Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschaft (SCG)
After an intense evaluation phases in 2017 including input from external stakeholder we initialized in 2018 different initiatives to further strengthen the position of the SCS in Switzerland. The goal is to keep our core competences in the traditional fields of chemistry but to broaden the scope and to link new areas to the Society. These fields are:
Furthermore, we continued our efforts to enrich our event portfolio and partnered for many events in Switzerland and the near abroad. Together with the traditional SCS events and the incorporated events of the past three years, we offer now a very diverse program with annual or bi-annual activities.
Please enjoy reading through the 2018 annual report that shows again a very active and lively society.
Dr. Alain De Mesmaeker, PrisidenDavid Spichiger, Executive Director
Roland Kunz stepped down as President of CHIMIA at the end of 2018 and Gillian Harvey took over the mandate.
www.chimia.ch, www.ingentaconnect.com/content/scs/chimiaDr. Roland Kunz, Chairman of the Editorial Board
This year?s issues were again organized and supervised by recognized specialists. It is with great pleasure that I thank them all for their voluntary work. Our guest editors in 2018 in the order of their appearance were: Hans Peter Lüthi and Antonio Togni (ETH Zurich), Xenia Beyrich-Graf (BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany), Hans Peter Lüthi (ETH Zurich) and Silvio Decurtins (University of Bern), E. Peter Kündig (University of Geneva), Jürgen Stohner (ZHAW, Wädenswil) and Martin Quack (ETH Zurich), Alain de Mesmaeker (Syngenta Crop Protection, Stein), Clément Mazet (University of Geneva), Stefan Bieri (Official Food Control Authority of the Canton Vaud), Nicolas Winssinger (University of Geneva), Masahiro Murakami (University of Kyoto, Japan).
In 2018 (volume 72) the following 10 issues were published:
The program and the laureate articles of the SCS Fall Meeting as well as a report of the SCS Spring Meeting were again the annually recurring fix points in the editorial program. The two new regular columns Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology Highlights and Chemical Education started in the course of 2018. These, together with the conference reports and the well-established columns Swiss Science Concentrates, Highlights of Analytical Chemistry, Highlights in Polymer and Colloids Chemistry, the contributions from the Universities of Applied Sciences, the Swiss Academy of Sciences and of Biotechnet Switzerland complement the topical part. With the two new regular columns the self-representation of the SCS and divisional activities made another leap forward.
Sarah Sulzer-Mosse took over as the contact person to the CHIMIA Advisory Board. She started to revamp the AB and to align its activities along the lines defined in the regulations. In addition to these organizational adaptions further steps to the continuing optical rejuvenation of CHIMIA are already initiated.
After 16 years in various functions Roland W. Kunz stepped down from the editorial board by the end of 2018 and therefore also from the SCS Board of Directors and Executive Board. Gillian Harvey, this journal's long-term technical editor, was elected to succeed him and we are very glad that she accepted this additional appointment.
In its fifth year as a full member of the ChemPubSoc community the SCS could profit again from a respectable royalty payment of ?Chemistry a European Journal? and other ChemPubSoc Journals as well as from the ChemPubSoc conference grant.SCS hosted the annual ChemPubSoc meeting in Bern on June 15-16, 2018, including a dinner in the Restaurant Rosengarten, that was very much appreciated by the delegates.SCS holds 5% of shares of Chemistry ? A European Journal and participates as co-owner of ChemElectroChem, ChemPlusChem, ChemistryOpen, ChemCatChem, ChemPhotoChem, Batteries & Supercaps and Chemistry Select.SCS supported the marketing initiatives of ChemPubSoc on its website, during SCS events and in CHIMIA.
In year one after the 100thanniversary and in the 3rdyear after the relaunch Helvetica registered an encouraging increase of Swiss contributions. Anyhow, the total number of published articles needs to be increased to ensure a sustainable development.SCS signed a new contract with Willey-VHCA to underline the commitment of both parties to further push the journal and to strengthen the relationship.As one of the major issues, Helvetica will have to adapt to the new guidelines from the European research funding organizations and their approach of a full Open Access publishing world.
