symposium for PhD students and postdoctoral workers researching in biological or medicinal chemistry and related areas. The event will be held in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge on Friday 8th December 2017. Researchers working in these areas are invited to participate. Registration will start at 9:00 am with talks beginning at 10:00 am. The day will consist of 11 oral presentations (8 student and 3 keynote) plus a Flash Poster section. Each 20 minute student talk will be followed by 10 minutes for questions.

This is a fantastic meeting for anyone interested in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, this event is FREE but all attendees should register as soon as possible and no later than the 1st December 2017.

I've been a tutor at the RSC MedChem School on a number of occasions and I can say this is an excellent opportunity for scientists new to drug discovery to benefit from an understanding of all aspects of the drug discovery process, from target and hit identification, through ADME and computational chemistry, to patents and safety studies.

The 2017 Medicinal Chemistry Residential School takes place 11 - 16 June, Loughborough UK, it is always very popular so well worth signing up early.

The 2017 Residential School will take place over 5 days and content is delivered by experts in the field from industry and academia. The programme includes lectures focusing on the fundamental principles of drug discovery, hands-on tutorials allowing delegates to put into practice what they have learnt and case histories from previous drug discovery projects. The programme will also include an evening lecture from a distinguished speaker. Throughout the week course tutors and speakers will be available for informal discussion and there will be plenty of opportunities to network with the broad range of academic and industrial researchers in attendance.

Fragment-based screening is now a well established methodology for the identification of leads for drug discovery and the aim of the 6th RSC-BMCS Fragment-based Drug Discovery meeting will be to continue the focus on case studies in Fragment-based Drug Discovery that have delivered compounds to late stage medicinal chemistry, preclinical or clinical programmes.

6th RSC-BMCS Fragment-based Drug Discovery meeting
Sunday to Tuesday, 5th to 7th March 2017
at Parkhotel Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria

Full details and registration are online.

The Royal Society of Chemistry celebrates it's 175th anniversary in 2016.

As the oldest chemical society in the world, we're proud to be celebrating our 175th anniversary during 2016. We want to mark this milestone by recognising the rich heritage and community of which we're all a part. We'd also like to acknowledge the important role we all play in contributing to the future of the chemical sciences

I thought I'd contribute to the activities by highlighting "Molecule 175" from various databases.

First up ChemSpider a free chemical structure database supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry providing fast text and structure search access to over 40 million structures from hundreds of data sources. ChemSpider ID 175 refers to acetone, a very important solvent with millions of tonnes produced annually.

Next ChEMBL a database of over 1,7 million small molecules and associated biological activity data. ChEMBL175 is Dexibuprofen, this is the active enantiomer of ibuprofen, a well known non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

Drugbank is a richly annotated database of drug and drug target information. DB00175 is Pravastatin a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor used as a cholesterol-lowering agent.

Pubchem released in 2004, provides information on the biological activities of small molecules. Pubchem CID175 belongs to acetate, the ionised form of acetic acid, Acetate is the most common building block for biosynthesis.

BindingDB is a public, web-accessible database of measured binding affinities, focusing chiefly on the interactions of protein considered to be drug-targets with small, drug-like molecules. BDBM175 refers to an inhibitor of HIV protease designed to take advantage of the C2 axis of symmetry found for this dimeric protease.

Zinc is a free database of commercially available compounds ideal for virtual screening, entry 175 appears to be a hydrated form of the benzodiazepine Clorazepate.

In the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY entry 175 is Spiramide, a 5-HT2 antagonist.

I just got details of an interesting meeting in Cambridge, UK later this year.

The registration form is here

The registrations are coming in for the forthcoming 17th RSC/SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium to be held in Cambridge UK (8-11 Sept 2013). Book early to avoid disappointment.

Full details of the scientific programme are available here together with the registration form.

The latest details of the forthcoming 17th RSC/SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium to be held in Cambridge UK (8-11 Sept 2013) are now available.

Full details of the scientific programme are available here together with the registration form.

The first circular for the 17th RSC/SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium is available for download. The meeting will be held at Churchill College Cambridge UK, 8-11 September 2013. Always a hugely popular meeting so worth registering your interest early.

