European School of Medicinal Chemistry ESMEC
45th Advanced Course of Medicinal Chemistry and Seminar for PhD students
Urbino, Palazzo Battiferri, Via Saffi, 42
July 5-9, 2026
The mission of the ESMEC is to provide participants, PhD students and junior researchers from both academia and industry, with the most recent advances in the field of medicinal and organic chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology and analytical/ structural chemistry. This idea is aimed to reflect the current scenario of medicinal chemistry being a truly transdisciplinary approach, where the advances in knowledge are driven by the medicinal chemist’s ability to translate into new molecular concepts and into novel molecular entities the amount of information created by molecular medicine, pharmacology, molecular biology, systems biology.
For these reasons, the School is directed to participants at a graduated and post-graduated level, in chemistry but also in pharmacology or biology, who are keen to explore the interdisciplinary context of current cutting-edge research in medicinal chemistry.
To achieve these very ambitious goals, the School is organized into thematic sessions, each of them constructed around a series of lectures, followed by practical workshops.
The theme of the 2026’s edition and the Scientific Programme will be “The Rise of RNA in Modern Medicinal Chemistry – New Targets, New Modalities, New Opportunities”
This Year the Scientific Program will include:
OPENING LECTURE
Ingo V. HARTUNG – Merck (DE)
SYNTHETIC APPROACHES TO OLIGONUCLEOTIDE-BASED COMPOUNDS
Paolo BRUNO – Chiesi (IT)
Mattia BERNETTI – University of Urbino Carlo Bo (IT)
Montserrat TERRAZAS MARTINEZ – University of Barcelona (ES)
RNA THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES
Modesto OROZCO – University of Barcelona (ES)
Chiara DE SANTI – Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (IE)
Marlen C. LAUFFER – University of Oxford (UK)
Ketaki DESHMUKH – NovoNordisk (US)
Fernando PASTOR RODRIGUEZ – University of Navarre (ES)
SMALL MOLECULES TARGETING RNA STRUCTURES
Christian KERSTEN – Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (DE)
Maria DUCA – Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS (FR)
Wim VELEMA – Radboud University (NL)
Peng WU – TU Dortmund University (DE)
MARKET WATCH: NEW DRUG APPROVAL IN 2025 AND SYNTHETIC STRATEGIES
Deadlines
– Abstract Submission: May 22, 2026
– Registration: May 29, 2026
Committees
Scientific Committee
Gabriele Costantino, University of Parma (Director)
Laura Carzaniga, Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.a.
Sandro Cosconati, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli
Stephanie Federico, University of Trieste
Antimo Gioiello, University of Perugia
Enza Lacivita, University of Bari Aldo Moro
Marco Lucio Lolli, University of Torino
Beatriz De Pascual-Teresa, University of San Pablo Ceu
Giovanni Bottegoni, University of Urbino Carlo Bo
Organizing Committee
Lucia Bedini, Treasurer
Andrea Duranti
Gian Marco Elisi
Simone Lucarini
Michele Mari
Michele Retini
Organizing Office
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari
University of Urbino Carlo Bo
Piazza Rinascimento, 6
61029 Urbino (PU) ITALY
tel. +39 0722 304551 / +39 0722 303323
fax. +39 0722 303313
E-mail: lucia.bedini@uniurb.it





