RICT 2023

Eva Caroff studied science focusing on mathematics, physics and chemistry and obtained a MSc in Chemistry from the Haute Alsace University, France, combined with a Chemistry Engineering Diploma from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Mulhouse, France, in 1997. She performed her PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. W. D. Woggon at the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Basel, Switzerland.

Following post-doctoral studies in the group of Prof. S. Roberts at Liverpool University, UK, and at Axovan AG in Allschwil, Switzerland, Dr. Caroff joined Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in Allschwil, Switzerland, as a medicinal chemist, in 2003. Dr. Caroff started her career as a laboratory head and project leader, and evolved as a group leader, now working since 2018 at Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd in Allschwil, Switzerland. As project leader, together with her team, Dr. Caroff discovered 2 molecules that are now undergoing clinical studies, namely selatogrel (phase 3 ongoing) and ACT-777991 (phase 1 completed).

Dr. Caroff and her group continue to aim at identifying novel drugs interfering with biological mechanisms associated with immune diseases. Dr. Caroff has published approx. 30 scientific papers and patent applications.

Nessa Carson was born in Warrington, England. She received her MChem degree from Oxford University, before completing postgraduate studies in catalysis and organic methodology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

She started in industry as a synthetic chemist for AMRI, then moved within the company to run the high-throughput automation facility on behalf of Eli Lilly in Windlesham, working across both the discovery and process chemistry arenas. She then worked in reaction optimization and data management using automation at Pfizer and then Syngenta. Nessa recently moved to AstraZeneca as Digital Champion in Early Chemical Development, where she focusses on making life easier for chemists and analysts with data management and accessible digital tools.

She was recently awarded the Salters' Institute Centenary Award for early-career chemists with the potential to make an outstanding long-term contribution to the chemical industry, and maintains a website of useful chemistry resources, https://supersciencegrl.co.uk.

Yoshio Hayashi is a professor at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. His research focuses on peptide chemistry and medicinal chemistry. He created several peptide drug candidates such as Plinabulin (Phase III), negamycin derivative, myostatin inhibitory peptide and SARS-CoV 3CL protease inhibitor for the treatment of cancer, genetic disease, muscle disorder and corona viral infection, respectively. In peptide chemistry, he has recently developed efficient reagents in disulfide formation for the synthesis of cyclic peptides and peptide hybrid molecules.

He received his Ph.D. in 1990 from Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Kyoto University. After working for two companies, he joined former Professor Yoshiaki Kiso’s group at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University as a lecturer in 2001, and later became an associate professor. In 2007, he became a professor at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. In 2009, he was awarded the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Award for Divisional Scientific Promotions.

Currently, he serves as Vice president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (PSJ), Vice chairperson of two Divisions (Organic Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry) of PSJ, and Trustee of the Japanese Peptide Society.

Paul J. Hergenrother was born in 1972 and raised in Akron, Ohio. He attended the University of Notre Dame, where he received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1994. He moved to the University of Texas at Austin, conducting graduate research under the direction of Professor Stephen F. Martin, graduating with his PhD in 1999. He then moved as an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow to Harvard University, where he worked in the laboratory of Professor Stuart L. Schreiber. He established his own laboratory in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2001, and in 2013 was named the Kenneth L. Rinehart Endowed Chair in Natural Products Chemistry.

Professor Hergenrother is the co-founder of Vanquish Oncology, and through Vanquish an anticancer compound discovered by the Hergenrother lab completed a Phase 1 clinical trial and has begun Phase 2 studies. The Hergenrother lab has codified the eNTRy rules for compound accumulation in Gram-negative bacteria, and they and others have now used these rules to develop compounds with activity against Gram-negative pathogens. In spring of 2020, while UIUC was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Hergenrother led the team that developed a novel saliva-based assay for SARS-CoV-2, a simple protocol that bypasses the need for RNA isolation and as such is inexpensive, returns rapid results, and can be used on scale. The University of Illinois administered over 1,000,000 of these tests on its campus during Fall 2020, typically testing ~10,000 people a day, and with Emergency Use Authorization this test has now been used over 20 million times worldwide.

The Hergenrother laboratory seeks to use small molecules to identify and validate novel targets for the treatment of intractable diseases, including cancer and multi-drug resistant bacteria.

Laurent MEIJER obtained Doctorate degrees from the Universities of Lille (M. Durchon) and Paris VI (P. Guerrier). He went for a post-doctoral training at the Stanford University Hopkins Marine Laboratory (D. Epel) (1978-’79) and was appointed by the CNRS in October 1979. He went on sabbatical (1985-’86) at the University of Washington, Seattle (E. Krebs). He was a Visiting Professor (2001-2004) at the Rockefeller University, New York (P. Greengard). As a CNRS Research Director he was heading a team of 21 co-workers (‘Protein Phosphorylation & Human Disease’ group), at the ‘Station Biologique de Roscoff’, till June 2011.

