Stay ConnectedA podcast hosted by L.-C. Campeau and Dani Schultz that dives into the stories about the people behind the chemistry and science that happens at #MerckChemistry.
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @PharmToTablePod, @DrLCSquare, @danithechemist
Email us comments and suggestions at pharmtotablepod@gmail.com
Copyright: © LC Campeau & Dani Schultz
For S2E2, we’re joined by drug hunting legends Doug Beshore and Izzat Raheem who recently co-authored a recent (and popular) paper in J. Med. Chem. on building a culture of knowledge exchange.
Ironically, it’s easier to learn through the literature than from your organization, colleagues or group members - especially if colleagues have taken on different roles. As a result, building and maintaining a culture where prior knowledge is easily accessible and updatable is paramount to a healthy learning culture.
In this episode we go into the 4 pillars that made knowledge exchange with Merck Discovery successful, which includes (1) IT; (2) knowledge capture; (3) participation and most importantly (4) culture. Knowledge management is not unique to industry - in fact, many of the lessons learned can be directly applied to an academic culture as well - and span beyond science and into DEI as well. So tune in to hear how simple practices can boost learning and knowledge exchange in your research.
Building a Culture of Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Sharing - J. Med. Chem.
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
We kick off season 2 with a bang, talking about complex molecule synthesis with John McIntosh and Nastaran Salehi. Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) are a total synthesis fan's dream with 10 stereocenters (including 2 at phosphorus) arranged around a 13 membered macrocycle formed by 2 non-canonical nucleosides. These endogenous secondary messenger molecules have attracted attention because of their activation of the immune system via the STING pathway. We go into all aspects of the innovative biocatalytic cascade that the team designed for their synthesis, including: 1) How a bald eagle cyclic guanosine-adenosine synthase (cGAS) was engineered to form the macrocycle; 2) How cGAS was leveraged by medicinal chemists to greatly accelerate drug discovery; 3) How the team strung together and optimized a 4-enzyme cascade to deliver a CDN directly from nucleotide building blocks.
A kinase-cGAS cascade to synthesize a therapeutic STING activator - Nature
New Mechanism for Cinchona Alkaloid-Catalysis Allows for an Efficient Thiophosphorylation Reaction - J. Am. Chem. Soc.
Follow Nastaran Salehi - @Nastaran198
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
For our kickoff of Season 2, LC and Dani get together (in person!) to reflect on what’s changed since the Pharm to Table pod started in late 2020, answer a listener question (only 9 months late!) on whether a postdoc is needed for an industrial job, and give a sneak peak on what’s to come for Season 2.
Whether you listen in the car or in the lab - buckle up and don that PPE - as Season 2 is destined to be full of energy, laughs and awesome #MerckChemistry.
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
Cecilia Bottecchia is originally from Italy and Francois Levesque is native of Canada. Both have had very international pathways during their studies which have ultimately brought them to #MerckChemistry in the US. We asked them to tell us a little bit about this transition and have a little fun with a Canadian vs Italian food quiz!
For the 10th, and final course of season 1, Dani and LC jump in the hot tub flow time machine with Cecilia Bottecchia and Francois Levesque, co-recipient of the Peter Dunn Green Chemistry Award, and learn how to discover, develop and scale-up a photobromination in flow! But don't let this deceptively simple bromination fool you - this reaction turned out to be a full course meal of challenges! We go into all aspects of the reaction, including: 1) Why they decided to use light vs AIBN to facilitate this reaction; 2) How to design a photoreactor you can use on kilo scale; 3) How to design a robust reaction that can run on >50kg scale; 4) What does hot tub chemistry have to do with a radical bromination reaction.
Read the paper we discussed today here:
A Continuous Flow Visible-Light-Induced Benzylic Bromination - Organic Process Research and Development
Elucidation of Reaction Mechanisms Using In Situ LED-NMR - Journal of Organic Chemistry
Design of a Kilogram Scale, Plug Flow Photoreactor Enabled by High Power LEDs - Organic Process Research and Development
Follow Cecilia Bottecchia - @cecibottecchia
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
For the 9th course, Dani and LC do the robot dance with Melodie Christensen (@chemchristensen on Twitter) #MerckChemistry Enabling Technologies group. Melodie shares her unique career path with us, including her current PhD with @procastiprof - more >10 years after starting her career in pharma. Resident expert in reaction automation, robotics and self-optimizing reactions, Melodie shares her journey in high-throughput and data-rich experimentation. We discuss her award winning paper in JOC and how she was able to use some of the insights of this work to develop an autonomously optimized Suzuki reaction! Finally, Melodie schools us on her best smoothie recipes and three letter acronyms.
