Department of Chemistry

South Kensington
London SW7 2AZ
Tel: +44 (0)20 75945766 Fax: +44 (0)20 75945805

14 August 2011 Anthony G M Barrett PhD FRS FMedSci

Glaxo Professor of Organic Chemistry
Sir Derek Barton Chair and Head of Synthesis

The Rt. Hon. David Cameron PC MP

10 Downing Street

Dear Prime Minister

We, the undersigned, are senior academic scientists in the UK, and we write to you, as a matter of urgency,
because we believe that changes proposed by the EPSRC will undermine the work we do and very seriously
injure an invaluable section of the UK economy.
We are profoundly disturbed by the EPSRC’s decision to reduce significantly funding for synthetic organic
chemistry. This is a vital area of science, which is concerned with creating new organic molecules. Such
molecules are urgently needed for better medicines to improve healthcare in an ageing population, for safer
agrochemicals to aid food production for a growing population, for more efficient methods of energy storage to
meet demand, and for better materials for reprographics and electronics to match our insatiable desire for new
technology. Without synthesis, the new molecules required to meet our increasing demands will simply not be
available.
We believe that this action will damage chemistry departments and will encourage young academics to move
abroad. Perhaps, most worryingly, this decision will significantly disadvantage biomedical research and
innovation, resulting in fewer spinout companies and SMEs being created, such as the contract research
organisations, which are a particularly successful sector of the economy. These organisations are currently
expanding rapidly, and many other sectors now rely on their product innovation in order to compete globally.
All of us are actively involved in collaborative industrial research. We have been consulted by, and been
members of, the scientific advisory boards of many different companies in the UK and around the world. We
have trained numerous scientists, who are now highly productive in manufacturing, and who are employed by
the pharmaceutical, biotechnological, agrochemical, personal care product, polymer, and speciality chemicals
industries. Several of us are serial entrepreneurs and have created vibrant SME companies, including
AFChemPharm Ltd, Argenta Discovery Ltd, Astex Therapeutics Ltd, Cambridge Display Technologies Ltd,
Charnwood Molecular Ltd, Cresset Biomolecular Discovery Ltd, Cyclofluidic Ltd, Ingenza Ltd, iThemba
Pharmaceuticals, Oxford Asymmetry International plc, Pareon Chemicals Ltd, Pulmagen Therapeutics Ltd,
Reaxa Ltd, Summit Corporation plc, Susschem Ltd and Tocris Biosciences Ltd.
Is the flow of UK innovation, which has created these firms, to be turned off by an ill-considered action of the
EPSRC? We believe the decision to reduce drastically funding PhD studentships has disadvantaged chemistry
more than other sciences, and will irreparably damage our competitiveness globally relative to countries like
Germany, Switzerland, the USA, Canada, Japan, India and China, where synthetic organic chemistry is
nationally nurtured. Surely this decision cannot be right? Many others, including Nobel Laureates, senior
academic scientists and prominent industrialists, share our concerns. Their statement of support, list of names
and additional letters, which reinforce our views, are attached.
Yours faithfully,

Anthony G.M. Barrett FRS FMedSci Steven V. Ley CBE FRS FMedSci William B. Motherwell FRS FRSE
Glaxo & Sir Derek Barton Professor BP 1702 Professor Alexander Williamson Professor
Imperial College University of Cambridge University College London

Tom Simpson FRS FRSE David A. Leigh FRS FRSE Ronald Grigg FRS
Alfred Capper Pass Professor Forbes Professor Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
University of Bristol University of Edinburgh Leeds University

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine

 .

Gerry Pattenden FRS Philip J. Kocienski FRS Ian Paterson FRS

Sir Jesse Boot Professor Professor Professor
University of Nottingham University of Leeds Cambridge University

David O'Hagan FRSE J. Stephen Clark FRSE E. James Thomas

Professor WestCHEM Professor Sir Samuel Hall Professor
University of St Andrews University of Glasgow University of Manchester

Stephen G. Davies P. Andrew Evans Christopher J. Moody

Waynflete Professor Heath Harrison Professor Sir Jesse Boot Professor
University of Oxford University of Liverpool University of Nottingham

Kenneth R. Seddon Richard J. Taylor Philip Parsons

Professor Professor Professor
Queen’s University Belfast University of York University of Sussex

Karl J. Hale Timothy J. Donohoe Christopher J. Schofield

Professor Professor Professor
Queen’s University Belfast University of Oxford University of Oxford

