EFMC-YMCS 2024

Kelly Chibale is a full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he holds the Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development. He is also a Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Senior Fellow, and the Founder and Director of the UCT Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre, a Johnson and Johnson (J&J) Centre for Global Health Discovery. Kelly obtained his PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge in the UK. This was followed by postdoctoral stints at the University of Liverpool in the UK and at The Scripps Research Institute in the USA. He was a Sandler Sabbatical Fellow at the University of California San Francisco, a US Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a Visiting Professor at Pfizer in the UK. Kelly’s research interests are in infectious disease drug discovery and the development of tools and models to contribute to improving treatment outcomes in people of African descent. He serves as Editor-In-Chief of the American Chemical Society (ACS)’s ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

Sabine Hadida, Ph.D., is a Senior Vice President and the Site Head for Research at Vertex in San Diego. Since joining Vertex in 2002, Dr. Hadida has led the company’s chemistry team that is working in cystic fibrosis (CF) and pain. During that time, the team has discovered the now-approved medicines, KALYDECO, ORKAMBI, SYMDEKO and TRIKAFTA as well as multiple medicines in pre-clinical and clinical development. In June 2022, Dr. Hadida transitioned to lead the San Diego site. Previously, Dr. Hadida held a research scientist position at Combichem, Inc. in San Diego, which later was bought by DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers-Squibb, and Deltagen Research Laboratories. Dr. Hadida received her Bachelor, Master, and PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona, Spain. Additionally, she spent two years conducting postdoctoral research on fluorous chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Hadida has published over 30 peer reviewed papers and is inventor of over 60 U.S. patents. She received several scientific awards, most recently the 2024 Breakthrough award in Life Sciences, the 2023 ACS Heroes of Chemistry Award for excellence in innovation and success in Vertex’s development of TRIKAFTA, and the 2023 Wiley Prize for Biomedical Sciences. She has also received the 2022 MCBD Drug Hunter Award, the 2019 Distinguished Scientist Award by the American Chemistry Society, San Diego Chapter, the 2013 ACS Heroes of Chemistry Award by the American Chemistry Society for excellence in innovation and success in Vertex’s development of KALYDECO, the Vertex Platinum Research Award, and the Vertex Palladium Leadership Award.

I am a PhD student at the University of Limerick, Ireland researching biochemical manipulation of proteins for manufacturing applications. I am particularly interested in applying structural modifications to biopharmaceuticals to aid in spray drying and solid-state stability. I am originally from Poland, but I emigrated to Ireland in 2009, where I completed my Bachelor of Science in Industrial Biochemistry. I am the Secretary of the Irish Young Chemists Network and I represent Young Irish Chemists in the European Young Chemists Network (EYCN) branch of EuChemS (European Chemical Society). I am part of the communications team on the EYCN, participating in event planning and social media engagement. I have a great interest in science communications and writing and try to engage with national and international events which promote science and collaboration. I am also involved in organising events which promote the conversations around Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace. In my spare time I enjoy weightlifting, reading and hiking.

In 2019, Tom graduated with a MSci degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. In his final year, he completed a Master's project in The Nitschke Group, researching the application of “click” chemistry in the synthesis of supramolecular architectures. He then began his DPhil at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Christopher Schofield, as part of the Synthesis for Biology and Medicine Centre for Doctoral Training. Currently, his research focuses on the development of small molecule inhibitors of 2-oxoglutarate dependent oxygenases.

Sébastien Depienne received undergraduate degrees in Chemistry from the University of Nantes. He then completed a PhD in Chemical Biology at the CEISAM Chemical Institute in Nantes, under the guidance of Dr. Sébastien Gouin (2020-2023). His PhD work concerned the development of a new tyrosine-selective electrochemical bioconjugation methodology, to append relevant functionalities at the surface of proteins, antibodies, viral capsids or cellular membranes. He was awarded the Chemical Biology PhD prize from the French Chemical Society. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher associate at Ghent University, under the mentorship of Prof. Bruno Linclau. His research focuses on the synthesis of polar-hydrophobic (poly)fluorinated carbohydrates, as relevant probes for glycobiology studies and glycomimetics development. His scientific interests lie in areas such as the development of molecular tools for understanding epigenetic phenomena, the design of optimized antibody conjugates, or the chemical reprogramming of immune cells for therapeutic purposes.

Priam-Amedeo Houngbedji is a PhD student at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Czech Republic. He obtained a master’s degree in pharmacy at the same University in 2021, after which he decided to pursue PhD studies through research on novel antituberculotic and antimicrobial agents. All the while, he obtained a PharmDr degree (2023) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry by defending a thesis focused on the synthesis of xanthone-boronic acid derivatives, a work previously developed at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal during an Erasmus stay in his pre-gradual studies. Under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. PharmDr. Jan Zitko, Ph.D., his current work focuses on obtaining novel pyrazinamide derivatives with antimicrobial activity through molecular docking, chemical synthesis, and biological evaluation of obtained derivatives.

Anže Meden comes from Gorenjska, the northwestern region of Slovenia. After grammar school, he attended the master’s programme Pharmacy at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, where he graduated cum laude in 2019. In 2023, he completed the interdisciplinary doctoral programme Biomedicine at the same institution with a doctoral dissertation titled Structure-based design, synthesis, and evaluation of reversible and irreversible butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors. Since then, he has been employed as a postdoctoral researcher at Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His current research focuses on multifunctional butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors, covalent serine hydrolase inhibitors, and activity-based probes. He has (co)authored 15 scientific papers and was a co-mentor at 5 master’s theses. His other interests include mountaineering, electrical guitar, and volunteer work.

