Author Archive

Editors’ Choice: Target validation using chemical probes

In this commentary article, Mark Bunnage and colleagues propose that by developing a ‘chemical probe tool kit’, chemical biology can play a more important part in seeking out potentially relevant targets.

Target validation using chemical probes
Mark E Bunnage, Eugene L Piatnitski Chekler & Lyn H Jones
Nature Chemical Biology, 9, 195–199 (2013)

Editors’ Choice articles are articles identified as being of high potential interest to medicinal chemists, selected from the wider literature by members of the Editorial Board.

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Patrick Gunning delivers first of two MedChemComm 2012 Lectureships at Spring ACS meeting

Patrick Gunning from University of Toronto, Canada last week delivered the first of his two MedChemComm Emerging Investigator lectureships at the 245th American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans. Patrick’s talk, entitled Progress towards small-molecule, non-phosphorylated STAT3 inhibitors, was delivered as part of the Molecular-Based Approaches Towards the Regulation of Gene Transcription session.

Patrick Gunning receives his lectureship certificate

 Patrick will deliver a second lecture at the 96th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Quebec in May.

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MedChemComm prizes at 6th Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Symposium

Congratulations to Mark Rackham and Kerya Long, winners of the MedChemComm prizes at the 6th Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Symposium.

Mark, who is part of Professor Robin Leatherbarrow’s group at Imperial College, London, received the prize for Best Oral Contribution for his presentation entitled ‘Design and Synthesis of Highly Potent Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum N-Myristoyltranferase as a promising treatment for malaria’.

Oral contribution prize winner Mark Rackham with BMCS Committee member Dave Alker

Kerya, from Dr Andrew Wilson’s group at University of Leeds, was awarded Best Poster Contribution for ‘Development of synthetic α-helix mimetics as potent anticancer agents’. Both winners receive a year’s subscription to MedChemComm.

Poster contribution winner Kerya Long with Dave Alker

The symposium, organised by the RSC’s Biological & Medicinal Chemistry interest group, was held at the University of Cambridge on 14th December 2012.

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Congratulations to Dr Patrick Gunning, recipient of the inaugural MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship

We are delighted to announce that Dr Patrick Gunning from the University of Toronto (Canada) is the recipient of the inaugural MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship.

The MedChemComm mission is to publish and promote research which pushes the boundaries of what is thought possible in medicinal chemistry, opening up new avenues of research. The committee felt Dr Gunning to be an outstanding candidate for the Lectureship, with his prominent work into the investigation and manipulation of protein function exemplifying the journal’s mission.

On receiving the Lectureship Dr Gunning said “I am absolutely delighted and honoured to be the recipient of the 2012 RSC MedChemComm Lectureship. It is a wonderful surprise!” Commenting on Dr Gunning’s Lectureship, Professor Andrew Hamilton, Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, said “Over the past several years Patrick has made an outstanding start to his independent research career. His work on disruptors of STAT3 function is both innovative and effective, and has the potential to open a new line of attack on some of the most aggressive cancers. I have also enjoyed reading his exciting and novel approach to targeting cancer through redirecting various oncoproteins from their targets to harmless anchoring into the cell membrane.”  

Dr Gunning will deliver the Lecture at an international conference in the next year. This will be announced in due course.

The MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship is an annual Lectureship which is given to a researcher who has made a significant contribution to medicinal chemistry research in the early part of their career. The recipient must also have published an article in MedChemComm. Nominations are received from members of the public and the recipient is chosen by a committee formed of members of the Editorial Board. Nominations for the 2013 Lectureship will open in late 2012.

View Dr Gunning’s recent  articles:

Src homology 2 domain proteomimetics: developing phosphopeptide selective receptors
Joel A. Drewry, Steven Burger, Amir Mazouchi, Eugenia Duodu, Paul Ayers, Claudiu C. Gradinaru and Patrick T. Gunning
Med. Chem. Commun., 2012, 3, 763-770

Inhibitors of Stat5 protein signalling
Abbarna A. Cumaraswamy, Aleksandra Todic, Diana Resetca, Mark D. Minden and Patrick T. Gunning
Med. Chem. Commun., 2012, 3, 22-27

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Themed issue: still time to submit to the Drugs in Middle Space themed issue

There’s still time to submit to the MedChemComm web themed issue on Drugs in Middle Space. Guest edited by David Rees (Astex Therapeutics, UK) and Nick Terrett (Ensemble Therapeutics, USA) this issue will feature research and review articles focussing on non-traditional drug molecules that occupy the ‘middle space’ between ‘Rule of 5’ compliant small molecules and biologicals.

 

Deadline for submission: 30th September 2012

 

Appropriate topics include the design, synthesis, optimization, modelling, analysis and profiling of peptides, peptidomimetics, macrocycles, natural products, natural product mimetics, and any other molecule in range of approximately 500 to 3000 Daltons. We will seek an emphasis on how this range of structural classes is providing novel approaches to address challenging disease targets and in particular those that might hitherto have been categorised as ‘undruggable’.

Submissions for this issue can be submitted anytime from now until 30th September 2012 using the journal’s online submission system. Please add the phrase ‘Invited article for Drugs in Middle Space’ in the comments to the editor field. All manuscripts will undergo strict peer review and will be assessed using the same criteria as for regular MedChemComm articles.

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Nominations now open – MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship

Nominations are now open for the 2012 MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship. This new, annual Lectureship is given to recognise an emerging scientist who has made a significant contribution to their research field.

Members of the community are welcome to make a nomination for the Lectureship. In order to make a nomination, please contact the MedChemComm Editorial Office with the name and affiliation of the nominee and a brief description of why they should be considered. In order to be eligible for the MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship, the candidate should have completed their PhD on or after 31st December 2001.

