European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry in partnership with MedChemComm

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Abstract

EFMC President Dr Uli Stilz looks forward to another successful year of partnership between MedChemComm and the EFMC.

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Dear colleagues,

MedChemComm and the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry are now entering their third year of partnership. 2012 continued to see MedChemComm grow, establishing itself as a premier international venue for the publication of medicinal chemistry research. The journal published themed issues on Epigenetics (guest edited by Mark Bunnage and Rasmus Clausen) and Natural Products (guest edited by Christopher Walsh and Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova) and appointed Patrick Gunning (University of Toronto, Canada) as the winner of its first Emerging Investigator Lectureship. This demonstrates two of the key goals that EFMC and the journal share: to promote new areas of medicinal chemistry – particularly those which interface with other areas such as nanotechnology or systems biology – and to promote the work of emerging researchers. This will continue into 2013, with the publication of the first MedChemComm New Talents issue, focusing on research by some of the foremost rising scientists in the field.

With the Royal Society of Chemistry we are delighted to have a partner, whose journals are among the highest ranked ones in their disciplines, which combine a top quality publishing service and a very author-friendly copyright policy. RSC is the partner of choice for EFMC with its strong commitment to high scientific standards.

In the upcoming year, EFMC will co-organise two international meetings. The 5th International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry (ASMC13) is scheduled to be held on May 5–8, 2013 in Moscow, Russia. The programme, put together by Peter Seeberger (Max Planck Institute) and Alan Palkowitz (Eli Lilly), will cover the following topics: New Synthetic Methodologies, Total Synthesis of Natural Products, Heterocyclic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery and Development. In 2013 EFMC and the ACS MediDivision will also be jointly organising the fourth edition of the Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry Meeting. After successful meetings in Siena, Barcelona and Stockholm, the Frontiers meeting moves to the US. The 2013 edition is scheduled for June 23–26 and will be held in San Francisco. By organising these international meetings, EFMC wants to encourage contacts and exchanges between medicinal chemists in Europe and around the world.

Furthermore, with the aim of fulfilling the important demand in the education and training of today's medicinal chemists, EFMC is organising twice a year Short Courses on Medicinal Chemistry. Andrew Leach (University of Liverpool) and George Keserü (Gedeon Richter) will be organising the 7th EFMC Short Course on Medicinal Chemistry (April 21–24, 2013): “Principles of Molecular Recognition”. Please mark the date and register on time, via the website www.efmcshortcourses.org!

EFMC is funding grants for EFMC organised events with the aim to support the participation of young academic scientists. Up to 50% of the registration fee of the above mentioned EFMC events will be covered by EFMC. For application details, I invite you to visit our website www.efmc.info, where you will also find more information on the recently established EFMC-Roche Studentships.

The European Federation for Medicinal Chemists also rewards scientific excellence. The prestigious EFMC Awards, conferred every two years on occasion of the EFMC-ISMC Symposium recognize outstanding research and achievements in Medicinal Chemistry. Additionally, EFMC established the EFMC Prizes to acknowledge the scientific accomplishments of young medicinal chemists, both in industry and academia. These prizes are given annually and are restricted to scientists not older than 35 years. The call for 2013 is already open, and I would like to encourage you to submit nominations for the Industry Prize and to send in your application for the Academia Prize. The winners will be invited for a talk at the ASMC symposium in Moscow.

Uli Stilz President EFMC.

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