January 26-28, 2018, Saas-Fee
About 50 participants followed the invitation of the Swiss Young Chemists' Association and spent a fruitful weekend in Saas. Invited lecture were given by Peter Chen, ETZ Zürich, Delia Mihaila, MDPI, Dmitry S. Perekalin, Russian Academy of Sciences and Matthias Rizzi, Consulting International.As a novelty, a panel discussion about ?perspectives with a PhD degree? was organized by the OC and included inputs from Sviatlana Siankevich, Embion Technologies SA, Matthew Wise, ABB, Justus Tönnemann, Carbogen Amcis and Gerald Bauer, PSI. Finally, three sessions with contributed lectures completed the program.
A conference report was published in CHIMIA 3/2018.
March 22, 2018, Cilag, Schaffhausen
The annual meeting of the SCS Division of Industrial and Applied Chemistry (DIAC) took place on March 22nd 2018 at CILAG AG, located in Schaffhausen. The welcome and introduction of CILAG AG was presented by Wolfgang Epple, Operations Director, BU Parenterals. Cilag AG was established in Schaffhausen in 1936 and has been part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies since 1959. In the 1990s in particular, the company expanded continuously through innovation, and today Cilag AG is one of the largest manufacturers in the Swiss pharmaceuticals industry. Cilag AG employs approximately 1200 people. The company is a strategic market launch and manufacturing location for some of Johnson & Johnson?s most important pharmaceutical products, using state-of-the-art technologies and processes.An exclusive and very interesting lecture had been given by Setrak Bahceli from BASF Intertrade AG with the title ?Trading in Procurement - Gambling or Necessity?? The trading and balancing of the raw material flows, contributes to the stabilization of the world markets and therefore an increasing demand, considering the actual raw material supply situation in Europe.
April 6, 2018, University of Neuchâtel
The SCS Spring Meeting 2018 was organized by Prof. Bruno Therrien (University of Neuchâtel) under the topic ?Bio-inspired Chemistry?. To meet the importance and relevance of this topic, five leading speakers were invited; Profs. Leroy Cronin, University of Glasgow UK, Tom Ward, University of Basel Switzerland, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, University of Strasbourg France, Takashi Kato, University of Tokyo Japan, Peng Yin, Wyss Institute Harvard USA. They provided the attendees with exciting presentations about this topic in a broader sense. Traditionally, the Spring Meeting is the platform for the Alfred Werner Prize which was awarded this year to Prof. Sandra Luber from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Her award lecture gave fascinating insights into theoretical chemistry as related to light-induced water oxidation processes and was entitled ?Advanced computational approaches for bio-inspired water splitting?. The Spring Meeting was very well attended with participants not only from Switzerland but also from abroad.
A conference report was published in CHIMIA 6/2018.
April 12-13, 2018, Beatenberg:
Over 50 analytical scientists attended and enjoyed the scientific and social exchange of this event organized by the SCS Division of Analytical Sciences..A conference report was published in CHIMIA 6/2018
April 29 - May 3, 2018, Brunnen
For the second time, the traditional and renowned conference in Brunnen was under the patronage of the Swiss Chemical Society. A total of 111 researcher from 19 nations participated in the conference and listened to the 13 lectures.Under the masterful direction of president Ilan Marek, Technion ? Israel Institute of Technology, the unwritten theme of this year?s meeting seemed to be "science meets art?. It was in this spirit, and thanks to the hard work of the organizing committee ? Christian Bochet, Alain de Mesmaeker, Fabrice Gallou, and Cristina Nevado ? that the 53rd Edition was a showcase of cutting-edge chemistry, ranging from the fundamental to the applicative; from the elegantly simple to the beautifully complex.
Main speakers of the 2018 edition were
A conference report was published in CHIMIA 06/2018.
June 13-15, 2018, Interlaken
SwissCat (a Section of the SCS Division of Fundamental Research) kicked off successfully a new seminar cycle in the framework of the SCS Seminar series. The summer school entitled ?Catalysis Across Scales? brought together academic and industrial scientists and renowned Swiss and international instructors in Interlaken on June 13-15, providing an ideal platform to identify recent progress and open challenges in homogeneous, heterogeneous, and bio- catalysis spanning from the level of active site design to that of process implementation for timely conversions of small and large molecules, renewables and waste feedstocks. The active participation and intense scientific exchange strongly supported networking, paving the way to future collaborations.The event, organized by Prof. Prof. Javier Pérez-Ramírez, Prof. Christophe Copéret, Dr. Cecilia Mondelli, and Dr. Alexey Fedorov, ETH Zurich, and Dr. Hans P. Lüthi, SCS Foundation, brought 34 participants and 13 instructors to the City Oberland Hotel in Interlaken. Among the participants, as well as within the body of instructors, industry was well represented.
A conference report was published in CHIMIA 11/2018.
September 7, 2018, EPFL Lausanne
The Fall Meeting is the largest event of the Swiss Chemical Society. Whereas it was extended to 1.5 days in 2017 in Berne, the duration was again one day at the Meeting in Lausanne. The two-day event will though not be given up but will be repeated in three years turn. The DFR board proposed a corresponding sequence to the SCS executive board. The Fall Meeting was very well attended with about 900 national and international participants. 108 oral communications and 400 posters were presented throughout the fields of chemical research.
Plenary lectures were provided by the SandmeyerAward recipients Drs. Raymonde Fonné-Pfister and Alain De Mesmaeker from Syngenta, by Dr. Paul W. Manley Novartis, the awardee of the SISF-SCS Distinguished Investigator Award, by Clemens Lambert from Syngenta, the winner of the SISF-SCS Senior Industrial Science Award and by Prof. Ruedi Aebersold, ETH Zürich as the Paracelsus Award recipient. The meeting was excellently organized by the local team under the chair of Prof. Sandrine Gerber and a scientific committee from all Swiss Universities. Parallel sessions in the classical fields of chemistry in the morning and in the afternoon gave insights into fundamental and applied research going on in the different divisions of the SCS.
The Fall Meeting was financially supported by many companies, namely the Swiss Industry Science Fund SISF (BASF, Syngenta, Novartis, Roche), by the Swiss Academy of Science SCNAT, ChemPubSoc and the EPF Lausanne. Session endowments came from Mettler Toledo, Clariant, IBM Research, Janssen, Idorsia, Syngenta and Dow. DSM and Metrohm are the award sponsors. All their support is gratefully acknowledged.
Feedback from the participants was excellent and the Jury had for once enough time to select the laureates, mirroring the excellent organization of Prof. Sandrine Gerber. In 2021, the next Fall Meeting will again be at the EPF Lausanne.
For program details and abstracts see CHIMIA 7-8/2018.
October 3-4, 2019, Lausanne
The necessity of a trade show in Lausanne is based on the strong position of the French speaking part of Switzerland in the sectors of chemistry, biotechnology and laboratory in general. After a very successful launch of the fair in 2017 also the second edition on October 3-4, 2018, was a great success. As partner of ILMAC, SCS organized the forum program on the first fair day. BiloAlps organized the forum on the second day.
ILMAC Forum organized by the SCS: Wed, October 3, 2018«SCS Symposium on Process Analytical Technology (PAT)»: Five experts from the chemical and pharmaceutical production talked about their experiences and how PAT was implemented in their companies and what the impact is.Chair: Tobias Merz, Lonza AGSpeakers: Volker Kehlenbeck, Nestlé, Marc Michaelis, Hüttlin GmbH, Samd Guizani, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Helge Engelking, Lonza AG, Michal Dabros, HES-SO, Fribourg, Bernd Heinen, JMP Software/SAS Institute.
A conference report was published in CHIMIA 11/2018.
October 4, 2019, University of Basel
Clariant in collaboration with University of Basel and the SCS has once again honored outstanding scientific achievements in the field of Clean Technologies and Sustainable Chemistry at the fourth Clariant Chemistry Day by presenting its CleanTech Award. The top prize was awarded to Ydna Marie Questell-Santiago, EPFL Lausanne, for her scientific work on new routes to carbohydrates and derivates derived from biomass. Runner-up prizes were awarded to Amita Ummadisingu, EPFL Lausanne, Erwin Lam, ETH Zurich, as well as Jan-Georg Rosenboom and Dr. Peter Fleckenstein, ETH Zurich.As winner of the Clariant Chemistry Award at University of Basel Rajesh Mannancherry was awarded for his research on all-carbon ?Geländer? structures.Prof. Paul Dyson, EPFL Lausanne, as invited guest and the lecturers from Clariant, Marvin Estenfelder, Markus Rarbach and Tobias Platen completed the program.
A conference report was published in CHIMIA 12/2018.
October 5, 2019, EPFL Lausanne
Organized by Daniel Görl, Oguzhan Oguz and Enzo Bomal and chaired by Prof. Holger Frauenrath, the 2018 Polycoll meeting took place at EPFL Lausanne on October 5, 2018. Polycoll is the annual meeting of the SCS Division of Polymers, Colloids & Interfaces.Pol Besenius, University of Mainz, Christophe Schmitt, Nestlé Research Center, Giovanni Pavan, SUPSI Lugano, Stephen Schrettl, AMI Fribourg, Eric R. Dufresne, ETH Zurich, Andreas Herrmann, DWI Aachen, Francesco Stellacci, EPFL Lausanne and Erik Berda, University of New Hampshire, reported about their latest research in one of the invited lectures.The three Doctoral Research Lectures were given by Omar Rifaie Graham, AMI Fribourg, Jan-Georg Rosenboom, ETH Zurich, and Michele Zanini, ETH Zurich.A poster session with 23 posters during lunch time completed the program.
October 19, 2018, University of Basel
The symposium offered again a unique platform for industrial scientists, working in research and process research, to present their latest results, to interact with each other and to network with professors, PhD students and other scientific staff of Swiss universities. After its launch in 2016, the event took place at the University of Basel on October 19, 2018. More than 260 participants joined the symposium and listened to the lectures of Silvio Roggo, Novartis AG, Marc Thommen, Polyphor Ltd, and Dr. Stefan Eissler, Bachem AG, Michael Levis, Siegfried AG, Christian Chapuis, Firmenich SA, Andreas Hafner, BASF Schweiz AG, Andreas Gloger, Philochem AG, Christof Aellig, Lonza AG, Paul Hebeisen, PIQUR Therapeutics AG, Thomas Woltering and Dr. Jean-Michel Adam, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Christoph Boss, Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd. as well as Clemens Lamberth, Syngenta Crop Protection AG. Short presentations by Andreas Hafner, BASF Schweiz AG, Andreas Gloger, Philochem AG, Christof Aellig, Lonza AG, Paul Hebeisen, PIQUR Therapeutics AG, Craig Harris, Nestlé Skin Health/Galderma S.A., Werner Bonrath, DSM Nutritional Products, Thomas Fessard, Spirochem AG, Vit Lellek, Cilag/ Johnson & Johnson highlighted R&D success stories in two compact and interesting sessions.A poster session with more than 50 posters stimulated the interaction between the participants and provided a welcomed platform for PhD students to present their latest research and to get in touch with industrial colleagues.
www.euchems.eu
About EuChemS
EuChemS acts as a single independent voice for chemistry in Europe. EuChemS advises the European Parliament and Commission on chemistry topics and promotes excellence in European research via continuous collaboration with the European Research Council. EuCheMS runs the biennial European Chemistry Congress, that took place in Liverpool from August 26-30, 2018. The divisions and working parties run biennial conferences and summer schools in most areas of chemistry as well as other activities.
This year´s GA discussed many of the upcoming developments and activities to be carried out by EuChemS over the next year: in particular, preparations and ideas for projects and events in celebration of the 2019 International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019); the approaching launch of the EuChemS online course on Chemistry and Ethics; as well as updates on the upcoming 3rd European Employability Survey for Chemists. The latest EuChemS activities on the upcoming EU research framework programme, Horizon Europe were also presented to the General Assembly.
The board members also presented the new EuChemS logo and announced the renaming of the organization from European Chemical Sciences to European Chemical Society.
In 2018 EuCheMS published 4 Newsletters and a monthly EuCheMS Brussels News Update. SCS re-published them on the SCS website and partially in CHIMIA.
SCS hosted the Executive Board meeting in Bern on June 18-19, 2018, including a dinner in the Restaurant Kornhauskeller, that was much appreciated by the board members.
One of the main duties of the SCS Division of Fundamental Research is to financially support conferences within Switzerland organized by its members. The rules for support have been amended in 2017 and support was given according to these new guide lines. The following conferences and symposia were thus supported in 2018
www.scg.ch/DCE/
Six Chemical Education columns were published in CHIMIA.