Thomas Wirth David Knight Keith Jones

Professor Professor Professor
Cardiff University Cardiff University Institute of Cancer Research

Varinder Aggarwal Alan Armstrong David J. Procter

Professor Professor Professor
University of Bristol Imperial College University of Manchester

cc The Rt. Hon. Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister of Scotland

The Rt. Hon. Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales
The Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Opposition
The Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg MP, Deputy Prime Minister
The Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Rt. Hon. David Willetts MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science
The Rt. Hon. Andrew Miller MP, Chair, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Gavin Barwell MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Gregg McClymont MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Stephen McPartland MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Stephen Metcalfe MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. David Morris MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Stephen Mosley MP, Science and Technology Committee

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine

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The Rt. Hon. Pamela Nash MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Jonathan Reynolds MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Graham Stringer MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Roger Williams MP, Science and Technology Committee
The Rt. Hon. Therese Coffey MP PhD
The Rt. Hon. Julian Huppert MP PhD
Professor Sir Paul Nurse FRS FMedSci, President of the Royal Society
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Wilson of Tillyorn KT GCMG PRSE, President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine

 .
EPSRC Prioritisation is Contrary to UK National Interests
We, the undersigned, are writing to you regarding the recent decision by the EPSRC to reduce research
support for synthetic organic chemistry. We fully understand the need for an across the board reduction in
public spending, given the state of public finances. However, we believe that the EPSRC diktat that synthetic
chemistry should bear a greater share of the burden will have dire consequences for some very successful
industries. These industries not only provide employment for highly skilled individuals, but they will also affect
the long-term quality of life of UK citizens. In particular this decision will impart a significant disadvantage to
many new start-up companies.
The EPSRC’s proposed cuts are backed-up by claims that they have sought wise counsel from many
organisations in prioritising research disciplines. However, we are convinced that those responsible have only
undertaken a very limited review in this respect, and consequently could have been better advised. We
therefore request urgent action be taken to reverse this decision and urge that the EPSRC’s CEO, David Delpy,
be asked to explain his reasons to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. We have
learned that in fact the EPSRC did not seek advice from The Royal Society of Chemistry, The Royal Society,
The Society for Chemical Industry, the Chemical Industries Association, the International Review of Chemistry
Panel, or the National Academy of Sciences in the USA to justify a larger reduction of funding for organic
synthesis. The lack of such advice is effectively contrary to the Haldane Principle.
In response to specific questions from Professor Anthony G.M. Barrett (Imperial College) and Professor E.
James Thomas (University of Manchester), we understand that the EPSRC has provided no transparent
reasoned justification for this action, and the EPSRC has admitted that they did not consult any external
organisations, for advice in setting priorities.
Synthetic organic chemistry underpins product innovation in many industries in the UK including
pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, diagnostics, personal care products, electronics, polymers, and food
production. The Royal Society of Chemistry’s publication, The economic benefits of chemistry research to the
UK in September 2010, revealed that the UK’s chemistry-linked sectors contributed £258 billion to the UK‘s
GDP (21%) and as such supports directly and indirectly around 6 million UK jobs.
To take one example: it is impossible to make new drugs without synthetic organic chemistry. This branch of
science is vital and will become even more important in the next decade, which makes the EPSRC’s decision
seem very short-sighted. Particularly noteworthy in this regard 80% of the value of pharmaceutical innovation in
the UK over the last 40 years resulted from inventions by synthetic organic chemists. There is every indication
that the next 40 years will see equal innovation with concomitant economic benefits, all of which makes the
EPSRC’s decision hard to understand.
The world faces many challenges, of which disease is perhaps one of the most important. Medical scourges
such as cancer, infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease urgently need global
solutions. New, more effective and safer medicines to treat these terrible illnesses are clearly required. Take
breast cancer for example. In a typical year, around 48,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with this condition
of which 12,000 will die. There is clearly an urgent need to discover new drugs to treat those cases that do not
respond to tamoxifen, a product of synthetic organic chemical research, which is the usual treatment. Also in a
typical year, around 200,000 patients die from circulatory and cardiovascular disease in the UK. Clearly there is
much work to be done!
On a global scale, more than half the world’s population live in high-risk malaria areas. Every year around 300
million people become infected, of whom 1 million die – mainly children in Africa. It is even more worrying that
respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrhea type diseases, and tuberculosis are responsible for even greater
levels of morbidity and mortality. The world urgently needs new medicines, which will have to be based on new
molecules that only synthetic organic chemists can produce. Highly qualified personnel with chemical training
are of paramount importance. Traditionally, the UK has produced such people, and they have played a major
role in the discovery of new medicines. Indeed, we remain home to two of the world’s top five leading
pharmaceutical companies (GlaxoSmithKline and Astra Zeneca).
Perhaps the decision by Pfizer to close down much of their Sandwich site has been misread to mean that
pharmaceutical innovation is leaving the UK. Nothing could be further from the truth. The global pharmaceutical
industry globally is changing and this includes the downsizing of drug discovery in big Pharma. We are however
seeing the emergence of many new SME companies and contract research organisations (CROs) engaged in
drug discovery taking over their role. In the UK, companies such as Peakdale Molecular, Biofocus-Galapagos,
Astex, and others, are collectively major users of synthetic organic chemistry and employers of synthetic
organic chemists. The EPSRC’s course of action will, without question, seriously damage research in this area
at a time, when the industry is changing so rapidly. Such actions will damage the existing CRO sector in the UK
as well as disadvantage new spinout enterprises.
Innovative synthetic organic chemistry is vital to the future success of many other UK industries and we should
like to point out that it has played a key part in the following areas amongst others:

