Chemistry school will have four Nobel prize winners

The São Paulo Advanced School on Chemistry – Natural Products, Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Synthesis Integrated Solutions for Tomorrow’s World (ESPCA-Chemistry) will be held from August 14-18 at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).

Agência FAPESP –  The São Paulo Advanced School on Chemistry – Natural Products, Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Synthesis Integrated Solutions for Tomorrow’s World (ESPCA-Chemistry) will be held from August 14-18 at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).

Organized under the auspices of ESPCA (São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences), a FAPESP funding line launched in 2009, the event will select some 200 students to participate. Half of those will have all expenses associated with transportation, meals and lodging paid for by the organization.

Of these 100 students receiving aid to participate in ESPCA, 50 will be Brazilian and 50 from other countries. The other 100 selected will be responsible for paying their own event-related expenses.

Potential candidates should be registered in graduate or post-graduate studies in Brazil or abroad, and/or be potential candidates for doctoral or post-doctoral courses in higher education or research institutions in São Paulo State. Young doctoral students are also welcome to apply.

Those selected will have the opportunity to take classes and present the results of their research discussing their progress with renowned scientists from Brazil and abroad in poster sessions.

“The selection will be based on merit. We want talented students from the four continents and throughout Brazil, principally in the North, Northeast and Midwest regions,” says professor Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) and event coordinator, Vanderlan Bolzani to Agência FAPESP.
  
The event is on Brazil’s official calendar of commemorations for the International Year of Chemistry (AIQ), created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Iupac).

With a view to covering one of the most important topics of the themes in this worldwide celebration – chemistry in the context of global challenges – the topic chosen by ESPCA was Natural Products, Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Synthesis.

According to Bolzani, the main global challenges are energy, climate change and health. Natural products, medicinal chemistry and organic synthesis are extremely important research areas for integrated solutions to some of the challenges of human health and well-being.

“Nature is a perfect laboratory and produces innumerous molecules and these constitute a constant challenge to synthetic chemists who can synthesize or modify them. Many have great utility in areas like medicinal chemistry, making them highly valued products for medicine. The synthesis of some of these molecules rendered Nobel prizes for several chemists that imitated nature in pioneering ways,” affirms the researcher, who is a member of the coordination team for the BIOTA-FAPESP program.
 
Some of these Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, like Japan’s Ei-ichi Negishi, Israel’s Ada Yonath, the U.S.’ Richard Schrock and Switzerland’s Kurt Wüthrich were invited and will give classes during ESPCA-Chemistry.

Negishi, who will be making his first visit to Brazil, won the award in 2010 along with another Japanese national, Akira Suzuki, and American Robert Heck, for creating complex carbon molecules that can be used to manufacture several devices like anti-cancer medicines or electronic equipment.

Yonath, the 2009 Nobel prize winner along with India’s Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and the U.S.’ Thomaz Steitz for research on the ribosome, was in Brazil to participate as a professor in the ESPCA New Developments in the Field of Synchrotron Radiation, held at the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) in Campinas last January.

Shrock, who is also coming to Brazil for the first time, received the 2005 Nobel prize along with American Robert Grubbs and France’s Yves Chauvin for development of the method of metathesis in organic synthesis, which is utilized by the chemical industry to develop advanced drugs and plastic materials.

Kurt Wüthrich won the prize in 2002 for developing a method of determining the three-dimensional structure of proteins utilizing nuclear magnetic resonance as an analysis tool.

Youth and women

But ESPCA-Chemistry will not be limited to Nobel prize winners. Participants will included other prominent scientists such as England’s Simon Fraser Campbell, who led the team of researchers responsible for the development of Viagra and other pharmaceutical products, like Cardura to treat high blood pressure and prostate problems, and Norvasc, utilized for high blood pressure and angina. Campbell lived in Brazil in the early 1970s, when he was a visiting professor at Universidade de São Paulo (USP).

“These foreign scientists were invited based on their knowledge of cutting-edge research in chemistry both in the area of natural products, medicinal chemistry and organic synthesis,” affirms Bolzani.
During the event, in addition to classes and presentations on research, the participating students will have the opportunity to interact with scientists at a typical Brazilian dinner that is planned to take place at an old coffee plantation near Campinas.

The event’s format is inspired by the Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings, in which young researchers from the world over are selected based on merit to meet with Nobel prize winners in the German city with the objective of discussing information on science, research and what the advance of knowledge represents for the personal, social and economic development of a nation and the future of humanity.

“We want young researchers at ESPCA-Chemistry to participate in all activities in a relaxed manner and for contact with researchers to go beyond the formal atmosphere of the classroom. We want the event to be an enriching experience in all aspects. We want to see these young adults informally discussing chemistry, science and other subjects with the visiting scientists. Moments like these will certainly be memorable experiences. I say this because, when I was young, I was introduced to Sir Derek Harold Richard Barton, 1969 Nobel prize winner in Chemistry, was enchanted and to this day remember that moment,” comments Bolzani.The FAPESP-supported event, São Paulo state’s tribute to the AIQ, is being organized by the Brazilian Chemistry Society in partnership with Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Universidade de Campinas (Unicamp), Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar).

“AIQ is also a celebration of the role of women in science and I would like to see many talented young ladies participating in ESPCA,” says Bolzani.

Students interested in participating should apply via www.espcachemistry.iqm.unicamp.br.