Group News

A number of events are being set up by SCI's Regional and Technical Groups for Early Career Scientists. Keep an eye on our events calendar and make the most of support being offered to PhD students, postdocs, and those starting out in industry or academia.

We look forward to putting our 2012-14 strategy into place, with the support of our members and partners. For more information on the SCI's priority objectives, see the About Us page below.

Conference papers from the SCI-RSC Medicinal Chemistry Symposium, which focussed on first disclosures and new strategies in medicinal chemistry.

Getting too many e-mails from us? You may belong to too many technical groups. We'd recommend you limit your choice to just a couple, and one regional group.

This event aims to showcase drug discovery programmes derived from academia.

Please tell us what you think of SCI's services

The 29th SCI Process Development Symposium organised by the SCI Fine Chemicals Group was held at Churchill College Cambridge from 7 - 9 December 2011. An audience of over 160 was treated to 18 lectures over three days.

As voted by Members at the 2011 Annual General Meeting, annual membership fees are now £90 for Standard Membership and £25 for Student Membership.

The Chemistry of Textiles conference papers are available.

At the Board's annual planning day on 21 September 2011, we reviewed our strategic direction and rolling three-year plan, and realigned our priorities for the future.

SCI's Board of Trustees has decided that SCI should undertake a thorough review of its awards programme. During 2012, we are therefore cutting back the distribution of awards to a minimum until the review is completed.

I attended and gave a presentation at the 242nd ACS National Meeting and Exposition in Denver, Colorado. I learned a great deal of organic synthesis, as well as less familiar areas such as polymer and biological chemistry.

When your Board of Trustees last met on 16 November 2011, the key priority was to agree the rolling business plan for 2012-14 and the budget to implement this.

Dr James Nairne has been an SCI member for almost 20 years. He has been an active member of the Fine Chemicals Group Committee and also contributes his time to the Publications Advisory Committee.

On 17 November at SCI HQ, Professor Subhash Anand, from the University of Bolton, presented a Public Evening Lecture on Nonwoven Fabrics in Healthcare and Medical Devices, where he reminded us that 'life often hangs by a thread'.

The third 'Challenges in Catalysis for Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals' symposium was held on 2 November 2011 in the new RSC Conference Centre in Burlington House, London and was a great success.

The original devices, technology inventions and new products exhibited in the conference added to my knowledge and I discoved that some of them could be more effective than what I currently use.

Water use to grow and process biomass feedstocks for fuels has recently emerged as an important controversy. In a world where several countries already face water stress – and where over 70% of global freshwater use takes place in the agricultural sector – bioenergy development might present considerable challenges, from the perspective of water quantity as well as water quality.

The success of BioFuels, BioProducts and BioRefining (BioFPR), the peer-reviewed journal launched jointly by SCI and Wiley in 2008, has again been highlighted by a significant increase in its impact factor.

A new book has been published by SCI in collaboration with John Wiley & Sons. Energy and Climate: How to achieve a successful energy transition provides a technological roadmap for a transition which aims to avoid both ecological and economic disasters.

The International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectrics (ISAF) is regarded the highlight of the ferroelectrics calendar, and was this year combined with the International Symposium on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy on Nanoscale Phenomena in Polar Materials (PFM).

Read the Members' Code of Ethics, which is available online below.

EUREKA runs the Eurostars SME Programme to co-fund R&D and innovation projects in research-intensive SMEs, which have an ambition to develop ground-breaking new products, processes and services for the world market.

A strong theme of novel catalysis in organic chemistry emerged as the event progressed, with case studies from around the globe showcasing the strength of process development expertise across the chemical industries.

Combining international expertise of value to both industry and academia, SCI’s 27th Process Development Symposium is set to be a sell-out event with something for everyone

'Challenges III' was held on Wednesday, 2 November 2011 at RSC Burlington House, London. It was the third meeting on this theme to be organised jointly by the SCI Fine Chemicals group and the RSC Applied Catalysis Group.

There have been a number of changes to tenancies at our London Belgrave Square headquarters recently.

