Karl-Heinz Altmann has been a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich since July 2003. Professor Altmann studied chemistry at the University of Mainz, Germany and he holds a PhD degree in organic chemistry from the University of Basel, Switzerland. From 1990 to 1996 he was a research scientist and group leader at Ciba-Geigy Central Research in Basel. In 1997 he moved to Oncology Research of Novartis Pharma, until in 2000 he was appointed the Novartis Senior Chemistry Expert. From January to July 2003 he was the acting Global Head of Chemistry of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. Research in the Altmann group is centered on the chemical synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant natural products/natural product analogs and their biological evaluation, with a particular focus on leads for anticancer and antituberculosis drug discovery.

Jean-Christophe Harmange, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is an Executive Director at Constellation Pharmaceuticals. His current responsibilities include providing leadership for Drug Discovery in the areas of automation, assay development and screening, structural biology and medicinal chemistry. Prior to Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Harmange was a Director at Amgen where he led medicinal chemistry teams responsible for delivering AMG 208 and AMG 337. Prior to Amgen, Dr. Harmange occupied different positions at Eisai (Andover, MA) and at Servier (Suresnes, France). Dr. Harmange holds a Pharm. D. and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Paris XII University and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Pr. Yoshito Kishi at Harvard University.

Peter Timmerman, PhD. Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Pepscan Therapeutics Peter Timmerman studied Organic and Analytical Chemistry at the ‘Vrije Universiteit’ of Amsterdam (1984-1989). He obtained a PhD-degree in Supramolecular Chemistry (summa cum laude) from the University of Twente with David N. Reinhoudt (1994). He was Assistant Professor in Supramolecular Chemistry at the University of Twente from 1995-2001, whereafter he joined Pepscan Therapeutics in 2001. He is the inventor of Pepscan’s proprietary and broadly applicable ‘2-CLIPS’ technology for conformationally constraining peptides. The technology is a.o. applied to the mapping of conformational and discontinuous antibody binding sites. Lately, Bicycle Therapeutics was granted a non-exclusive license on the CLIPS-technology for development of therapeutic 2-CLIPS peptides. Timmerman also led the development of a therapeutic peptide-based anti-VEGF-vaccine that is currently in Phase-IIa clinical testing. Since March 2007 he holds a Special Chair in ‘Protein Mimetic Chemistry’ at the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam. Timmerman is co-author of >80 peer-reviewed scientific papers and >10 patents.

John Robinson studied chemistry at University College, London, where he was awarded the B.Sc. degree in 1974. He completed his Ph.D. at Cambridge University in 1977, under the supervision of Professor A. R. Battersby. With a Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellowship, he subsequently carried out postdoctoral work in the Biochemistry Institute of the University of Karlsruhe, before joining the Chemistry Department of Southampton University, UK in 1979 as a lecturer. In 1987, he became senior lecturer, and moved to Zurich as Full Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1989.

Erick M. Carreira was born in Havana, Cuba in 1963. He obtained a B.S. degree in 1984 from the University of Illinois at Urbana­Champaign under the supervision of Scott E. Denmark and a Ph.D. degree in 1990 from Harvard University under the supervision of David A. Evans. After carrying out postdoctoral work with Peter Dervan at the California Institute of Technology through late 1992, he joined the faculty at the same institution as an assistant professor of chemistry and subsequently was promoted to the rank of associate professor of chemistry in the Spring of 1996, and full professor in Spring 1997. Since September 1998, he has been full professor of Organic Chemistry at the ETH Zürich. He is the recipient of the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry, Nobel Laureate Signature Award, Fresenius Award, a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship in Science, Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, Merck Young Investigator Award, Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award, Pfizer Research Award, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, and a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. He is also the recipient of the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology Annual Award in Teaching and a Richard M. Badger Award in Teaching. His research program focuses on the asymmetric synthesis of biologically active, stereochemically complex, natural products. Target molecules are selected which pose unique challenges in asymmetric bond construction. A complex multistep synthesis endeavor provides a goal-oriented setting within which to engage in reaction innovation and design. Drawing from the areas of organometallic chemistry, coordination chemistry, and molecular recognition, Carreira's group is developing catalytic and stoichiometric reagents for asymmetric stereocontrol. Prof. Erick M. Carreira is a co-founder of SpiroChem AG, a swiss fine chemicals company active in the field of high-value-added building blocks and custom synthesis.

