Scientific Program

Varinder K. Aggarwal studied chemistry at Cambridge University and received his Ph.D. in 1986 under the guidance of Dr. Stuart Warren. After postdoctoral studies (1986-1988) under Prof. Gilbert Stork, Columbia University, he returned to the UK as a Lecturer at Bath University. In 1991 he moved to Sheffield University, where he was promoted to Professor in 1997. In 2000 he moved to Bristol University where he holds the Chair in Synthetic Chemistry. He has received numerous awards including RSC Perkin Award 2013; Gilbert Stork Lectureship at University of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, 2016; Humboldt Research Award 2017; RSC Organic Synthesis Award 2017; Kurt Alder Lectureship 2018, Arthur C. Cope Award 2019, the Yamada-Koga Prize 2019, RS Davy Medal 2019, and the Xingda Lectureship Peking University, 2020. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012. 

Varinder Aggarwal is a renowned organic chemist who has developed new chemical methods to assemble complex, biologically important molecules. His research includes new ways of speeding up, or catalysing chemical reactions, developing new classes of reagents for iterative synthesis, and applications of these methods in medicine, such as helping to provide more effective routes to potential vaccines against tuberculosis.

Although many organic molecules occur in ‘right-handed’ and ‘left-handed’ forms, invariably just one of these is seen in living organisms. Normally, however, chemical reactions make both forms in equal amounts. Varinder’s work on asymmetric synthesis allows him to make one form selectively which has important applications in drug design and synthesis.

Varinder is a particular expert in boron chemistry, an area that was recognised through awarding the 1979 and 2010 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. Varinder is the winner of many awards, including the RSC Perkin Medal and the RS Davy Medal He was elected to the Royal Society in 2012.

C. Oliver Kappe received his undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Graz. After periods of postdoctoral research work at the University of Queensland and at Emory University, he moved back to the University of Graz in 1996 to start his independent academic career. In 1999 he became Associate Professor and in 2011 was appointed Full Professor for “Technology of Organic Synthesis” at the University of Graz. Professor Kappe has an extensive general experience and a 30 year track record in synthetic and physical organic chemistry, process intensification using batch microwave technology and flow chemistry/microreaction technology, communicated in >500 scientific publications. His current research interests involve continuous flow chemistry, API manufacturing, and process intensification technologies.

Hirohisa Ohmiya is a Professor at Kyoto University. He received his Ph.D. degree from Kyoto University in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Koichiro Oshima. He spent one year as a JSPS postdoctoral fellow in the group of Professor Timothy F. Jamison at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2008, he became an Assistant Professor at Hokkaido University working with Professor Masaya Sawamura. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010. He began his professor career at Kanazawa University in 2017 before moving to Kyoto University in 2022.  

Neal Fazakerley received his MChem in chemistry from the University of Manchester where a one-year placement at AstraZeneca confirmed his passion for drug discovery. He stayed in Manchester and earned his PhD working with Professor David Procter on the total synthesis of Pleuromutilin utilising a SmI2 radical cascade. After graduation Neal started his industrial career in process chemistry at AstraZeneca where he was part of the team developing the manufacture route for Osimertinib. Neal transitioned to discovery at GSK in 2014 where he joined the respiratory therapy area, before moving into high-throughput chemistry. Neal now leads the Molecular Modality Capabilities group which brings together high-throughput chemistry, automation, analytical, purification and physchem.

Sílvia Osuna received her PhD in 2010 from the University of Girona (UdG) at the Institut de Química Computacional (IQC). In 2010, she moved to the group of Prof. Houk at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship. Sílvia is now an ICREA research professor at UdG, and her group focuses on the development of new computational tools and approaches for computational enzyme design. Sílvia has more than 95 research publications, and been recently awarded the 2022 Premio Nacional de Investigación para Jovenes investigadores Maria Teresa Toral, the 2021 EuChemS lecture award, among others. Her group is currently funded by the European Research Council project - Consolidator Grant, ERC- Proof of Concept, and two I+D Spanish MINECO projects.