Can you think of a fellow member worth their weight in gold? Nominate them to receive the Lampitt Medal or a Distinguished Service Award

Bookings are now being taken for Catalysis and Synthesis using Cheaper Metals taking place on Wednesday, 18 April, 2012.

Julian Perfect has kindly volunteered to take up the role of Hon Librarian. SCI will continue to seek additional volunteers to support Julian and to help us to ensure continuity.

The 16th biennial SCI/RSC Medicinal Chemistry Symposium recently took place at Churchill College Cambridge, from 11-14 September 2011.

On 17 November 2011, Prof Subhash Anand delivered an SCI Public Evening Lecture on 'Non-woven fabrics in healthcare and medical devices'

Andrew Ladds (CEO of SCI, 2005 - 2010) has resigned as an SCI trustee, effective 1 September 2011, citing the growing demands of his chemical-using business activities

Dame Sue Ion has been a prominent figure in the UK nuclear industry for decades, and is internationally recognised as an expert in nuclear fuels.

SCI Members' News talks to Dr Esteban Pombo-Villar, alliance manager at the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research

We have definitive legal advice on the subject of sending 'unsolicited direct marketing emails' and a few suggestions on how to guard against breach of the legislation are also set out below.

Papers from the 10 May 2011 meeting

I attended the 241st ACS Spring National Meeting - 'Chemistry of Natural Resources - in Anaheim, USA on 27-31 March 2011.

I presented work on an enzyme that is essential for M. tuberculosis survival inside macrophages and which is linked to cholesterol catabolism, and latent tuberculosis

Dr Claire Adjiman presented the 2011 Henry Armstrong Memorial Lecture on 21 June.

Distinguished Service Awards are presented annually at the Society's AGM. The awards celebrate the hard work and goodwill of longer-serving Members of all component parts of the Society

6-12 June 2011 sees the return of the Food Group's popular 'Ask A Food Scientist': your chance to ask an expert any food-related question!

Three top UK scientists were recognised at SCI's International Honours Presentation on 12 November 2009.

'Ask a Horticultural Scientist' ran from 15-22 May 2011, and was your chance to ask your questions on professional crop production and protection and other horticultural issues via the SCI forums.

Ian Lennon, head of business development for Chiral Quest, did his PhD at Imperial College London with Prof Steven Ley

Dr Venkat Rao is Chief Scientist, National and Defense Programs, CSC (Computer Science Corporation), Virginia USA

Is there a scientific basis for concern over human-induced climate change? This was the subject of the first Public Evening Lecture of 2011, entitled 'The challenge of climate change', given by Sir Brian Hoskins. A soundtrack of the lecture is now available

Conference papers are now available for Exploring Chemical Space, held in March 2011

The College of Scholars was established to help current SCI scholars make the most of the opportunities the SCI scholarships provide

Designing Safer Medicines in Discovery: Current and Emerging Opportunities to Reduce Attrition was held at SCI HQ, London on 17 March 2011, and organised by SCI's Fine Chemicals Group.

Prosonix co-founder Graham Ruecroft tells us how he got interested in science and how he motivates his team

On Thursday, 3 February 2011, over 150 students from universities in Liverpool, Bangor, Manchester and other North West educational establishments came to the Chemistry Department at the University of Manchester, to attend 'Kick-start your career'

On 16 September 2010, SCI hosted a free Public Evening Lecture featuring Fred Pearce, who is currently the environment consultant of New Scientist magazine and a regular contributor to British newspapers.

Prof David Philips presented a lecture on the subject of light - from sun damage to photo-medicine as part of SCI's Public Lecture Series. The overheads can be downloaded here, and you can also listen to audio.

Dr David Tapolczay, CEO of MRCT (the UK Medical Research Council's Technology unit) has 21 years of experience in R&D management; his past roles include joint worldwide head of chemistry for Zeneca agrochemicals and VP of Technology Development for GSK pharmaceuticals.

A profile of the newest members of SCI's governance: Dr Brian Iddon, Professor K Clive Thompson and Dr Roger Gilmour

SCI provides opportunities for some of the brightest people in the world to exchange ideas and gain new perspectives on markets, technology, and people, SCI Honorary President Dr Stephanie Burns says in a video shown at the 7 July 2010 AGM.

GM Food was the subject of the third in the SCI's series of public lectures and took place on 2 December 2010.

Dr Geoff Fowler reports

SCI Executive Director Joanne Lyall recently returned from Philadelphia, where she represented SCI at a series of events on 22-23 September 2010 organised by the Chemical Heritage Foundation and SCI America under the umbrella of the Innovation Day. Here she reports on her visit.

In the six months since Joanne Lyall was appointed Executive Director of SCI, she has launched a new business plan for 2011-13.

Joanne Lyall joined SCI as Executive Director on 21 June 2010

On 9 November 2010, the Membership Advisory Committee held its annual Members' Forum, chaired by Dr Geoff Fowler

SCI members are not impressed with the BBC's coverage of science and think it is neither impartial nor accurate, according to a survey carried out in September 2010.

In this period of substantial public sector cuts the Chancellor has recognised the fundamental role science will play in economic recovery.

Drugs are chemicals that alter brain function so why do we treat some, eg alcohol and nicotine, differently from others, eg heroin and cannabis? This was the challenge that Prof David Nutt posed to the London Group

During our visit to the Millennium Seedbank the topic of how to germinate 'difficult' seeds was discussed, including these are seeds that recolonise after fire. Richard Todd of the Fine Chemicals Group has investigated the topic and describes the chemistry behind this phenomenon

The 28th Process Development Symposium organised by the Fine Chemicals Group was held at Churchill College Cambridge from 8 - 10 December 2010.

The SCI Fine Chemicals Group held its 21st annual 'Graduate Symposia for Novel Organic Chemistry', in early 2010, giving final year PhD students the opportunity to present their latest research.

Convergence Pharmaceuticals was created in 2010 by 12 GlaxoSmithKline colleagues, led by Simon Tate (now CSO), joined by former PowderJect entrepreneurs Clive Dix (now CEO) and Brenda Reynolds (now COO).

Dr Tapolczay has an international reputation in pharmaceutical chemical development, as well as an outstanding academic track record with a considerable number of patents and publications.

Another excellent conference organised jointly by SCI and the RSC at the MSD Site in Oss, Netherlands. Tim Cheeseright from Cresset reports.

The start of 2010 sees two pairs of related SCI Technical Interest Groups unite to expand member networks and generate more value.

The 2009 Wesley Cocker Award was presented to Kevin Guiry for his paper 'Effect of 1-Deoxy-D-lactose upon the Crystallization of D-Lactose’. The prize of €500 was presented to him by Dr Nick Gathergood who is a former Chair of the SCI All-Ireland group.

Richardson bursar Adriana Lopes reports from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Biological aerosol work wins Beilby Medal

Dr Emsley talked about how people are helped to look better, live longer and healthier and are relieved of suffering, by synthetic chemicals.

Educationalist Sir David Harrison, SCI member and former chairman of the Awards Committee, talks about his perception of science in education, the media and today’s quality of teaching

REACH is an EU-led initiative to test all chemical substances imported or manufactured in quantities of over one ton in the EU by 2018.

Diane Wood started out as an SCI Member and now works for the Society providing support and customer care.

The global financial crisis has reduced access to credit, combined with a sharp decline in demand for durable goods – both of which have impacted the chemical industry.

SCI, the society established nearly 140 years ago to link science with business in the application of scientific innovation, has recognised three top UK scientists in the International Honours announced on 12 November 2009.

In July 2009, SCI entered into a broader strategic alliance with the American Chemical Society (ACS) to advance chemistry-based knowledge and address global issues of mutual interest and benefit to our members.

SCI provided very valuable resources for my career, Dr Melling tells Members News

More than 50 SCI members attended the Members’ Forum held on Wednesday 25 November 2009

SCI and its publishing partner John Wiley and Sons are launching a new range of books.

SCI’s website now features a poll on the homepage, where users can vote to express their opinions on a variety of issues.