The deadline for the early bird rates ends soon for the 16th SCI/RSC Medicinal Chemistry Symposium to be held Sunday 11 -14 September 2011 Churchill College, Cambridge, UK.

The 16th SCI-RSC Medicinal Chemistry Symposium will focus on first disclosures and new strategies in medicinal chemistry. Reflecting current trends in medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical research, the theme of the conference will be The Path Forward: Collaboration or Competition? The scientific programme features lectures on Enzyme Inhibitors, Ligands for Receptors and Ion Channels plus a Hot Topic late breaker session. In addition the meeting has a number of talks addressing key Enabling Processes and Technologies for the future of Medicinal Chemistry. There will also be Poster Sessions with a number of posters selected for short talks.

Full details are here

The details of the RSC MedChem School that will be held 4-8 July 2011 at Burleigh Court Conference Centre, Loughborough University are now online. Early bird registration is available until April 1st.

Full details can be found on the RSC website here.

The residential training school focusses on current thinking in drug discovery and will take place at the Burleigh Court Conference Centre, Loughborough University. The course is directed primarily at graduate and post doctoral chemists with 1-4 years experience in the field of drug research. Final year PhD students in pharmacy and organic chemistry contemplating a career in medicinal chemistry will also find the course of use.

The flyer containing details of and the application form for the 16th SCI/RSC Medicinal Chemistry Symposium to be held Sunday 11 -14 September 2011 Churchill College, Cambridge, UK is now available for download:

FINAL CIRCULAR and APPLICATION FORM

The 16th SCI-RSC Medicinal Chemistry Symposium will focus on first disclosures and new strategies in medicinal chemistry. Reflecting current trends in medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical research, the theme of the conference will be The Path Forward: Collaboration or Competition? The scientific programme features lectures on Enzyme Inhibitors, Ligands for Receptors and Ion Channels plus a Hot Topic late breaker session. In addition the meeting has a number of talks addressing key Enabling Processes and Technologies for the future of Medicinal Chemistry. There will also be Poster Sessions with a number of posters selected for short talks

Call for Posters

Contributions from the whole field of medicinal chemistry are invited. Please submit A4 abstracts of your poster presentation to jacqui.colgate@soci.org and indicate whether you are willing to be upgraded to a poster talk. Deadline for submissions: 27 May 2011.

The RSC Medicinal Chemistry Summer School, for the last 40 years regarded as the pre-eminent industry training course for medicinal chemists, is due to take place 4-8th July 2011 at Burleigh Court Conference Centre, Loughborough University.  It brings together cross-industry and cross-discipline  practitioners to provide lectures, tutorials , workshops and case-studies illustrating modern drug discovery.   This will provides an excellent training opportunity for young medicinal chemists, a refresher for those more experienced, or an introduction to drug design thinking for any scientist working in cross-functional discovery teams.

The flyer and application form can be downloaded here.

The details of the RSC MedChem School that will be held 4-8 July 2011 at Burleigh Court Conference Centre, Loughborough University are now online. Early bird registration is available until April 1st.

Full details can be found on the RSC website here.

The residential training school focusses on current thinking in drug discovery and will take place at the Burleigh Court Conference Centre, Loughborough University. The course is directed primarily at graduate and post doctoral chemists with 1-4 years experience in the field of drug research. Final year PhD students in pharmacy and organic chemistry contemplating a career in medicinal chemistry will also find the course of use.

The first circular for the 16th RSC-SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium, 11-14 September 2011, Churchill College, Cambridge, UK is now available here.

Scientifc Program includes:-

• Strategies to success - H-PGDS inhibitors for the treatment of inflamatory disorders, Sukanthini Thurauratnam, Sanofi -Aventis

• Discovery on next generation glucokinase activators, Mike Waring, AstraZeneca

• Inhalation by design, Paul Glosson, Pfizer

• Bromodomains a new class of epigenetic targets for small molecule drug discovery, Jason Witherington, GSK

• GPCR Structure based drug design using stabilised receptors(StaRs), Miles Congreve, Heptares

• GS-9350: a novel pharmacoenhancer, Lianhong Xu, Gilead Sciences

Added the RSS feed for MedChemComm the new journal from the RSC