Emina Mehić obtained her master’s degree in Chemistry at Faculty of Science at University of Sarajevo in 2017. In 2023 she has started her PhD studies at Faculty of Pharmacy at University of Sarajevo. She works as a senior research and teaching assistant at the Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar. Emina is also an active researcher in the field of chemistry and she has published several scientific papers. She is involved in research projects as a young researcher funded by regional, national and European programs. She is a member of Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Emina Mehić is a volunteer and actively involved in local community projects that have aim to equip youth with skills and knowledge that will empower them in their educational, social, and professional ambitions and engage them as active members of the global community.

Dr. Levente Márk Mihalovits studied chemical engineering (B.Sc.) at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics between 2012 and 2016. Thereafter, he continued his studies as a pharmaceutical engineer (M.Sc.) in the same university between 2016 and 2018. In early 2018, he started his PhD studies under the guidance of Prof. György G. Ferenczy at the Medicinal Chemistry Research Group (Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest) led by Prof. György Miklós Keserű as a student of the George A. Oláh Doctoral School. During the four years of his doctoral studies, his main focus was the computational characterization of covalent inhibition. He finished his thesis and received the Ph.D. degree in 2022. Since then, he is a research fellow at the Medicinal Chemistry Research Group and at the National Drug Research and Development Laboratory located in the research Centre for Natural Sciences. His research interest consisted of the modelling of both covalent and non-covalent protein inhibition utilizing a wide range of computational methods such as molecular docking, molecular dynamics, QM and QM/MM calculations.

Thanigaimalai Pillaiyar graduated with a M.Sc. degree in Chemistry in 2006 from Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu, India. He obtained his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry (2011) under the supervision of Prof. Sang‐Hun Jung, South Korea. As a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow (2011-2013) with Prof. Yoshio Hayashi, Japan, he focused on the development of SARS-CoV-1 Mpro inhibitors. He awarded an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship (AvH) (2013-2015) with Prof. Christa E. Müller, Germany, where he involved in the development of GPCR modulators. He was a visiting scientist at the Prof. Steven V. Ley's Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Currently, he is working as an independent junior research group leader and establishing a research group at the Tuebingen Center for Academic Drug Discovery (TüCAD2), University of Tübingen. He has authored ~80 publications and is an inventor of patents. His research interests include medicinal chemistry of GPCRs, synthetic organic chemistry, and dual SARS-CoV-2 Mpro-kinase inhibitors.

I am 3rd year Ph.D. student from University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. My main research goal is in the field of cancer therapy, with the focus of development and discovery of new avenues in glioblastoma (GBM) treatment with blood-brain-barrier consideration. I am passionate about bridging the gap between biochemistry and pharmacological solutions to combat cancer. My work, particularly on multifaceted response of GBM to quinazolines and pyridopyrimidines treatment, especially inhibition of tyrosine kinases, represents a novel approach against GBM with various protein mutations, which are common in EGFR/mTOR/Akt pathway. So far, my research and initiatives have earned me recognition at both national and international levels, including first place at the X Silesian Scientific Meetings for the Best Oral Presentation and now in EFMC-YMCS 2024 in Rome. Beyond my laboratory endeavors, I am deeply committed to educational outreach. I had the privilege of sharing my research findings with professionals and the public. Recently I am engaged in Katowice City of Science 2024 sharing discoveries of the medical chemistry field in form lectures and workshops. My upcoming lecture at EFMC-YMCS 2024 in Rome will delve into our latest advancements, reflecting my contribution to the field of medicinal chemistry.

Janne Tampio is a late-stage PhD student in the Pharmaceutical Chemistry department at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF). He has studied pharmacy in the UEF, graduating as a Master of Science in late 2019. During his master’s thesis, he specialized into non-targeted mass spectrometry in a collaboration project with Kuopio University Hospital. While finishing his master’s degree, Janne started to work on in vitro studies and prodrug analyses in the Transporter-mediated Targeted Drug Delivery research group led by Assoc. Prof. Kristiina M. Huttunen. In spring 2020, he started his own PhD project in the same research group, unravelling the pancreatic expression of the L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) and its utilization to improve drug delivery into pancreas. He has since deepened his knowledge about drug discovery by characterizing novel drugs synthesized in Assoc. Prof. Huttunen’s lab, comparing their properties in vitro, and assessing the most promising candidates in vivo. Janne has been active in research, participating into several collaboration projects along his PhD studies. Besides research output, Janne has a strong record of student supervision and teaching of mass spectrometry and bioanalytics for the master’s degree students.

Adi Yona has a B.Sc. in chemistry and biology from Tel Aviv University, Israel. Her bachelor’s degree focused on organic chemistry during which she took part in Prof. Micha Fridman’s research group on a project synthesizing fluorescent antifungal probes and elucidating their subcellular localization and its effect on their efficacy. This work was published in ACS Chemical Biology and awarded her the Zinger Award for outstanding undergraduate chemistry students. Supported by the ADAMA scholarship, Adi continued her M.Sc. at Fridman’s group working on potential antifungal compounds and understanding their biological mechanisms. She graduated magna cum laude and her work on Poacic Acid as an antifungal was recently published and awarded her the best Poster Award at the MCS-ICS-2023 conference at Weizmann Institute. Fascinated by the multiple uses of organic chemistry in biological research, in 2024 Adi began her Ph.D studies at Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro’s group at Tel Aviv University focusing on computer assisted drug design for the identification of small molecule inhibitors for cancer- associated targets, with emphasis on brain metastases and nano-sized polymeric drug delivery systems. Outside academia, Adi is a certified pastry chef, indulging her love for cooking and baking pastries.