It could be said that this waving, drowning or emerging figure represents the global chemical industry as delegates heard at the SCI Summit, since some companies are suffering badly while others are making the best they can, and others even seeing some improvement.

The Young Chemist in Industry symposium is an annual, one-day meeting, which represents a unique opportunity for younger chemists to showcase their industrial research to an external audience.

Stephanie Burns, CEO and Chairman of Dow Corning and new Honorary President of SCI, talks about her experience leading a corporation where innovation is paramount. She also discusses SCI's role in driving knowledge transference in the chemical industry, CSR initiatives and innovative ideas for the future of SCI involving community engagement and mentoring of young scientists.

Have you ever read a news story based on science that concerns you?

Sue talks about her experiences with teaching science to boys and girls, and particularly about her efforts to encourage girls into the field.

An alliance between SCI, the Society of Dyers and Colourists and the Oil and Colour Chemists’ Association will deliver reciprocal benefits to members of all three organisations

SCI is always happy to welcome new volunteers and members to the Society.

On Thursday 11 and Friday 12 September 2008, SCI ran two ‘workshop and best practice sharing’ events, open to all Treasurers, Secretaries and Chairs of Regional Interest (RIG) and Technical Interest Groups (TIG).

The main aim of SCI is to bring members together and an online forum can help us do this through the web.

The third SCI Members' Forum 2009 took place on 25 November at SCI HQ, London.

On Monday, 28 September 2009, SCI will be hosting a one-day ‘Volunteer Workshop and Best Practice’ day for the Honorary Chairmen, Secretaries and Treasurers of all its UK-based Interest Groups.

Good packaging means safe and effective product delivery, as well as enhancing consumer appeal.

The World Health Organization has called obesity one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century.

This conference brought together scientists Ireland who have varied interests in drug discovery and development and a common interest in synthesis

1st RSC/SCI Symposium on Continuous Processing and Flow Chemsitry was held on 3 - 4 November 2010 at GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, Herts, UK.

Contemporary Catalysis in Organic Synthesis was held on 29 November 2010 at SCI HQ, London, UK.

2010 was an exciting year for anyone with an interest in protease inhibition and set an interesting backdrop for the forthcoming SCI/RSC symposium on proteinase inhibitor design - 'Proteinase 2011' - to be held in Basel, on 11-12 April.

Water for Power and Industry was held on 28 October 2010 at SCI HQ, London.

Biocatalysis was held on 14 October 2010 at SCI HQ, London.

Introduction to ADMET: Solving Problems Chemically was held on 20 October 2010 at SCI HQ, London.

3rd SCI/RSC Symposium on GPCRs in Medicinal Chemistry was held on 20 -22 September 2010 at MSD, The Netherlands.

Eighteen lectures over three days, delegates from across Europe, invited speakers from North America and an attendance close on 200, plus strong support from exhibitors – are these the attributes of a mature subject in decline?

Clare gained a distinction for her Master of Research degree in Protein and Membrane Chemical Biology, and was awarded the Sir Alan Fersht Prize for producing the best overall thesis.

Organised by SCI’s Young Chemists' Panel, 'Key Elements in Organic Synthesis: Recent Advances in p-Block Chemistry' was held on 4 December at SCI HQ, London.

Organised by SCI’s Young Chemists' Panel, 'What a Chemist needs to know about Patents' was held on Friday 29 January at Eli Lilly, Windlesham, UK.

How is synthetic chemistry applied to solve real world problems? The upcoming one-day event ‘Applied Synthesis’, hosted by the SCI Young Chemists’ Panel aims to demonstrate the power of synthetic chemistry in an applied environment. The event will take place on 21 September 2009 at the Department of Chemistry in University College London.

A chemical mystery for children

The ADMET meetings highlight the challenges associated with ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and toxicity) in medicinal chemistry.

The use of cannabis as a medicine was discussed by Liz Williamson, professor of pharmacy at the University of Reading, UK, at a meeting of the Thames and Kennet Regional Group on 21 February 2007 at the university’s chemistry department.

My first ambition is to strengthen SCI membership among the 30-45 age group, particularly those working in industry.

