Speakers

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, United States

https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/morrissey/departments/chemistry/research-labs/Hoveyda-research-group.html

Amir H. Hoveyda is the Vanderslice Millennium Professor of Chemistry at Boston College (since 1998) as well as the Director of Catalysis in Chemical Synthesis at the Institute for Supramolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Strasbourg (since 2019). He received his B. A. degree at Columbia, was a graduate student at Yale (Stuart Schreiber), and an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at Harvard (David Evans).

His honors include an NIH MERIT Award (2005), the Yamada-Koga Prize (2010), the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Organic Synthesis (2014), the Eni Prize for Hydrocarbon Research (2014), and the American Chemical Society H. C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods (2020).

His scholarly interests are in the development of new catalysts and catalytic strategies and methods. Hoveyda’s program encompasses organometallic chemistry, detailed mechanistic investigations, development of catalytic click processes, complex molecule total synthesis, and programmable remodeling of complex molecules with an eye toward accelerating hit discovery for drug development. Hoveyda and Richard Schrock are the cofounders of XiMo.

Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, Saarbrücken, Germany

https://www.helmholtz-hips.de/en/research/teams/team/drug-design-and-optimisation/

Anna K. H. Hirsch is W3 (full) professor for Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Saarland University and head of the department for drug design and optimization at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS). She read Natural Sciences with a focus on Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and spent her third year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, doing a research project with Prof. Timothy Jamison. She carried out her Master’s research project in the group of Prof. Steven V. Ley at the University of Cambridge.

She received her Ph.D. from the ETH Zurich in 2008 in the group of Prof. François Diederich. Subsequently, she joined the group of Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn at the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) in Strasbourg as an HFSP postdoctoral fellow, before taking up a position as assistant professor at the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry at the University of Groningen in 2010 where she was promoted to associate professor in 2015.

Her work focuses on anti-infective drug design by adopting rational approaches such as structure- and fragment-based drug design in combination with the protein-templated strategies dynamic combinatorial chemistry and kinetic target-guided synthesis.

Anna has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and has received numerous awards such as the Gratama Science Prize in 2014, the SCT-Servier Prize for Medicinal Chemistry in 2015, the Innovation Prize for Medicinal Chemistry of the GdCh/DPhG in 2017, the EFMC Young Medicinal Chemist in Academia runner-up Prize in 2019, the RSC-BMCS Capps Green Zomaya Award for Medicinal or Computational Chemistry in 2024, and in 2025 the SCT Award for Drug Discovery Chemistry and the Grand Prix en Sciences Chimiques of the Institut Grand-Ducal, Luxembourg.

University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

https://bernardes.group.ch.cam.ac.uk/

Gonçalo Bernardes is Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Cambridge. He completed his D.Phil. at the University of Oxford in 2008, followed by postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and at ETH Zürich. He began his independent research career at the University of Cambridge in 2013 as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. He was appointed University Lecturer in 2018, promoted to Reader in 2019, and to Full Professor in 2022.

Professor Bernardes is the recipient of three European Research Council grants and has received numerous distinctions, including the 2024 Corday–Morgan Prize for Chemistry from the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research focuses on applying chemical principles to generate new biological insights and to develop targeted therapeutics. He has co-founded several companies based on technologies developed in his laboratory and is a Senior Fellow at Flagship Pioneering, the world’s largest global venture creation firm. He is a first-generation high-school and university graduate.

Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

http://tortosagroup.com/

Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

https://imed.ulisboa.pt/labs/medicinal-chemistry/

Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany

https://www.mpip-mainz.mpg.de/en/weil

Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

https://web.ist.utl.pt/carlos.baleizao/

NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT-NOVA), Caparica, Portugal

https://filipamarcelo.wixsite.com/glyco/home

LAQV/REQUIMTE - Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Portugal

https://laqv.requimte.pt/people/524-ivo_e_sampaio_dias

Ivo E. Sampaio-Dias is a Ph.D. Researcher at LAQV/REQUIMTE, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto. He obtained his Ph.D. in Sustainable Chemistry in 2018 through a joint doctoral program between the Universities of Porto, Aveiro, and Nova de Lisboa, in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela. His doctoral research focused on the development of sustainable strategies for peptide synthesis and the development of peptide-based compounds targeting neurological disorders.