Read the paper we discussed today here:
Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Methyl-β-cyclopropyldihydrocinnamates - Journal of Organic Chemistry
Data-science driven autonomous process optimization - Communications Chemistry
Automation isn't automatic - Chemical Science
Follow Melodie Christensen - @chemchristensen
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with Sue Zultanski (Associate Principal Scientist, Discovery Process Chemistry). Sue first joined our #MerckChemistry Discovery group in 2006 before obtaining her PhD and then starting in Merck Process in 2016. Since joining, Sue has sought solutions across boundaries, weaving deep mechanistic understanding into developing robust manufacturing routes (OPRD) and also through an academic-industrial partnership Prof. Nilay Hazari (JACS).
In our last installment of the 'Spring ACS Sneak Peaks' - we're flipping the tables and having Sue interview Dani on what motivated her to create a symposium on ‘Taming non-canonical amino acid synthesis’ – a symposium that they collaboratively organized for the upcoming Spring ACS in San Diego. We discuss what inspired Dani and Sue to take on this symposium together, highlight the speakers and share what they hope the audience walks away with.
Complete speaker lineup for Taming the Unnatural - Innovative Noncanonical Amino Acid Synthesis for Drug Discovery and Beyond: H.C. Brown Award Symposium
Register for Spring 2022 ACS (in-person, hybrid, and virtual)
Follow Sue on LinkedIn - HERE
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with David Thaisrivongs (Director) and Jenny Obligacion (Associate Principal Scientist) from our Rahway, NJ Process Chemistry group. David and Jenny tell us about a symposia featuring Outstanding Chemists of Color, their motivation for creating this event and the broader implications highlighting Chemists of Color can have on the equity, diversity and inclusion in our field.
Complete speaker lineup for Outstanding Chemists of Color
Chemists of Color informational video on YouTube
Register for Spring 2022 ACS (in-person, hybrid, and virtual)
Follow Jenny on Linkedin and on Twitter (@jobligac)
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with Marion Emmert (Principal Scientist, Catalysis and Enabling Technologies) and Colin Lam (Associate Principal Scientist, Computational and Structural Chemistry). Marion joined #MerckChemistry in 2018 (after a successful career in academia) and has brought her love for catalysis into drug discovery (Google Scholar). Colin joined #MerckChemistry in 2016 and has flexed his computational might on a myriad of projects spanning the portfolio (Google Scholar). Today, Marion and Colin stopped by to give a sneak peak on 'Theory to Therapy' - a symposium that they collaboratively organized for the upcoming Spring ACS in San Diego. We discuss what inspired Marion and Colin to take on this symposium together, highlight the speakers and share what they hope the audience walks away with.
Complete speaker lineup for From Theory to Therapy: New Developments in Quantum Mechanical Calculations for Driving Best Chemistry in Academia and Industry
Register for Spring 2022 ACS (in-person, hybrid, and virtual)
Follow Marion on Twitter - @emmertlab
Follow Colin on Twitter - @yhcolin
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with Xiaoshen Ma, Associate Principal Scientist in our Boston Discovery Chemistry group. Xiaoshen joined #MerckChemistry in 2018 and has been influential in advancing drug discovery through the exploration of bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes (aka BCP's) as bioisosteres for arenes - the work of which is already making an impact (Google Scholar). Today, Xiaoshen stopped by to give a sneak peak on Synthetic Advances Toward Novel Bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes - a symposium that he organized at the upcoming Spring ACS in San Diego. We discuss what inspired Xiaoshen to take on this symposium, highlight the speakers and share what he hopes the audience walks away with.
Complete speaker lineup for Synthetic Advances Toward Novel Bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes
Register for Spring 2022 ACS (in-person, hybrid, and virtual)
Follow Xiaoshen on Twitter - @XMa75870843
Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod
Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