Nominations close on 31st March 2012

The recipient of the Lectureship will be asked to present a lecture at an international meeting. The MedChemComm Editorial Office will provide a contribution to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs. The recipient of the Lectureship will be selected by a panel comprised of MedChemComm Editorial Board members.

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First MedChemComm Accepted Manuscript published

The first MedChemComm “Accepted Manuscript” is now published. Jacqueline Marchand-Brynaert (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium) and colleagues’ article is now available to download.

All MedChemComm authors now have the opportunity to have the unedited version of their article published shortly after acceptance, meaning that results are now published, in citable form, even earlier than before. More details…..

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Call for papers – MedChemComm Natural Products themed issue

We are delighted to announce a special themed issue of MedChemComm on Natural Products, due for publication in summer 2012

This themed issue, guest edited by Professor Christopher T. Walsh and Dr Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova will collect together in one place some of the latest exciting research natural products chemistry, including, but not limited to: biosynthesis, novel natural products as drug or drug leads, novel technologies for natural products discovery, novel chemical transformations in natural product biosynthesis, as well as chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of natural products. Authors will benefit from increased exposure of their research alongside similar high level and cutting edge work.

Deadline for Submission: January 31, 2012. Although publication of the issue is scheduled for summer 2012, web publication of the Advance Article versions of each manuscript will proceed as soon as the article is ready, ensuring that research is disseminated without delay.

Manuscripts can be submitted using the online web submissions service at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mcc. Please indicate on submission in the comments to editor section that your manuscript is invited and intended for the Natural Products themed issue.

For more information please contact the Editorial Office.

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Top 10 most accessed articles in Q1 2011

See what was being read in January, February and March this year – free access:

Molecular obesity, potency and other addictions in drug discovery
Michael M. Hann
Med. Chem. Commun., 2011, 2, 349-355

Chemical space as a source for new drugs
Jean-Louis Reymond, Ruud van Deursen, Lorenz C. Blum and Lars Ruddigkeit
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 30-38

Aromatic chloride to nitrile transformation: medicinal and synthetic chemistry
Lyn H. Jones, Nicholas W. Summerhill, Nigel A. Swain and James E. Mills
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 309-318

Boronic acids in medicinal chemistry: anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral applications
Paul C. Trippier and Christopher McGuigan
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 183-198

Small molecule modulation of stem cells in regenerative medicine: recent applications and future direction
Timothy E. Allsopp, Mark E. Bunnage and Paul V. Fish
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 16-29

Silver nanoparticles—the real “silver bullet” in clinical medicine?
Kenneth K. Y. Wong and Xuelai Liu
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 125-131

The importance of solvation in the design of ligands targeting membrane proteins
Angel González, Marta Murcia, Bellinda Benhamú, Mercedes Campillo, María L. López-Rodríguez and Leonardo Pardo
Med. Chem. Commun., 2011, 2, 160-164

The discovery of a novel prototype small molecule TLR7 agonist for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection
David C. Pryde et al.
Med. Chem. Commun., 2011, 2, 185-189

Targeting epigenetic modifiers: Inhibitors of histone methyltransferases
Elisabeth-Maria Bissinger, Ralf Heinke, Wolfgang Sippl and Manfred Jung
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 114-124

The p53-MDM2/MDMX axis – A chemotype perspective
Kareem Khoury, Grzegorz M. Popowicz, Tad A. Holak and Alexander Dömling
Med. Chem. Commun., 2011, 2, 246-260

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MedChemComm’s Most Cited

Take a look at MedChemComm‘s most cited articles so far. As with all of our articles, you can enjoy free access to these for the remainder of 2011:

Chemical space as a source for new drugs
Jean-Louis Reymond, Ruud van Deursen, Lorenz C. Blum and Lars Ruddigkeit
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 30-38
GA

Design, synthesis, and structure–activity relationships of indole-3-carboxamides as novel water soluble cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonists
Julia M. Adam, Jim Cairns, Wilson Caulfield, Phillip Cowley, Iain Cumming, Morag Easson, Darren Edwards, Morag Ferguson, Richard Goodwin, Fiona Jeremiah, Takao Kiyoi, Ashvin Mistry, Elizabeth Moir, Richard Morphy, Jason Tierney, Mark York, James Baker, Jean E. Cottney, Andrea K. Houghton, Paul J. Westwood and Glenn Walker
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 54-60
GA

Silver nanoparticles—the real “silver bullet” in clinical medicine?
Kenneth K. Y. Wong and Xuelai Liu
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 125-131
GA

Cytotoxic sugar analogues of an optimized novobiocin scaffold
Alison C. Donnelly, Huiping Zhao, Bhaskar Reddy Kusuma and Brian S. J. Blagg
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 165-170
GA

Photografted poly(methyl methacrylate)-based high performance protein microarray for hepatitis B virus biomarker detection in human serum
Yingshuai Liu, Weihua Hu, Zhisong Lu and Chang Ming Li
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 132-135
GA

Discovery of the highly potent PI3K/mTOR dual inhibitor PF-04691502 through structure based drug design
Hengmiao Cheng, Shubha Bagrodia, Simon Bailey, Martin Edwards, Jacqui Hoffman, Qiyue Hu, Robert Kania, Daniel R. Knighton, Matthew A. Marx, Sacha Ninkovic, Shaoxian Sun and Eric Zhang
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 139-144
GA

Effect of particle shape on phagocytosis of CdTe quantum dot–cystine composites
Zhisong Lu, Yan Qiao, Xin Ting Zheng, Mary B. Chan-Park and Chang Ming Li
Med. Chem. Commun., 2010, 1, 84-86
GA

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