He is now Chair and Chief Scientific Officer of ManRos Therapeutics and of Perha Pharma, two small biotech companies focused on the development of kinase inhibitors targeting cystic fibrosis (ManRos), cognitive disorders associated with Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome, and prevention of Hearing Loss induced by ototoxic products or acoustic trauma (Perha Pharma). Aged 70, he is author of >365 scientific articles, and co-inventor in 47 patents. He was the main editor of 6 books and has received numerous honours. He has participated to >210 conferences, and organized 8 conferences. He has directed many post-doctoral researchers, doctoral students and Master 2 students.

His major work is focused on pharmacological chemical inhibitors of disease-relevant protein kinases. Over 3 decades of work in this area has led to the discovery of numerous inhibitors (olomoucine, roscovitine, purvalanol, paullones, indirubins, hymenialdisine, aloisines, meriolins, leucettines, leucettinibs, etc...). One of them, roscovitine, has reached clinical trials against various diseases, and Leucettinib-21 is about to enter phase 1 clinical trial. The key kinase targets in the laboratory are namely cyclin-dependent kinases, cdc2-like kinases, dual specificity tyrosine phosphorylation activated kinases.

Christel joined Confo Therapeutics as CSO in 2016. She was one of the first chemists to join Galapagos and later became Director of Medicinal Chemistry. She is an inventor of filgotinib, which has since reach market under the brand ‘Jyseleca’ for rheumatoid arthritis, among other indications. Prior to Galapagos, Christel worked at Faust Pharmaceuticals (now Domain Therapeutics), a biotechnology company specializing in GPCR drug discovery. She is an inventor on over 25 patent applications and has over 20 years of R&D experience. Christel completed a PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Manchester (UK) in the lab of Prof Jonathan Clayden.

Dr Francesca Ester Morreale is a Group Leader at the Francis Crick institute (London, UK). Her lab focuses on enabling antibiotic discovery by targeted protein degradation, integrating chemical biology and structural biology.
>br/> Dr Morreale obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2014 from the University of Messina (Italy) supervised by Prof. Alba Chimirri. After completing her PhD, she started a postdoc in the group of Prof. Helen Walden at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (University of Dundee, UK), co-supervised by Prof. Alessio Ciulli. In 2017 Dr Morreale joined the group of Dr Tim Clausen at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria. As a postdoc in the Clausen lab, she led a proof-of-concept study translating targeted protein degradation to bacteria, a technology she is further developing in her independent research group.

Christa Müller studied pharmacy at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry from the same university. After postdoctoral stays with John W. Daly (1989-1990 and 1992) in the Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, she became Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Würzburg University in Germany. Since 1998 she is full professor of Pharmaceutical & Medicinal Chemistry at Bonn University and a founder of the Pharma-Center Bonn and the Bonn International Graduate School of Drug Sciences (BIGS DrugS).

Her scientific interests are focused on the medicinal chemistry, structural biology, and molecular pharmacology of purine-binding membrane proteins (purine receptors, ectonucleotidases), orphan G protein-coupled receptors and G proteins, and recently also on coronavirus therapeutics. Disease indications include neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases, cancer, and infections. She has published more than 500 scientific papers and patents in the field of medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. Among a number of awards, she received the Nauta Pharmacochemistry Award for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology by the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) in 2018. Since 2021, she acts as Editor-in-Chief of ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science.

Christian A. Olsen was born in Copenhagen in 1974. He received his M.Sc. from the Technical University of Denmark in 2000 and his Ph.D. from the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy in 2004. After independently working on the development of novel peptidomimetics, he did his postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Ghadiri at The Scripps Research Institute. In 2010 he returned to a faculty position at the Technical University of Denmark and in 2014 he accepted his current position as professor at the University of Copenhagen. He is recipient of the Lundbeck Foundation Fellowship (2010), the EFMC award for a young medicinal chemist in academia (2014), and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2016. His research interests include foldamers, HDAC inhibitors and quorum sensing modulators, as well as investigation of protein lysine acylation.

Marianne Schimpl is a structural biologist with expertise in fragment-based drug discovery, structure-guided drug design, target analysis, protein kinases, PARP-family enzymes and protein ubiquitination. In her current role as Associate Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca, she is supporting oncology programmes with structural insights. Marianne studied biotechnology in Austria, Australia and Canada before moving to Scotland for PhD and postdoctoral studies at the University of Dundee. An interest in structural enzymology led to a position in the Drug Discovery Programme at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, and then to joining AstraZeneca in 2015. Since then, Marianne is has seen several small molecule drug discovery programmes from hit finding through to clinical evaluation. She has a particular interest in fragment-based lead generation and the application of structural insights in the drug discovery process.

