ESMEC 2025 (Tentative Programme)

SUNDAY, JUNE 29

15.00 – 18.30 Registration, Putting up of Posters

19.00.19:45 Opening Lecture
Russell Thomas – Symers (NL)

20.30-22.00 Welcome Reception

MONDAY, JUNE 30

09.00 – 09.20 Opening of ESMEC 2025
Giorgio CALCAGNINI – Rector of the University of Urbino Carlo Bo
Luc VAN HIJFTE – President of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Gabriele Costantino – Director of the European School of Medicinal Chemistry

EXPANDING THE SEARCH: IN SILICO MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY IN THE AGE OF BILLION-SCALE LIBRARIES
Co-chair: Sandro COSCONATI – University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli (I); Giovanni BOTTEGONI – University of Urbino Carlo Bo (I)

09.20 – 09.30 Introduction to the Session

09.30 – 10.15 Barbara ZDRAZIL – European Molecular Biology Laboratory – European Bioinformatics Institute (UK)
“Expanding the Scope of ChEMBL with New Data Annotations”

10.15 – 11.00 Andreas BENDER – University of Cambridge (UK)
“Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery – Approaches, Applications, and Illusions”

11.00 – 11.30 Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.15 Albert ANTOLIN – Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge  (E)
“Towards identifying a chemical probe for every human protein leveraging ultra-large-scale screening and machine learning”

12.15 – 13.00 Emanuele CAROSATI – Università Degli Studi Di Trieste (I)
“Screening Ultra-large libraries: concepts, tools and success stories”

13.00 – 15.00 Lunch

15.00 – 17.00 Workshop: “Mining from the Largest Drug Catalog: Hit Expansion and Lead Discovery Utilizing Enamine REAL Space”
Enamine – Ukraine/Latvia
BioSolveIT – Germany

17.30 – 18.30 Poster Session

20.00 Dinner

21.00 Walking tour of the historic center of Urbino, UNESCO heritage site

TUESDAY, JULY 1

Hit identification from (ultra)large libraries: from biochemical to in vivo assays
Co-chair: Laura CARZANIGA – Chiesi (I); Enza LACIVITA – University of Bari Aldo Moro (I); Stephanie FEDERICO – University of Trieste (I)

09:15-10:00 Brinton SEASHORE-LUDLOW – Karolinska Institute (SE) EU OPENSCREEN ERIC
“Introduction to high-throughput screenings with focus on biochemical assays”

10:00-10:45 Barbara PIOSELLI – Chiesi (I) and Riccardo MIGGIANO – Università del Piemonte Orientale (I)
“Integrating biophysical methods for analyzing protein-ligand interactions: combining steady-state analysis with binding kinetics”

10:45-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-12:00  Valeria COLICCHIA – IRBM (I)
“Advancing Drug Discovery: from assay development to cell-based high-throughput screening”

12:00-12:45 Tanya WHITFIELD – University of Sheffield (UK)
“Use of the zebrafish embryo as a screening platform for drug discovery”

12.45 – 14.30 Lunch

14.30 – 17.00 Workshop: “HTS Data Surfing: Tools, Challenges, and Structure Analysis”
Brinton SEASHORE-LUDLOW – Karolinska Institute (SE) EU OPENSCREEN ERIC

17.00 – 18.00 Poster Session

19.45 Dinner

21.00 Guided tour of the Ducal Palace

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2

Innovative Synthetic Approaches to Explore the Chemical Space.
Co-chair: Antimo GIOIELLO – University of Perugia (I); Marco Lucio LOLLI – University of Torino (I)

09:15 – 10:00 Jonas BOSTRÖM – Treeline Biosciences (US)
“From Synthesis to Drug Design: Trends & Real-World Challenges”

10:00 – 10:45 Renzo LUISI – University of Bari (I)
“Potential of Skeletal Editing in Medicinal Chemistry”

10:45-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15 – 12:00 Jeffrey W. BODE – ETH Zurich (CH)
“Molecular Vending Machines”

12:00 – 12:45 Maria Teresa GIUSTINIANO – University of Naples Federico II (I)
“Multicomponent Reactions: Creativity and Innovation in Compound Library Synthesis”

12.45 – 14.30 Lunch

14.30 – 17.00 Workshop

17.00 – 17.30 Fifth Edition of the ESMEC Alumni Award (Open Webinar)

17.30 – 18.30 Assemblea della sezione Giovani della Divisione di Chimica Farmaceutica della SCI

20.30 Social Dinner

THURSDAY, JULY 3
Chairperson: Beatriz DE PASCUAL-TERESA, University CEU San Pablo, Madrid (E)

09.00 – 10.00 Tiziano BANDIERA – Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa (I)
“Market watch: new drug approval in 2024 and synthetic strategies”

10.00 – 10.30 Coffee Break

10.30 – 10.45 Michele MARI – University of Urbino Carlo Bo (I)
“EFMC-YSN: join the young scientists network!”

10.45 – 12.45 Chairperson: Giovanni BOTTEGONI – University of Urbino Carlo Bo (I)
Selected oral lectures by participants

12.45 – 13.15 Awards of selected posters
Concluding remarks
Gabriele Costantino – Director of the European School of Medicinal Chemistry
Stefano Alcaro – President of the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society

13.15 Lunch and leaving