Pharm to Table

For the 6th course, Dani and LC serve up a delicious discussion with Steve Silverman (@asymtmm on Twitter) from the #MerckChemistry Kenilworth NJ Discovery Process Chemistry group. Steve tells us about an industrial-academic collaboration he's leading with Professor Rob Britton's laboratory at Simon Fraser University (@BrittonLab on Twitter) where they discovered a short de novo route to nucleoside analogs. We discuss why nucleoside analogues are so important to pharmaceutical development and why, despite decades of research, they still pose a significant synthetic challenge for chemists.

We also learn what inspired this collaboration (the real story) and get to hear from Rob himself about his motivations in joining forces on this project!

Read the paper we discussed today here:

A short de novo synthesis of nucleoside analogs

Diversity-oriented synthesis of glycomimetics

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod

Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table

For our special Holiday Snack episode we invite Eric Ashley (Director of Discovery Process Chemistry, @DrERAChem), Yeon-Hee Lim (Director of Discovery Chemistry, @alchemistyhl) and James Roane (Senior Scientist, Discovery Chemistry) from our South San Francisco research laboratories to join us and answer YOUR questions!

What topics or case studies to help students understand drug discovery better?

What was the most surprising thing about starting your career and navigating the transition from grad school to industry?

What is a moment in your career that you were the proudest and what was the impact of the work that you were doing?

We also ask our guests why they decided to join and stay at #MerckChemistry.

So get your Holiday Egg Nog on and join us for a Holiday Snack!

ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Cecilia Bottecchia, Senior Scientist in Flow Chemistry group. Cecilia joined #MerckChemistry a little >2 years ago bringing her flow experience to Merck and immediately having an impact  (Google Scholar). She was recently the co-recipient of the Peter Dunn Green Chemistry Award for the development of a greener manufacturing process featuring a photo-flow bromination. We discuss her experience as a new scientist at Merck, her award and answer the real important questions, like: Does pineapple belong on pizza?!

Register for C&EN's write-up of the Peter Dunn award see: https://cen.acs.org/acs-news/Merck-team-wins-2021-Peter/99/i17

Follow Cecilia on Twitter - @cecibottecchia

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmToTablePod

Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table

For the 5th course, join Dani and LC as they sit down with #MerckChemistry's Meg Shaw and Chihui An to discuss their biocatalytic approach in transforming readily available acrylic acids to chiral α-substituted carboxylic acids - a reoccurring motif in drug development. As this story evolved (no pun intended),  we’ll hear how Meg (Process Chemistry) and Chihui (Biocatalysis) joined forces to develop an ene-reductase (ERED) to effect the asymmetric reduction of acrylic acids and ultimately why transition metal catalyzed approaches were ditched. In addition, the duo discuss what brought them to pursue a career in industry, how they discovered this reaction (the real story) and what it's like to run enzymatic reactions (turns out it's easy!).

We also feature Merck Future Talents Program intern, Annika Tharp, who shares how she secured her internship and provides insider tips on how to crush your interview!

Read the paper we discussed today here: Enantioselective Enzymatic Reduction of Acrylic Acids

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmtoTablePod

Visit our website at https://anchor.fm/pharm-to-table

ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Becky Ruck, Executive Director and Head of Enabling Technologies in Small Molecule Process R&D. Becky has amassed an amazing portfolio of amazing science (Google Scholar) in a variety of roles at #MerckChemistry. She recently took on a role as a Topic Editor for ACS Catalysis to help bring more industrial science to the journal. Having led recruiting for many years, Becky gives prospective new hires and applicants some insider information on how to be successful in starting an industrial career.

Follow Becky on Twitter - @Ruck_chem

Follow ACS Catalysis on Twitter - @ACSCatalysis

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmToTablePod

For our 4th course, we sit down with Dipa Kalyani to chat about her journey from a tenured professor position at St-Olaf to associate principal scientist within our Discovery organization via an academic-industrial collaboration with Dani. This episode explores how pairing state-of-the-art capabilities in HTE (the high-throughput experimentation kind) with great problem selection can lead to a nice impactful method for direct arylation of heterocycles with pharmaceutically relevant aryl chlorides. This work was served up in the Journal of Organic Chemistry and also featured in an ACS special virtual issue titled “Celebrating Women in Organic Chemistry” (all female authors!). Last but not least, we also discuss our musical prowess (P.S. Dipa wins). Listen to find out!

Read the paper we discussed today here:

Ni-Catalyzed C–H Arylation of Oxazoles and Benzoxazoles Using Pharmaceutically Relevant Aryl Chlorides and Bromides

Follow Dipa on Twitter - @DipaKalyani1

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmToTablePod

ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Patrick Fier, Principal Scientist in Process Chemistry. Patrick has a had a roaring start to his career at Merck in the last 5 years (Google Scholar) and was just named to C&EN's Talented 12 for 2021. Building on this season's Episode 2: Phenols and Sulfonamides are Cool, Patrick returns to the pod to discuss this recognition and answer the real important questions, like: Who did he tell first about the award? What his favorite reaction and ice cream flavor is? We also find out about his first job!

Register for C&EN's Talented 12 event here: https://connect.acspubs.org/Talented12_2021

Follow Patrick on Twitter - @PatrickFier

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmToTablePod

For our 3rd course we serve up another #MerckChemistry duo, Libby Hennessy (aka Simon) and Aaron Sather (aka Garfunkel) who join us to discuss their discovery of a new way to access N-(hetero)aryl piperidines. We'll discover how to convince your grandma why piperidines are so important to drug discovery and learn how chemistry advances are made at the interface of Process and Medicinal Chemistry at Merck. We'll also dive into the Merck Future Talents program which brings in interns to come work with us. Lastly, Dani and LC probe Libby & Aaron on which superpower would take this chemistry to the next level (or not) .... Listen to find out!

Read the paper we discussed today here:

A Modular and Diastereoselective 5 + 1 Cyclization Approach to N-(Hetero)Aryl Piperidines

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmToTablePod

ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Jamie McCabe Dunn, Director of Process Chemistry who, on top of delivering amazing science (Google Scholar), is also leading recruiting of new hires for our Process Chemistry teams. While this episode is short, we get answers to some serious questions such as “Is South Dakota considered the Midwest or central USA?”; “Will building a network really impact my chances of getting a job?”; and most importantly “What makes a good vs great job talk?” 

Follow Jamie on Twitter - @mccabedunn

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmToTablePod

ChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Ania Fryszkowska, a biocatalysis whiz who recently co-authored an article in Science on innovative biocatalytic cascades to access sugars (link HERE). While this episode is short, we get answers to some serious questions such as “which Nobel laureate zoom-bombed the Virtual Biocatalysis and Protein Engineering Meetups?”; “what does the future of biocatalysis hold?”; and most importantly “cats or dogs?” and “cookies or candy?” - trick questions 😉.

Follow Ania on Twitter - @fryania

Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on Twitter - @PharmToTablePod