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine

 .
1. Electronics, where organic light emitting organic diodes and liquid crystalline materials are
now at the heart of display devices such as smart phones, laptops, televisions, and tablets.
2. Food production and security, most noticeably in increasing crop yields.
3. Manufacturers of personal care products, such as improved sunscreens, shower gels,
deodorants, skin-care lotions, hair dyes, cosmetics and perfumes.
4. Medical diagnostic industries, which need new probe molecules for the early stage
detection of diseases, for example colon cancer and new contrast agents for techniques such
as MRI
5. Security encryption chemicals, such as smart water, currency validation, and document
authentication.
st
We emphasize that in the 21 century synthetic organic chemistry is probing the ‘molecular frontier’. Much of
science, and in particular medicine and structural biology, is becoming ‘molecularised,’ in other words synthetic
organic chemistry is seeking to understand the subject at the level of individual molecules and the way they
st
behave. Synthetic organic chemistry and the new molecules that synthetic chemists produce will in the 21
century come to influence vast tracts of human endeavour from molecular archaeology to molecular zoology.
For the EPSRC to even think of disadvantaging and disabling such important scientific innovation beggars
belief.
We very much hope that Her Majesty’s Government will agree with our assessment and examine the
operations of the EPSRC with a view to assisting the large sectors of British industry that depend on synthetic
organic chemistry for product innovation.

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine

Supporting Signatories
Professor Chris Abell
Professor Varinder Aggarwal
Dr Paul Anderson
Professor Shankar Balasubramanian
FMedSci
Professor Jan-Erling Bäckvall
Professor Martin Banwell FAA
Professor David St Clair Black
Professor Bob Boeckman
Professor Carsten Bolm
Professor Dale Boger
Professor Ronald Breslow
Professor Margaret Brimble
Dr Jim Bristol
Professor Stephen Buchwald
Professor Steve Burke
Professor in Biological Chemistry, University
of Cambridge
Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ's College
Cambridge
Co-founder of Astex Therapeutics
Co-founder of Sphere Fluidics
Professor of Synthetic Chemistry, University
of Bristol, UK
Former president of the American Chemical
Society
2006 Priestley Medalist
Former Senior Vice President of chemical
and physical sciences. DuPont, USA
The Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal
Chemistry, University of Cambridge.
Co-founder, Solexa, UK
Professor of Organic Chemistry, Stockholm
University, Sweden.
Director of the Research School of
Chemistry, Australian National University,
Australia.
Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of
New South Wales, Australia.
Marshall D. Gates, Jr. Professor of Chemistry
and Chair, University of Rochester, USA.
Professor of Organic Chemistry
Institut für Organische Chemie
RWTH Aachen University, Germany.
Richard and Alice Cramer Professor of
Chemistry, Scripps Research Institute and
and Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, La
Jolla, California, USA.
S.L. Mitchill Professor of Chemistry and
University Professor, Columbia University,
USA.
Chair of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at
the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Former Senior Vice President, Pfizer
Worldwide Discovery Research Chairman of
the Strategic and Scientific Advisory Board.
Sai Advantium, India
Camille Dreyfus Professor Of Chemistry,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
Professor of Chemistry, University of
Wisconsin, USA.
Dr Alan Calder CBE Formerly Research and Development
General Manager, Zeneca Specialties, UK

Professor Erick Carreira Professor of Organic Chemistry, ETH Zürich,

Switzerland.