This one-day conference held on 1 July 2008, and sponsored by SCI, the RSC, and ICI brought together scientists from the Republic of Ireland and from Northern Ireland who have varied interests in drug discovery and development and a common interest in synthesis.

The annual series of one day technical events aimed at the pharmaceutical industry, took on an enlarged format this year at the suggestion of the host for the event, the Dublin Institute of Technology.

The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), America International Group, will award the SCI Perkin Medal to Richard B Silverman, the John Evans Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University. He will be presented with the medal at the Perkin Medal dinner, now in its 103rd year, in Philadelphia on 15 September 2009.

The meeting was recommended both for chemists just beginning their careers within the pharmaceutical industry, or more experienced medicinal chemists wanting to gain a more detailed understanding of these issues

The area of Process Development continues to be a challenging and important area for the research into and application of modern synthetic organic chemistry as well as enabling technologies.

Intellectual Property (IP) is one of the major outputs of all R&D organisations, and yet for most scientists it remains an area shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding

Papers from the 9 July 2009 meeting

Knowledge and innovation are essential drivers of economic growth, enabling them to remain competitive in an increasingly global marketplace.

Organised by SCI’s Fine Chemicals Group, 'Hot Topics for Drug Discovery: Finding the next lead' was held on 11 November at SCI HQ, London and was well attended.

Statistics show the numbers of new drugs making it onto the market are in relentless decline, while research and development costs are soaring.

Structure-Activity Relationships - how variations between chemical structures relate to measures of their activity - are fundamental to medicinal chemistry and other compound selection and optimisation disciplines.

This conference assessed the status of research into future pain therapies, reporting on significant new drug discoveries.

Over 500 protein kinases in the human kinome are responsible for cell signalling mechanisms that control a wide spectrum of physiological processes. The regulation/ misregulation of kinases has linked them to a number of diseases and they provide a wealth of opportunity as targets for drug discovery.

Dieters spent £47million last year on pills and diet aids; it’s no wonder that so many companies want a slice of this lucrative cake.

Levels of oesophageal cancer in the UK are amongst the highest in Europe, with over six thousand people a year dying from the disease.

The Great Achievement of Chemistry. That’s how Professor John Nicholson summed up the periodic table of the elements as he rounded off his talk to a fascinated audience at the University of Bristol.

At the very end of summer 2007, Bristol University held the first in what is hoped to be an annual meeting bringing together industrial and academic chemists working in catalyst design and application.

Moira was awarded the Edgell Sheppe project prize for her work on non-invasive cancer therapy using focused ultrasound

Peter Hambleton was born in Merthyr Tydfil and read Biochemistry at Leeds University, progressing to a PhD on microbial ribonucleic acid synthesis in 1968.

Dr John Beacham has been awarded the Lampitt Medal by the Society. The medal was presented by Sandy Gray, who has since been elected chair of SCI’s board of trustees, at a celebratory reception and dinner held in Warrington, Cheshire, UK in June 2007.

Emma Parmee will receive the 2009 SCI Gordon E Moore Medal for playing a key role in the discovery of the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitor JANUVIA™ (sitagliptin), the first and only DPP-4 inhibitor approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Steve Smith has been instrumental in organising many medicinal chemistry meetings, including the flagship biennial Joint Medicinal Chemistry Symposium.

Dr Stephen Smith, from the Fine Chemicals Group, received his Distinguished Service Award (DSA) at the Awards Session held at SCI’s Annual General Meeting on 1 July 2009.

Chris Hill is Senior Vice President Research at Organon (part of the Schering-Plough Corporation) and is responsible for the Newhouse research site in Scotland.

In the foreword to the book American Chemical Enterprise, published to celebrate the centennial of SCI’s America International Group, Hal Sorgenti, then Chairman, wrote of Americans’ ‘delight’ in ‘hearing of people who use their creative talents imaginatively to invent, to innovate and to organise new technologies’. A desire to honour such people; those who have made a personal contribution to the advance of society and economy through technology, is at the core of SCI America Group’s identity.