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26.8.2020 | Hochschule für Life Sciences, Institut für Chemie und Bioanalytik

Summer School: Digitalization in Chemistry

During the week of July 20-24th we enjoyed the first edition of our summer school Digitalization in Chemistry - “Predicting structure, reactivity & properties in modern drug discovery”.

As this topic is of great interest, not only for students of the School of Life Sciences, we had originally planned to open this summer school also for interested scientist from industry; however, and unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, this year attendance was limited to FHNW-students. Those attending, however, experienced an excellent program. Topics covered basic principles of modelling, artificial intelligence & creativity in drug discovery, the importance of data and databases, the introduction to and hands-on use of a specific computational structural modelling software as well as in-depth discussions of industrial case studies. The program also included a company-visit to experience and discuss automated and robotic solutions for conducting organic synthesis. All topics were lectured by scientists from the chemical industry, thus providing an excellent overview of the latest state-of-the-art in the applications of data science, artificial intelligence, neural networks and computational modeling in modern drug discovery - to design, select and prepare tomorrow’s medication. Students also gained insides on current limitations and future technology developments. The program finished with an insight on “The artificial intelligence decision-making processes in autonomous driving”, demonstrating how data science principles are applied in areas outside chemistry.

We would like to warmly thank all the lecturers for their enthusiastic presentations and efforts leading to this successful event:

Dr. Katia Dekimeche, Dr. David Rinaldo (Schrödinger, Inc.): introduction to chemical simulation software for use in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and materials research. Hands-on Maestro-Software workshop.

Dr. Simon Walter (DSM Nutritional Products Ltd.):  “Work with” and “Learn from” databases (protein, small molecules)

Dr. Christoph Boss, Mr. Julien Hazemann, Dr. Alexander Metz (Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd): The importance of selecting compounds for screening in drug discovery, machine learning in Drug Discovery, structure based screening against SARS-CoV MPro

Dr. Marco Stenta (Syngenta) Basic Principles of Modelling, Concept of modeling, Design of Models, Reaction modeling, Application of Modelling, such as Reactions and Molecular properties, Computer aided molecular design & modelling

Dr. Christian Dittrich, Dr. Michael Schneider (Chemspeed Technologies AG): Company visit, laboratory demonstrations and  introduction to state-of-the-art in laboratory automatization robotics: “Standardized, Digitalized and Accelerated Solutions for Organic Chemistry”

Prof. Dr. Christian Kronseder (HLS, FHNW) Autonomous Driving: Artificial Intelligence in decission making and ethical considerations

We are already looking forward to next year’s summer school. Stay tuned!

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Hochschule für Life Sciences FHNW

Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW Hochschule für Life Sciences Hofackerstrasse 30 4132 Muttenz
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