Chris Schofield studied for a degree in chemistry at the University of Manchester (1979-1982). In 1982 he moved to Oxford for DPhil studies with Jack Baldwin on the synthesis and biosynthesis of antibiotics. In 1985 he became a Departmental Demonstrator in the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, and in 1990 Lecturer in Chemistry and Fellow of Hertford College. In 1998 he became Professor of Chemistry; from 2011-2021 he was Head of Organic Chemistry at Oxford. He is presently Director of Chemistry at the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research (IOI). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society. His research group works at the interface of chemistry, biology and medicine. His work has opened up new fields in antibiotic research, oxygen sensing and gene regulation in organisms ranging from bacteria to plants and animals; it has helped enable discovery of new medicines.

After completing a DPhil in organic chemistry with Dr Mark Moloney at Oxford in 1995 I moved to Canada for 2 years, carrying out post-doctoral research with Prof. John Vederas at the University of Alberta. Returning to the UK, I spent a year as a temporary lecturer in organic chemistry at the University of Bristol, working with Prof. Tim Gallagher, before joining Pfizer at their Sandwich research site in 1998. At Pfizer I worked as a medicinal chemist on numerous targets across several therapeutic areas (Sexual Health, Obesity, Pain), helping to deliver clinical candidates and potential candidates for SSRIs, 5HT2C, MC4, TRPM8 and TRK (Tropomyosin receptor kinase).

Following the closure of Pfizer’s Sandwich site in 2011 I stayed in East Kent and joined Peakdale (now Concept life sciences), where I spent 3 years. In 2015, I moved to LEO pharma in Denmark, where I am now a Senior Principal Scientist, with responsibilities as a Medchem Lead/Project Lead, helping LEO discover new, safe and effective medicines to treat skin diseases.

I am a named inventor on 26 patents and an author of 31 papers/book chapters.

Dr. Laura Cleghorn is the Tuberculosis Portfolio Manager at the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) based at the School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland. She obtained her BSc (hons) in Chemistry from the University of Edinburgh, following this she became a medicinal chemist working at Organon Laboratories before moving to the University of Leeds to complete a PhD in Chemistry. Laura joined the DDU in 2006 at the point of its inception, initially working as a medicinal chemist working on Human African Trypanosomiasis before changing focus to Tuberculosis (TB) in 2013. She currently leads a team focussed on identifying new chemical series that inhibit TB and with the aim of developing them towards pre-clinical drug candidates.

Dr Jörg Kley Studied chemistry at the University of Freiburg, Germany and did his PhD at Tumor Biology Center, Freiburg, supervised by Prof. G. v. Kiedrowski (Synthesis and biochemical evaluation of phospholipid analogs)He did a PostDoc at Boehringer Ingelheim (Parallel synthesis to support hit-to-lead projects) before becoming visiting scientist at Imperial College, London, in the group of Prof. Donald Craig (Ireland-Claisen Rearrangements) Since 2000, Dr Kley is Head of a Medicinal Chemistry Lab at BI in Biberach, Germany. He Contributed to and lead numerous hit-to-lead and lead optimization projects in the areas of Oncology, Respiratory Diseases, and Metabolic Diseases. He is the Coinventor of a Phase 2 clinical compound for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis.

Alice is a senior scientist in the High Throughput Screening group (HTS) at AstraZeneca. She joined the company in 2021 after obtaining a PhD from the University of Birmingham where she focused on identifying and profiling inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In her current role, Alice is part of the biochemical and biophysical screening team and routinely develops miniaturised assays, performs screens of up to 2 million compounds and builds triaging cascades to identify novel hit chemistry for lead generation. She has been heavily involved in building the affinity screening capability at AstraZeneca, including the high throughput Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA), Differential Scanning Fluorimetry (DSF) and Affinity Selection Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) platforms.

Silvia is currently Associate Professor at Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Her lines of research are mainly focused on medicinal chemistry and biological chemistry devoted to the validation and identification of new therapeutic targets as well as on the development of probes for the study of therapeutically relevant proteins. At present, she works in particular on the central nervous system (including the endogenous cannabinoid system and the lysophosphatidic acid receptors) and also on cancer and progeria. Her work has resulted in more than 75 publications in prestigious journals (such as Science, Nat. Neurosci., ACS Cent. Sci., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. and J. Med. Chem.) and several international patents transferred and in exploitation by the industry. He has also supervised twelve PhD Theses, given invited lectures, and directed several research projects with both public and private funding.

Silvia obtained her PhD at Complutense University of Madrid (Cum Laude and Extraordinary Award). After that, she moved to The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, California, USA) with a Fulbright grant and then she joined the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Complutense University as Ramón y Cajal Researcher where she was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. Her research career has been recognized with the different awards. Among them, stand out the "Young researchers Sigma-Aldrich Award" of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry and the "Runner-up Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist in Academia" by the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry.