Sponsored by the CSC Biological/Medicinal Chemistry Division and Organic Chemistry Division
The Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship Award (formerly the Teva Canada Limited Biological and Medicinal Chemistry (BMC) Lectureship Award) is presented to a scientist who has made a distinguished contribution to the field of biological or medicinal chemistry within the past five years of the initial nomination deadline date while working in Canada.
Deadline extended to Sept. 1, 2023
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
The 2023 winner of the Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship Award is:
Nicolas Moitessier, MCIC
McGill University
After a PhD at the interface of carbohydrate, medicinal and computational chemistry (1998, Université Henri Poincaré-Nancy I, France), Moitessier moved to Montreal for post-doctoral studies with Prof. Shephen Hanessian (1998-2000, medicinal chemistry, asymmetric synthesis). In 2001, he moved back to Nancy to start an academic career (Chargé de Recherche, CNRS) then back to Montréal in 2003 to join McGill University as a Professor.
Moitessier has been at the forefront of developments in developing and applying computational methods as predictors of biological and asymmetric catalyst efficiency, linking computation to discovery with significant impact in the world of Medicinal Chemistry. His research involves the development of computer-assisted chemistry predictions, with the development of the computer-aided drug design platform Forecaster among other programs, and application to the design and synthesis of novel covalent enzyme inhibitors as potential drugs. Over the past decade, their efforts have led to the development of very potent covalent prolyl oligopeptidase inhibitors active in living neurons as potential Parkinson’s disease therapeutics, accurate computational methods and novel synthetic methodologies. In 2010, he co-founded Molecular Forecaster and in 2016, he was appointed as Associate Editor of the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.