The Division partnered for the Scientiae & Robotica at EPFL Lausanne on September 5-8, 2018. This event provided further education possibilities for teachers on the secondary school level and not only focused on chemistry but also on robotic projects in the fields of biology, IT, mathematics and physics.
SCS supported the ?VSN Zentralkurs Chemie? in Solothurn on October 17-19, 2018 and awarded the Balmer Prize on the occasion of the event dinner to Dr. Thibaud Rossel, Gymnase français de Bienne, École de Maturité, Spécialisée.
The SCS Lectureships are organized by the SCS Division of Fundamental Research since 2013. It consists of a one-week lecture tour of the awardee through at least 4-5 Swiss Universities. The 2018 program consisted of the following eight programs:
More details can be found athttp://scg.ch/scs-lectureships
scg.ch/awards
The SCS awarded six individuals and one group of scientists for their outstanding contributions. A total sum of CHF 80'000 as well as medals and award certificates were given to the prize winners.
CHF 20'000; awarded to a promising young scientist for outstanding independent research in photochemistry, photo physics or molecular photobiology. The award was given to
Prof. Ruedi Aebersold, ETH Zurich, for his exceptional and visionary contributions to the field of proteomics in general and to the fields of analytical chemistry, protein chemistry, and mass spectrometry specifically.The prize was given on the occasion of the SCS Fall Meeting in Lausanne on September 7, 2018.
CHF 10'000 and medal in bronze; awarded to a promising young scientist for outstanding independent chemical research. The award was given to
Prof. Sandra Luber, Universtiy of Zürich, for her excellent research accomplishments in the field of theoretical and computational chemistry. Her work covers a wide range of approaches, mostly with emphasis on highly accurate methods derived from quantum mechanics, which she has applied to a wide variety of challenging systems.The prize was given on the occasion of the SCS Spring Meeting in Neuchâtel on April 6, 2018.
The prize is given to honor senior scientists for their lifetime achievements in chemical research. The winner receives a certificate and a cash check of CHF 15'000.
Dr. Paul W. Manley, Novartis Pharmaceuticals AG, Basel, for his impressive track record of success as a medicinal chemist, including 31 years in Basel at Sandoz/Novartis, working in several disease areas and on multiple classes of drug targets, including the invention of the commercial antileukemia drug Nilotinib.
The prize is given to honor very successful and established investigators with outstanding achievements over many years. The winner receives a certificate and a cash check of CHF 10'000.
Dr. Clemens Lamberth, for his impressive track record of success in the field of fungicide research within Crop Protection, including the invention of the fungicide Mandipropamid (Revus®, Pergado®).The two SISF-SCS award lectures took place on the occasion of the SCS Fall Meeting in Lausanne on September 7, 2018.
CHF 20'000; awarded to a person or to a group for outstanding work in industrial or applied chemistry. The SCS awarded the prize 2018 to the team from
Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Stein (AG), namely Dr. Raymonde Fonné-Pfister, Dr. Claudio Screpanti, Dr. Alain De Mesmaeker and Dr. Harro Bouwmeester, University of Amsterdam, for their pioneering work on Strigolactones that can be considered a collaboration masterpiece between Industry and Academia to explore novel area of this phytohormonal family. The award lecture was given at the Fall Meeting on September 7, 2018.
CHF 2'000 for individuals and CHF 2'000 for the school's chemistry department. SCS awarded
Dr. Thibaud Rossel, Gymnase français de Bienne, École de Maturité, Spécialisée, for his very original and impressive research program at the Gymnase Français where he teaches, using simple methods and resources and, even more impressively, the experiments are shared with high-school students, who are happy to carry-out original research work as part of their training in chemistry.The award was given on the occasion of the VSN-Zentralkus Chemie in Solothurn on October 17, 2018.
CHF 1'000 and medal in bronze; presented for an outstanding diploma thesis in Chemistry conducted at a Swiss University of Applied Sciences. SCS awarded
Ms. Fabienne Arn, ZHAW Wädenswil, for her excellent Bachelor diploma thesis entitled «Strukturelle Optimierung eines Matrixmetalloproteinase-13-Inhibitors»The award was given on the occasion of the TEDD Annual Meeting 2018 in Wädenswil on October 25, 2018.