June 1, 2018 – The Roche-RSC International Symposium on Scientific Frontiers to Enable Drug Discovery was successfully held in ShanghaiTech University, hosted by F. Hoffmann-la Roche AG (Roche) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and co-organized by ShanghaiTech University and Shanghai Institute of Biophysics. It was jointly chaired by Dr. Shen Hong, head of Medicinal Chemistry at Roche Innovation Center Shanghai, and Professor Liu Zhijie, executive director of ShanghaiTech’s iHuman Institute. Nearly 720 attendees from chemical and biology-related fields representing more than ten academic colleges, universities, scientific research institutes and industrial companies and attended the symposium.
RSC China General Manager Amy Lam and ShanghaiTech Vice President Yin Jie gave opening remarks, both highlighting the key role of innovative and interdisciplinary research in new drug development addressing human health issues and challenges, and also stressing the importance of collaboration.
More than 20 renowned domestic and international speakers were invited to give scientific speeches. Represented institutions included: University of Dundee (UK), University of Chicago, Rice University, UC San Diego Medical College, University of Bonn (Germany), Korea Seoul National University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, ShanghaiTech University, Roche, Novartis, and WuXi APP. Renowned scholars, young scientists and industrial researchers who focus on the frontiers of organic chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, chemistry and structural biology, immunology, and other areas that contribute to new drug development, introduced new research advances and discussed cutting edge scientific research in related fields. iHuman Institute Founding Director Professor Raymond Stevens and iHuman Research Associate Professor Hua Tian were also invited to give talks.
During the symposium, Dr. Richard Kelly, executive editor of RSC's Journal of Organic and Chemical Biology, introduced RSC’s work in addressing global challenges in health-related areas, including various academic seminars, researcher exchange grants, journals and books. Dr. Liang Yan, the founder of Beauty of Science program, introduced the application and role of molecular visualization in chemical research, molecular biology education, and pharmaceutical company marketing.
Three young Chinese investigators from Roche were awarded medals during the symposium in recognition of their outstanding contributions in the following studies: cancer immunotherapy and understanding of the mechanism of T cell depletion (Professor Liao Xuebin, Tsinghua University), development of new synthetic methodology (Professor Dong Guangbin, University of Chicago), and new discoveries in fluoride chemistry (Dr. Shen Qilong, Shanghai Organic Institute). In addition, five winners out of 30 were awarded Best Poster Award Winners. The winners were nominated by a professional team composed of Roche researchers.
Dr. Shen Hong hosts Symposium
ShanghaiTech Vice President Yin Jie gives opening remarks
Dr. Yu Zhengtian, Novartis
Professor Alessio Ciulli, University of Dundee
Professor László Kürti, Rice University
Dr. Hua Tian, Associate Professor, iHuman Institute
Poster Prize Awards
Group photo