Ruth Dorel was born in Spain and received her BSc from the University of Zaragoza in 2012. She then joined the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) where she obtained her PhD in organic chemistry in 2017 under the supervision of Prof. Antonio Echavarren. Her graduate research focused on the total synthesis of natural products and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and the development of synthetic methodology. During her graduate studies she also did research stints in the laboratories of Prof. John Montgomery at the University of Michigan and Prof. John Hartwig at UC Berkeley. Upon graduation, she carried out postdoctoral research in the group of Nobel laureate Prof. Ben Feringa at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands working on molecular machines. In late 2020, Ruth joined the Discovery Chemistry department at Genentech in South San Francisco where she is currently a Principal Scientist and Chemistry Team Leader. 

Kelly Chibale is a full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he holds the Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development. He is also a Schmidt Futures AI2050 Senior Fellow and the Founder and Director of the UCT Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre, a Johnson and Johnson (J&J) Centre for Global Health Discovery. 

Kelly obtained his PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge in the UK.  This was followed by postdoctoral stints at the University of Liverpool in the UK and at The Scripps Research Institute in the USA. He was a Sandler Sabbatical Fellow at the University of California San Francisco, a US Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a Visiting Professor at Pfizer in the UK.   

Marisa Kozlowski received an A. B. in Chemistry from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley for work on the rational design of enzyme inhibitors under the direction of Paul Bartlett. After studying asymmetric catalysis in the laboratories of David A. Evans at Harvard University as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, she joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and currently holds the rank of Professor of Chemistry. The major focus of Professor Kozlowski's research is the development of new catalytic methods for efficient organic synthesis using computation and high throughout screening. Professor Kozlowski's contributions have been recognized by a DuPont Young Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Kahn Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, an American Cancer Society Beginning Research Scholar Award, the Philadelphia Organic Chemists’ Club Award in 2010, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, the Philadelphia ACS Section Award in 2012, election as an American Chemical Society Fellow in 2013, the Charles Ludwig Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020, the Dennis DeTurck Award for Innovation in Teaching in 2021, the ACS Cope Scholar Award in 2022, the Provost Award for PhD Teaching and Mentoring in 2023, and the Leete Award in 2023. In addition to over 180 independent publications, Professor Kozlowski coauthored with Professor Patrick Walsh the book “Fundamentals of Asymmetric Catalysis", available from University Science Books. She has served in several leadership roles for the Organic Division of the American Chemical Society and on numerous study sections including a term as Chair of the American Cancer Society CDD Study Section. She is currently Editor-In-Chief of Organic Letters.

Christian Nielsen is Professor of Materials Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Queen Mary University of London. His research focuses on the design and synthesis of new semiconducting materials for organic electronic and bioelectronic applications with the aim of elucidating important structure-property relations and providing new tailored materials to advance the understanding and performance of organic electronic and bioelectronic devices such as organic solar cells, field-effect transistors, and biosensors

Christian Winter received his master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Wuerzburg (2006), and his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Dortmund (2009). After two years as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Professor Tim Donohoe at the University of Oxford he joined BASF in 2012 as a lab team leader in the agrochemical department. During his career, he has worked on the lead identification and lead optimization of agrochemical fungicides and insecticides, as well as on early process development for new active ingredients. He is passionate about Organic Chemistry and homogenous catalysis and believes that these disciplines are necessary to feed the rapidly growing Earth’s population.

Carlos A. M. Afonso is currently a Full Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon. He received his PhD in 1990 from Faculty of Science and Technology, New University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL) under supervision of Professor C. D. Maycock, subsequently became Assistant Professor at FCT-UNL and Associate Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon (2004-2010), and took a postdoctoral fellowship (1990) at Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine (W.B. Motherwell) and sabbatical leaves (1997/1998) at the University of Bath, UK (Jonathan Williams) and at the University of Toronto (Robert Batey). His current research is mainly focused on synthetic methodologies, more sustainable chemistry, synthetic valorization of national natural resources and synthesis of bioactive molecules. He his co-author of 258 original articles, 20 review, 7 national patents/appl., 7 European patents/appl. h-index: 59 and co-editor of the books Afonso C. A. M, Crespo J. P. - Green Separation Processes: Fundamentals and Applications, Wiley-VCH, 2005; Afonso, C. A. M.; Candeias, N. R.; Simão, D. P.; Trindade, A. F.; Coelho, J. A. S.; Tan, B.; Frazén, R.; Comprehensive Organic Chemistry Experiments for the Laboratory Classroom, RSC, (951 pages), 2017. He received the following prizes: Fellow da Chemistry Europe(2020/21), Iberoamerican Organic Chemistry (2016); Scientific prize of University of Lisbon / Caixa Geral de Depósitos on Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Engineering (2016), Scientific Prize UTL/Santander Totta on Chemistry (2009); BES Innovation, category of energy (2008).