Dr Luis Castro Head of Chemistry. Eisai Europe Ltd,

Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK

Professor Marco Ciufolini Canada Research Chair in Synthetic Organic

Chemistry, University of British Columbia,
Canada.

Professor Derrick Clive Professor of Chemistry, University of Alberta,

Canada.

Professor Daniel Comins Professor of Organic Chemistry, North

Carolina State University, USA.

Professor R Charles Coombes FMedSci Clinical Professor, Imperial College London,

UK

Professor Elias J Corey FRS Sheldon Emery Professor of Chemistry,

Nobel Laureate Harvard, USA.

Professor Janine Cossy Professor of Organic Chemistry, École

Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie
Industrielles, France.

Dr Brian Cox Head of Chemistry. Novartis UK

Professor Dennis Curran Distinguished Service Professor and Bayer

Professor, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

Professor Rick Danheiser Arthur C. Cope Professor of Chemistry,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

Professor Samuel Danishefsky Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University

and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center, New York, USA.

Professor Franklin Davis Laura H. Carnell Professor of Chemistry,

Temple University, USA

Professor Scott Denmark Reynold C. Fuson Professor of Chemistry,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
USA.

Professor Peter Dervan Bren Professor of Chemistry, California

Institute of Technology, USA

Professor François Diederich Professor of Organic Chemistry, ETH Zurich,

Switzerland

Dr Annette Doherty Senior vice-president. Pfizer Global

Research and Development, Groton, CT,
USA

Professor Michael Doyle Professor and Chair of the Department of

Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of
Maryland, USA.
Dr Paul M. Doyle Chief Operating Officer, Peakdale Molecular
Ltd., Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, UK

Dr. Frank H Ebetino Director of Drug Discovery. Warner Chilcott

Ireland Ltd

Professor Dieter Enders Professor of Organic Chemistry, Aachen

University, Germany

Professor David A. Evans Research Professor, Harvard University,

Cambridge, MA, USA

Professor Ben Feringa Jacobus H van 't Hoff Professor of Molecular

Sciences, University of Groningen, the
Netherlands.
Co-Founder, SelAct.

Professor Sir Richard Friend, FRS Cavendish Professor, University of

Cambridge, UK

Professor Gregory Fu Firmenich Professor of Chemistry,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

Professor Tohru Fukuyama Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences,

University of Tokyo, Japan.

Professor Alois Fürstner Managing Director of the Max-Planck-Institut

für Kohlenforschung, Germany.
Professor at the Technical University of
Dortmund, Germany.

Professor Léon Ghosez Membre Emérite de l'Académie Royale des

Sciences, des Lettres & des Beaux-Arts de
Belgique
Visiting scientist, Institut Européen de Chimie
et de Biologie (IECB)

Dr Ged Giblin Head of Chemistry and Preclinical

Development, Convergence
Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, UK

Dr Julian Golec Senior Vice President, Vertex

Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Ltd, Oxfordshire,
UK

Professor Robert Grubbs Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of

Nobel Laureate Chemistry, California Institute of Technology.

Professor Pat Guiry Chief Executive of the Conway Institute and

Director of the Centre for Synthesis and
Chemical Biology, University College Dublin,
Ireland.