Klaus Müller is Extraordinary Professor at the University of Basel. Prior to his retirement in 2009 he occupied leading positions at F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, among them as Head of ‚Pharma New Technologies‘ and of ‚Science and Technology Relations‘ for the development of innovative technologies and scientific collaborations with external groups. He was Secretary-General and Board Member of the Roche Research Foundation until its conclusion in 2008 and since then manages the Roche Postdoc Fellowship Program. Educated as Organic Chemist at ETH Zurich, he got his PhD in 1970, undertook a 1-year postdoctoral stay in the US in physical-organic chemistry, and was then Lecturer at Harvard University, before returning to ETHZ in late 1974. He habilitated in 1977 and remained there as junior staff member before joining Roche in 1982 to develop computer-assisted molecular modeling and implementing structural biology and bioinformatics, areas where he has been active until now.

Ulrich Lücking is a Senior Research Scientist at Bayer Pharma AG in Berlin. He started his industrial career at the former Schering AG in 2001, working across multiple therapeutic areas, mainly in lead optimization, to successfully deliver multiple clinical candidates. His efforts were instrumental in the discovery of clinical candidates in the CDK inhibitor programs and in the Androgen Receptor Suppressor Program. Prior to joining industry, he studied chemistry at the University of Hannover (Germany). As an Erasmus student and later for his diploma work, he spent time in the laboratory of Prof. Steven V. Ley at Cambridge University (UK). In 1999 he completed his Ph.D. under the direction of Prof. Andreas Pfaltz at the Max Planck Institute für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr (Germany), and then carried out postdoctoral work in the laboratories of Prof. Julius Rebek at the Scripps Research

Juan-Miguel Jimenez, Senior Director, Head of Chemistry UK, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Europe. Juan-Miguel received his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry in 1993 under the supervision of Profs. Joan Bosch and Maria Luisa Bennasar in the Faculty of Pharmacy (University of Barcelona). In 1994-1995 he joined Paul Wender’s Group at Stanford University (USA), as a Fulbrigth Postdoctoral Fellow. He joined Almirall Prodesfarma in 1997 as Senior Organic Chemist and was appointed Head of Section in 2002. During the time at Almirall he participated in several projects in the area of inflammation. In 2003 he joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals (UK) as senior Project Leader and subsequently appointed Head of Chemistry in 2013 where he is currently working. He has developed leadership responsibilities for Kinase projects within several therapeutic areas, including cancer, immunology and CNS.

Herbert Nar graduated from the Technical University Munich in Chemistry and obtained his Ph.D. from the same institute with structural studies on blue copper electron transfer proteins. In his postdoctoral work with Robert Huber at the Max-Planck-Institute für Biochemie, he determined the 3D structures of proteins involved in pterin biosynthesis and studied their enzymatic mechanisms. He joined Boehringer Ingelheim in 1995 to establish a protein crystallography laboratory. In 2000, he took over responsibility for the Structural Research Group that comprises units for protein expression and purification, biophysics of ligand binding, and NMR and protein crystallography.

Professor, Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo Research Fields: Chemical Biology and Biotechnology Ph.D. at MIT (1994), Post-doctoral Fellow at MGH (1994-1997), Assistant Professor at SUNY Buffalo (1997-2002), Associate Professor at SUNY Buffalo (2002-2003), Associate Professor at RCAST The University of Tokyo (2003-2005), Professor at RCAST (2005-2010), Professor at the present position (2010-present), PeptiDream Inc. Tokyo Founder and Board Member (2006-present)

José Manuel is currently Principal Scientist at the Neuroscience Medicinal Chemistry Department of Janssen R & D. He is currently the Team Leader of a Med. Chem. Team focussed on neurology and psychiatry targets. Since 1998 Jose Manuel holds a Ph.D. degree from Autónoma University of Madrid for his work on the field of CCKA antagonists. In 1997, Jose Manuel joined Janssen R&D as a Scientist in the Medicinal Chemistry department. In 2002 he was promoted to Senior Scientist and then in 2008 to Principal Scientist within the Neuroscience Medicinal Chemistry department. In this period he has been involved in more than 15 Med. Chem. Programs contributing to the successful delivery of 5 clinical candidates. He is co-author of 20 peer-reviewed articles and of more than 20 communications to international conferences and co-inventor of 33 international patent applications.

Current title and position: 2011-present-Senior Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland.
Research field: Design and synthesis of novel compounds (small molecules) for therapeutic use in the area of CNS.
Education: 2001-B.A. in chemistry at Naples University “Federico II”.2004-2008-PhD in organic chemistry at University of Cambridge (Jesus College) on “Total Synthesis of (–)-reidispongiolide A and C23-C36 Tail Analogues”. 2008-2010-Post-doctoral research fellow with Prof. David W.C. MacMillan at Princeton University on enantioselective organocatalysis (-amination of aldehydes).
Former professional experience: 2002-2004-Medicinal chemist at Merck/Rome working on HIV integrase inhibitors as antiviral agents.