Professor Tom Moody is a seasoned technical expert in organic chemistry focused in the pharmaceutical and flavour and fragrance segments and is the Vice President of Technology Development and Commercialisation at Almac Sciences in Northern Ireland.  Tom was born in Larne in Northern Ireland, moved to Orange County Los Angeles and returned to Northern Ireland for his secondary and tertiary education.  He graduated from The Queen's University of Belfast with a 1st Class BSc(Hons) in chemistry in June 1998 before returning to gain a Ph.D. in Physical Organic chemistry in December 2001. He has also completed a Masters in Business graduating with distinction in July 2007. His studies and industrial career have earned him 11 awards and accolades including "the Best Ph.D. thesis in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture" for the year 2001 at QUB and the "Irish Institute of Chemistry Industrial Award" in 2017. He is co-author and author of >130 publications and patents.  Tom has built a Technology group over the last two decades at Almac specialising in green technologies including biocatalysis, enzyme engineering, flow and custom chemistry, physical sciences and reactive crystallization and radiochemistry. His technology has been realised through to commercialization at the Arran Chemical company in Athlone in Ireland.

Dr. Nizar Haddad received his B.A. degree (1984) and D.Sc. degree in chemistry (1988) from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. After his postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago with Professor J. D. Winkler and additional postdoctoral work at Harvard University with Professor Y. Kishi, he joined the faculty in the Chemistry Department at the Technion, Israel in 1991. Following one-year sabbatical leave with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute, he joined Boehringer Ingelheim Pharm. Inc. in 1998 where he gained wide experience in process research, process development and scale up operations. His research interests include the development of new innovative catalysts and their applications in devising scalable and economical processes. Dr. Haddad authored and co-authored over 120 papers, 6 reviews and 19 patents.

Véronique Gouverneur secured a PhD in chemistry at the Université Catholique de Louvain (LLN, Belgium), under the supervision of Professor L Ghosez. In 1992, she moved to a postdoctoral position with Professor R Lerner at the Scripps Research Institute (California, USA). She accepted a position of Maître de Conférence at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg (France). She worked with Dr C Mioskowski and was Associate Member of the Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires directed by Professor J-M Lehn during this period.

Veronique started her independent research career at the University of Oxford in 1998 in the Chemistry Faculty and was promoted to Professor of Chemistry in 2008. She was also a tutorial fellow at Merton College teaching organic chemistry. Her research aims at developing new approaches to address long-standing problems in the synthesis of fluorinated molecules including pharmaceutical drugs and probes for imaging (Positron Emission Tomography). To date, she has mentored more than 50 Postdocs and supervised 55 PhD (= DPhil in Oxford) to completion.

Since 2022, she is the Waynflete Professor of Chemistry at Magdalen College. She has coordinated European ITN projects (currently H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016, FLUDD), and is the (co)author of > 220 peer-reviewed publications and 10 patents. Her research has been rewarded by numerous prizes and distinctions, e.g. 2015 ACS Award for Creative work in Fluorine Chemistry, RSC Tilden Prize 2016, Tetrahedron Chair 2016, Elected Member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC) 2017 and in 2019 the Prelog Medal, Elected Fellow of the Royal Society and the RSC Organic Stereochemistry Award. She received the Henri Moissan Prize in 2021 and in 2022 the Arthur C. Cope Award. In 2022 she was also awarded EuChemS Female Organic Chemist of the Year and elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Steve Dalby joined MSD in 2013 with a background in complex natural product synthesis, following a PhD with Prof. Ian Paterson at University of Cambridge, and post-doc with K.C. Nicolaou at Scripps Institute USA and ICES Singapore. He is currently Principal Scientist in the Process R&D group at MSD, Rahway NJ, USA, responsible for the development of innovative synthetic processes for sustainable drug substance manufacturing. He was recognized with 2021 RSC Rising Star in Industry and 2021 ACS Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry, and has authored >40 publications and patents.