Following his Ph.D., he carried out postdoctoral research in Portugal and Spain, where he expanded his expertise towards the design and biological evaluation of vitamin D derivatives with potential antineoplastic activity. During this period, he secured a highly competitive CEEC research position, consolidating his independent research profile.

Since 2021, Sampaio-Dias has led several funded research projects as Principal Investigator, focusing on melanostatin-based therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases and the development of novel vitamin D receptor ligands for cancer therapy. His work has resulted in granted patents in Portugal and Spain, as well as international PCT applications. He has received 25 distinctions and awards, notably two BIP Proof Prizes, two IACOBUS Research Paper Awards, an IACOBUS Patent Award, and highlights from Synfacts and the American Peptide Society.

He currently serves as an Associate Editorial Board Member of Current Medicinal Chemistry and has held academic positions as an Invited Assistant and Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, and at the School of Health of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto. He has supervised more than 60 early-career researchers and students, including postdoctoral fellows and Ph.D. and M.Sc. students.

His research interests encompass the development of sustainable organic synthesis methodologies to accelerate chemical biology research programs. A key focus of his work is the translation of peptide-based therapeutics, fostering international collaborations with strong societal impact.

Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

https://mariacmatos.wixsite.com/website

Dr. Maria João Matos completed her studies in medicinal chemistry in Portugal, Italy and Spain, under the supervision of Prof. Eugenio Uriarte, Prof. Gianni Podda and Prof. Fernanda Borges, before moving to the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) as postdoctoral fellow in 2015, to work in chemical biology, in the group of Prof. Gonçalo Bernardes. Since 2023, Dr. Matos is Associate Professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), leading an enthusiastic group of undergraduate and PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers, working on new tools for drug design, discovery and delivery, particularly in the fields of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. She has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications in leading scientific journals and is the inventor of two patents related to small-molecule therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease and cardiovascular disorders.

Dr. Matos established her scientific career in fruitful national and international collaborations with both academic and industrial partners. She has received several fellowships and distinctions, including affiliation with Newnham College, University of Cambridge, from 2015 to 2018. In addition, she has served on multiple editorial boards and international scientific committees, including i.e. the ChemMedChem International Advisory Board and the International Scientific Committee for the EFMC Medicinal Chemistry 2026. She is also the USC Coordinator of the Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD Network and a member of the Executive Committee of the Spanish Drug Discovery Network (SDDN), making active contributions to the fields of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology.

Finally, Dr. Matos is one of the researchers within the 2% of the most cited scientists in the world, according to the Stanford University ranking.

Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

https://mms.rd.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/

Miguel Machuqueiro is an Assistant Professor in Computational Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (Ciências@ULisboa) and a member of the executive board of BioISI. He obtained his PhD in Bio-Organic Chemistry from the University of Bern (CH) in 2003. Subsequently, he shifted his focus to molecular modelling and simulation during his post-doctoral work at ITQB-UNL. Since 2009, he has led the Computational Biophysics Lab (https://mms.rd.ciencias.ulisboa.pt), securing multiple competitive research grants, publishing over 100 peer-reviewed articles (h-index 35, >4100 citations), and supervising a dynamic team of postdoctoral, PhD, and MSc researchers. His expertise spans biomolecular simulation, constant-pH MD, membrane biophysics, and electrostatics, and he manages a high-performance computational infrastructure shared across BioISI groups. He also maintains an active international research network, participating in multiple cross-border collaborations and initiatives that promote the internationalization of Portuguese science. In 2023 and 2025, he received the Ciências@ULisboa Scientific Merit Award in Chemical Sciences & Technologies. In 2025, he was awarded the UL/CGD Scientífic Award in Biology, Biologic Eng., Biochemistry, and Biotechnology.

Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

https://laqv.requimte.pt/people/1747-vera_l_m_silva

Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

https://cqe.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/expert/joao-p-c-tome/

Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

https://cqc.uc.pt/en/research-groups/f-biological-chemistry/biomembranes-structure-and-function

Maria J. Moreno graduated in Biochemistry (University of Lisbon) and obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (Nova University of Lisbon) in 2000, She is currently an Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra, and the coordinator of the Biological Chemistry group from the research unit CQC-IMS. Her main research interests are on Chemical Biophysics, mostly focused on the properties of biomembranes, their function as semi-permeable barriers that control the availability of drugs at their active sites, and development of strategies to optimize drug pharmacokinetics. She is co-author of nearly 100 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, with an h-index of 32 (GS), with research work funded by several projects including collaborations with industry. Teaching and student supervision is a major complementary activity, being involved in the supervision of 4 post-doctoral researchers, 10 Ph.D, nearly 30 Master, and over 40 Graduation students.

Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

https://medorgchemlab.wixsite.com/medorgchemgroup

Maria M. M. Santos is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa (FFUL) and leader of the Medicinal Organic Chemistry group at iMed.ULisboa.

She obtained her Ph.D. in Organic Synthesis at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, developing new synthetic routes for indolocarbazole alkaloids. After postdoctoral research in Spain (Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Barcelona) working on asymmetric synthesis projects, she joined FFUL. There, she secured competitive positions under the Ciência 2007, Investigador FCT, and CEEC programs. Her contributions have been recognized with awards such as the Portuguese Chemical Society’s Young Organic Chemist Prize, international distinctions as a rising talent in medicinal chemistry, and leadership of several funded projects. Her current work focuses on medicinal chemistry, including the development of irreversible cysteine protease inhibitors, protein-protein interaction inhibitors, and stabilizers of wild-type and mutant p53. For detailed information, please take a look at her recent publications and the webpage of her research group!

Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

https://sweet.ua.pt/ncandeias/

Nuno R. Candeias graduated in Applied Chemistry from New University of Lisbon (2004) and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Technical University of Lisbon, under the supervision of Prof. Carlos A. M. Afonso (2008). After, he took a post-doc at Lisbon University (Portugal) and at the Scripps Research Institute (San Diego, USA). From 2012-2019 he was University Lecturer and independent researcher at Tampere University of Technology (Finland) where he was also Academy Research Fellow (2015-2020). In 2020 he moved to the University of Aveiro as an Assistant Professor. His research interests span multiple topics, from synthetic chemistry, green chemistry, medicinal chemistry and computational chemistry, targeting thee design and development of new catalytic reactions for the synthesis of small molecules, as well as the valorization of renewable feedstocks and waste material using photoredox catalytic methods.

Centro de Química da Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

https://www.cq.uminho.pt/team/paula-margarida-ferreira

Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

https://imed.ulisboa.pt/members/rafael-gomes/

Rafael Gomes is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon (FFUL). He underwent his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof Carlos Afonso (FFUL) where he studied the preparation of bioactive skeletons from lignocellulosic biomass. After his PhD he studied the total synthesis of natural products, namely cytotoxic alkaloid Agelastatin A, and conducted research in CBIOS on the discovery of cytotoxic scaffolds. After a short stay at the University of Cambridge in Gonçalo Bernardes' lab, studying the photochemical modification of proteins, he resumed his work in Lisbon to FFUL where his current research interests lie in the interface between Medicinal and Sustainable chemistry. His active research topics are the valorization of chitinous biomass, total synthesis of complex natural products, nature-inspired peptides and discovery of targeted therapeutics.

Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

https://www.moraisresearchgroup.com/

Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6169-5035

Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

https://sites.unimi.it/apos.lab/dalcorso/

ITQB, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal

https://anapinalab.com/

CICECO, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

https://www.ciceco.ua.pt/joaoborges

Chimie ParisTech, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France

https://www.gassergroup.com/kevin-cariou/

Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Vienna, Austria

https://maulide.univie.ac.at/about-us/meet-the-group/the-staff/

Universidade Lusófona, Lisboa, Portugal

https://cbios.ulusofona.pt/members/patricia-rijo