Dr Peter Hamley Global Head Parallel Synthesis and Natural

Products, Sanofi Aventis, Frankfurt, Germany

Prof Tim Harrison Vice President Discovery Chemistry, Almac

Discovery Ltd, Craigavon, UK

Professor Clayton Heathcock Professor in the Graduate School, University

of California, Berkley and Chief Scientist of

Dr Barrie Hesp
Prof. Andrew B. Holmes FRS FAA FinstP
Professor Henning Hopf
Professor R.W. Hoffmann
Sir David Hopwood FRS
Professor Ken Houk
Professor Amir Hoveyda
Professor Thomas Hoye
Dr Marc Hummersone
Professor Peter Jacobi
Dr Keith James
Professor Eric Jacobsen
Professor Alan Katritzky
Professor Yoshito Kishi
Professor Paul Knochel
Professor Hans-Joachim Knölker
Professor Ari Koskinen
QB3-Berkeley, California Institute for
Quantitative Biosciences, USA.
Former Vice President, Strategic Alliances.
Pfizer Global Research and Development
Member of the Committee of Chemistry and
Public Affairs of the American Chemical
Society
Professor of Organic and Polymer Chemistry,
Imperial College London.
ARC Federation Fellow and inaugural VESKI
Fellow at the Bio21 Institute at the University
of Melbourne and at CSIRO Molecular and
Health Technologies.
Co-founder, Cambridge Display
Technologies
Technische Universität Braunschweig,
Germany
Professor of Organic Chemistry at the
Universität Marburg, Germany
Head of Genetics, John Innes Centre, UK
Winstein Chair in Organic Chemistry,
University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
Joseph T. and Patricia Vanderslice
Millennium Professor of Chemistry, Boston
College, USA.
Professor of Chemistry, University of
Minnesota, USA.
Research Director. Pharminox Ltd,
Nottingham, UK
New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry,
Dartmouth College, USA.
Vice-President, Visiting Investigator at The
Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla at Pfizer,
CA, USA
Sheldon Emery Professor of Chemistry,
Havard University, USA.
Kenan Professor of Chemistry, University of
Florida, USA.
Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry, Harvard
University, USA.
C4-Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians-
University in Munich, Germany.
Professor of Organic Chemistry, Technical
University of Dresden, Germany
Professor of Organic Chemistry, Helsinki
 University of Technology, Finland.

Professor Harry Kroto FRS Francis Eppes Professor of Chemistry, The

Nobel Laureate Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL,
USA

Professor Peter Kündig Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of

Geneva, Switzerland

Professor Mark Lautens NSERC/Merck-Frosst Industrial Research

Chair, AstraZeneca Professor of Organic
Chemistry, University of Toronto, Canada.

Professor Peter Leadlay FRS FRSC Herchel Smith Professor of Biochemistry,

University of Cambridge, UK

Professor John-Marie Lehn FRS Collège de France, France

Nobel Laureate

Dr Keith Layden President - Actives & Enterprise Technology,

Croda International PLC, East Yorkshire, UK

Professor Dennis Liotta Samuel Candler Dobbs Professorship in

Chemistry, Emory University, USA.
Inventor of Emtriva, Reverset and Racivir and
Founder of Slainte Bioceuticals, Inc. and
Pharmasset, Inc.

Professor Martin Maier Full Professor Chemistry, University of

Tübingen, Germany

Professor Max Malacria Professor of Organic Chemistry, Pierre et

Marie Curie University, France

Professor Lewis Mander FAA Adjunct Professor, Australian National

University, Canberra, Australia.

Professor Sir Peter Mansfield FRS Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of

Nobel Laureate Nottingham.

Professor Istvan Marko Director of the Organic Chemistry Laboratory,

Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium

Professor Tobin Marks Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor

of Chemistry, Professor of Materials Science
and Engineering, Vladimir N. Ipatieff
Professor of Catalyic Chemistry,
Northwestern University, USA.

Professor Stephen F. Martin M. June and J. Virgil Waggoner Regents

Chair in Chemistry, University of Texas at
Austin, USA.

Professor Keiji Maruoka Kyoto Univeristy , Japan

Dr Ian Matthews CEO, ChemOvation Ltd, West Sussex, UK

Professor Goverdhan Mehta Jubilant-Bhartia Chair, University of

Hyderabad, India.

Professor Armin de Meijere Emeritus professor, University of Göttingen,

Germany
Professor Peter Metz Professor of Chemistry, Technische
Universität Dresden, Germany

Professor Marvin Miller George and Winifred Clark Professor of

Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of
Notre Dame, USA.

Professor David MacMillan A Barton Hepburn Professor of Organic

Chemistry, Chairperson of the Department of
Chemistry, Princeton University, USA.

Dr Austin Mcmordie Head of Chemistry. Almac Group, Scotland

Professor Gary Molander Hirschmann-Makineni Professor of

Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Professor Johann Mulzer Professor of Chemistry, University of Vienna,

Austria

Professor Stephen Neidle Professor of Chemical Biology, The School of

Pharmacy, University of London, UK. Director
of Cancer Research UK Biomolecular
Structure Group
Director of the Centre for Cancer Medicines

Dr Chris Newton SVP Galapagos Services and Managing

Director. BioFocus, UK

Professor KC Nicolaou Aline W. and L.S. Skaggs Professor of

Chemical Biology in The Skaggs Institute for
Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research
Institute, USA

Professor Larry Overman Distinguished Professor of Chemistry,

University of California, Irvine, USA.

