PhD Award of the GDCh Division of Medicinal Chemistry

Deadline: November 30, 2023

objective
The Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) generally awards up to three prizes a year for outstanding doctorates in the fields of medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry.

The price
The award is associated with a certificate and prize money of 500 euros donated by the Division . The prizes will be awarded at the annual conference "Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry", which will take place from March 17 to 20, 2024 in Munich. The award awardee are invited to present their award-winning work in a short presentation during the Conference . The Division bears the costs of attending the conference. A panel of experts appointed by the Division Board decides on the award of the prize.

Nomination/Application
Nominations can be made by the scientific supervisor, but applications are also possible. The dissertation must have been completed between October 2022 and September 2023. The informal application, which should contain a brief justification for the proposal (max. 1 page), should include the contact details of the person to be nominated (including e-mail address), their CV, list of publications and the dissertation itself.

submission
Please send your suggestions by e-mail and summarized in a PDF file to the GDCh Office for the attention of Maike Fries.

The 2023 PhD Award was presented to Dr. Alaa Alhayek and Dr. Li Gao   awarded.

Ms. Dr. Alhayek: in appreciation of her dissertation entitled Exploring bacterial metalloproteases as promising drug targets. "Dr. Alhayek characterized the biological effects of new, selective and chemically stable inhibitors of bacterial metalloprotease virulence factors in cellular in vitro assays, in ex vivo and in vivo infection models. Her work also led to the discovery of new inhibitors of bacterial virulence factors. In her work, Dr. Alhayek was able to successfully shed light on the role of such inhibitors in the infection process and thus demonstrate the potential of inhibiting bacterial virulence factors for the future treatment of bacterial infections."

Mr. Dr. Gao: in appreciation of his dissertation entitled Use of styrylbenzothiazole photoswitches in drugs for spatiotemporal control over microtubule-dependent biology. "Dr. Gao developed and synthesized in-vivo-effective and light-switchable substances based on so-called "styryl[benzo]thiazole photoswitches" (S[B]Ts), which allow the precise control of biological effects on the cytoskeleton. Mr Dr. Gao demonstrated the improvement of molecular properties through photochemical and metabolic resilience tests through to complex biological applications in living organisms. The biomolecules described in this work are the first light-switchable substances that are compatible with fluorescence protein imaging and therefore can be used for highly precise studies of biological systems."

The PhD Award was presented to Dr. Verena Kunig, Dr. Johannes Morstein and Dr. Patrick Zanon awarded.

dr Kunig: in appreciation of her dissertation entitled DNA-encoded substance libraries: chemical stabilization of DNA, development of new synthetic methods and identification of TEAD-YAP inhibitors. "In her work, Dr. Kunig succeeds in significantly expanding the methodological arsenal for DNA-encoded molecule libraries. The synthesis methods developed on the basis of multi-component reactions significantly expand the possibilities of library design. In addition, the contributions enable the development of chemically stabilized Coding strategies Application for a wide variety of synthesis methods. The discovery of new TEAD-YAP inhibitors also underscores the potential of DNA-encoded molecule libraries in drug discovery. The dissertation was carried out in the working group of Prof. Dr. Andreas Brunschweiger at the Technical University of Dortmund."

dr Morstein: in appreciation of his dissertation entitled "Optical Control of Lipid Signaling. "Dr. Morstein successfully introduces light-switchable functional groups into lipids that are involved in various signaling processes, thus opening up completely new possibilities for the control of certain signaling pathways by light. The potential of these new tools was directly used in the outstanding work to study signaling processes. The work thus contributes significantly to expanding the possibilities for the targeted control of biological functions using chemical tools. The dissertation was written in the working group of Prof. Dr. Dirk Trauner graduated from New York University."

dr Zanon: in appreciation of his dissertation entitled Development of methods and covalent ligands for the chemoproteomic exploration of the ligandability of bacterial proteomes. "In the outstanding work, selective chemical probes are developed to study the addressability of nine different amino acids and are used to characterize their reactivity towards electrophiles in the bacterial proteome. This work thus illustrates the potential of new chemical methods in drug discovery and opens up new possibilities for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infectious diseases. The dissertation was carried out in the working group of Prof. Dr. Stephan Hacker at the Technical University of Munich."

The Online awards were presented to Dr. Edith Bartole, Dr. Benedict Heinrich and Dr. Dasha Nelidova awarded.

dr Bartole: in appreciation of her dissertation entitled Design, Synthesis and Characterization of Molecular Tools for the Histamine H3 and H4 Receptors - In Particular Radio- and Fluorescent Ligands. "Dr. Bartole managed to develop and apply two complementary tools for the study of histamine H4 receptors. Her fluorescent ligand and her high-affinity radioligand enable the localization of the hH4 receptor in living cells and, for the first time, comparative binding studies on h/m/rH4 Receptors and on NanoLuc-labeled receptors (h/mH4R and hH3R. With her results and her tools, Dr. Bartole has significantly enriched the research field of H4 receptors. The dissertation was carried out in the working group of Prof. Dr. Armin Buschauer at the university Regensburg and continued to be supervised by Prof. Dr. Günther Bernhardt after his death."

dr Heinrich: in appreciation of his dissertation entitled Chemical Biology Applications of Photoresponsive DNA-Binding Agents. "In the outstanding work, chemical alternatives to the well-known Green-Fluorescent Protein (GFP) are described which, with the new 6 TramTO 3 molecule, make it possible to observe living multi-resistant bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae. This work illustrates the innovative power of new chemical methods and tools in the border area of ​​medicinal chemistry and chemical biology and their direct applicability for a better understanding of infectious diseases. The dissertation was carried out in the working group of Jun.-Prof. Dr. Olalla Vázquez at the Philipps University of Marburg."

dr Nelidova: in appreciation of her dissertation entitled Restoring light sensitivity using tunable near-infrared sensors. "In the work, nanotechnology and genetic engineering are combined in an innovative approach. Through the conjugation of gold nanoparticles to antibodies that bind to the TRP channel, light from the NIR range can be converted into signals of the TRP channel. These signals enable mice to to perceive corresponding light signals. The work thus opens up a possible path to new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of macular degeneration. The dissertation was carried out in the working group of Prof. Dr. Botond Roska at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research and at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology in Basel carried out."