Maria’s Travel Blogs: ACSMEDI-EFMC Medicinal Chemistry Frontiers 2025

Our CSO, Maria, has recently traveled to the US to attend the ACSMEDI-EFMC Medicinal Chemistry Frontiers 2025, a conference organized by both the EFMC and the ACSMEDI, in an effort to share the most novel medicinal chemistry advancements in both the US and Europe. This joint effort by both associations is repeated every year, with 2026’s being in Dublin, Ireland.

The conference, chaired by Prof. Terry W. Moore, was most definitely a success. The venue was the UIC Student Center East, and Chicago is a great choice for a city, Maria found it very cozy. The conference had just enough attendees – enough for a great variety of scientific content and having the opportunity of meeting and networking with basically most of the participants. Here you can find the full program.

Figure 1. UIC Student Center East.

There were several sections, among them one specific for GPCRs. Sometimes when you’re in the field you forget the importance GPCRs holds in drug development as a whole, and how each and every finding can contribute towards better care for the patients.

Another section was dedicated to Chemistry Tools, highlighting their importance. After all, a good tool makes a good assay, and a good assay improves research capacity.

All of the talks were fantastic, but Maria would love to highlight these three:

-            First, Prof. Ingo Hartung’s opening. This talk gave a general idea of what goes into designing small molecule drugs, using state-of-the-art examples such as PROTACs.

-            Dr. Wendy Young’s talk, during session 3 on day 2, was also incredible. She gave us an overview of the drugs she has participated in developing throughout her career, highlighting her experience in the field as a woman, a topic which is still very relevant today.

-            Dr. Katerina Leftheris’ talk, which talked about new and innovative technologies used to overcome peptides limitations as drugs. She has a lot of experience working for bigger businesses which she now shares as an advisor for startups.

Several of the drugs shown throughout the conference are starting their clinical trials. Also, there was a great balance between academic and industrial talks.

Wednesday was a key day for Maria, as she got to participate in a panel discussion alongside Dr. Katerina Leftheris, Prof. Brian K. Shoichet, Dr. Luc Van Hijfte and Dr. Wendy Young. Sharing the round table discussion with these excellent scientists felt like a dream come true, and Maria enjoyed giving advice to those who are starting their careers in the scientific field.

Figure 2. Maria alongside the other panelists during Wednesday's panel discussion.

Session 4 on Wednesday was dedicated to GPCRs. The talks given targeted both traditional GPCRs such as the serotoninergic receptor 5HT1A, but also newer targets like GPR88.

Session 8 on Thursday was Maria’s turn to give a talk. This Chemistry Tools session was more industry focused than those before, and Maria shared the floor with researchers such as Dr. Amanda Dombrowski from Abbvie, Dr. Charles Yeung from Merck and Dr. Rico Gerup Petersen from Vipergen APS.

Finally, during Session 9 Prof. Xiaoyu Zhang showed great insight into new ligands for new E3 ligases for PROTAC development.

This was a very enriching experience for Maria, not only did she have a chance to share Celtarys’ technology and innovative probes, but she got to help others as a panelist. She also took the chance to do some sightseeing in Chicago . Now back in Europe, all she can think about is next year’s date, in Dublin, where she is sure she will have an equally amazing experience!