Professor Albert Padwa William Patterson Timmie Professor Organic

Chemistry, Emory University, USA.

Professor Claudio Palomo Full Professor, University of País Vasco,

Spain

Professor Miquel Pericas Director of the Institute of Chemical Research

of Catalonia, Spain

Professor Andreas Pfaltz Professor of Chemistry, University of Basel,

Switzerland.

Dr Mario Polywka Chief Operating Officer. Evotec, UK

Professor C. Dale Poulter John A. Widtsoe Distinguished Professor and

Chair of Bioorganic Chemistry, University of
Utah, USA.

Dr David Rees Senior VP Medicinal Chemistry, Astex

Professor Manfred Reetz Hans-Meerwein-Research-Professor,

Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany.
External Group Leader of the Max-Planck-
Institut für Kohlenforschung, Germany.

Professor John Robinson Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of

 Zurich, Switzerland

Professor William Roush Professor and Associate Dean, Kellogg

School of Science and Technology,
Department of Chemistry Scripps Research
Institute, Florida Campus, USA

Professor Scott Rychnovsky Professor of Chemistry, University of

California, Irvine, USA.

Professor Jay Siegel Professor of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry

Institute, University of Zürich, Switzerland.

Professor Richard Silverman John Evans Professor of Chemistry,

Northwestern University, USA.
Inventor of Lyrica

Dr Greg Simpson Deputy Chief, CSIRO Molecular Health &

Technologies and Director. CSIRO,
Melbourne, Australia

Professor Amos B. Smith III Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry, a

Member of the Monell Chemical Senses
Center, the Associate Director of the Penn
Center for Molecular Discovery (PCMD),
University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Professor Barry Snider Charles A. Breskin Professor of Organic

Chemistry, Brandeis University, USA.

Professor Victor Snieckus Bader Chair in Organic Chemistry, Queen's

University, Kingston, Canada.

Professor Erik Sorensen Arthur Allan Patchett Professor in Organic

Chemistry, Princeton University, USA.

Professor Gilbert Stork Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry

Emeritus, Columbia University, USA.

Sir John Sulston FRS Chair Institute for Science, Ethics and
Nobel Laureate Innovation, University of Manchester

Professor Lutz Tietze Dean and Vice Dean of the Faculty of

Chemistry at the Georg-August University of
Göttingen, Germany

Professor Barry M. Trost Tamaki Professor of Humanities and

Sciences, Stanford University, USA

Professor John Vederas FRS Canada Research Chair in Bioorganic and

Medicinal Chemistry, Alberta University,
Canada

Professor Pierre Vogel Professor of Organic Chemistry, Ecole

polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, France.

Professor Herbert Waldmann Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director

of the Dept. Chemical Biology, Max Planck
Institute of Molecular Physiology, Germany.

Professor Chris Walsh Hamilton Kuhn Professor, Harvard University,

USA
Professor Steven Weinreb Russell and Mildred Marker Professor of
Natural Products Chemistry, Penn State,
USA.

Professor Paul Wender Bergstrom Professor of Chemistry, Stanford

University, California, USA.

Dr Hanno Wild Head of Medicinal Chemistry, Bayer

HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Wuppertal,
Germany

Professor Robert M. Williams University Distinguished Professor

Colorado State University, USA.

Dr Barrie Wilkinson Vice President for Research, Research.

Biotica, Cambridge, UK

Professor Nicolas Winssinger Professor of Chemistry, Institut de

Science et Ingénierie Supramolecular
(ISIS), University Louis Pasteur, France

Professor Peter Wipf University Professor, Director of the

Combinatorial Chemistry Center and the
Center for Chemical Methodologies and
Library Development at University of
Pittsburgh, USA.

Professor Nicolas Winssinger Professor of Chemistry, Institut de

Science et Ingénierie Supramolecular
(ISIS), University Louis Pasteur, France

Professor Chi-Huey Wong Professor, The Scripps Research Institute.

President, Academia Sinica,
Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan

Professor Henry Wong Professor of Chemistry, The Chinese

University of Hong Kong.

Professor John Wood A. I. Meyers Professor of Chemistry,

Colorado State University, USA.

Professor Hisashi Yamamoto University of Chicago, USA.

Dr Steve Young Director, Site Research Management, Vertex

Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Ltd, Oxfordshire,
UK

Professor Samir Zard Director of Research, Centre National de la

Recherche Scientifique.
Professor, Ecole Polytechnique, France.