Molecular Graphics and Modelling Society

The MGMS is saddened to hear of the death of Prof. Robert (Bob) Langridge on November 11th.

Bob, who has died at the age of 90, was a true pioneer of molecular graphics. His PhD work at the University of London was supervised by Maurice Wilkins, and included the first application of a stored program digital computer (the IBM 650) to the analysis of DNA structure. Working in Oxford, essentially as technical support for the strong group of crystallographers located there, he created some of the first images of molecular structures. He was largely responsible for developing methods to display depictions of molecules as solid surfaces rather than ball and stick representations.

Denied a full academic post in the U.K. he moved to California with a chair at the University of California, San Francisco, where he founded the Graduate Program in Bioengineering and created the UCSF Computer Graphics Laboratory.

Bob will be much missed.

(Thanks to Prof. Graham Richards)

The MGMS is delighted to announce that the winner of the 6^th MGMS Frank Blaney Award is Dr Matthew Grayson.

Dr Matthew Grayson is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the University of Bath in the Department of Chemistry. Dr Grayson’s research group are developing new, rapid, high-throughput computational screening approaches to the design of reactions through the use of molecular modelling and machine learning. These methods provide faster and more cost-effective alternatives to trial-and-error experimentation in chemical synthesis. More information can be found on the Grayson group website.

The MGMS committee extends its warmest congratulations to Matt.

To support postdoctoral and young independent researchers, and to remember MGMS founder member Dr Frank Blaney, the MGMS has established the Frank Blaney Award (formerly the Silver Jubilee Award). This is awarded to outstanding young researchers in the field.

Nominations are now sought for the MGMS Frank Blaney Award 2023. All aspects of each candidate’s contributions to the field of molecular modelling and related areas (covering computational molecular science, including the development of methods, scientific hypotheses and insights, research presentations, patents, software and algorithms) may be considered by the Award Committee.

More details can be found here. 

Details of past winners can be found here.

Kristaps Ermanis is an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham. He was appointed in 2021, having held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Cambridge from 2017. Originally, he trained as a synthetic organic chemist, completing a PhD at the University of York on the total synthesis of phorboxazole B. His current research at Nottingham is focussed on automation and scale-up of computational methods, enabling large dataset generation and the computational design and discovery of new synthetic reactions.
For more information about Kristaps’ research at Nottingham please visit the group website.

Molecular dynamics (MD) has established itself as a key tool in the pharmaceutical industry and drug development pipeline. Traditionally, free energy calculations have been used to predict the binding affinity of small molecules in the drug design cycle and remain a core method in the field. Although extremely useful, other approaches have been developed in a variety of industrial settings that go beyond the traditional free energy approach. The “MD in Pharma” meeting aims to highlight some of the key developments of MD applied in the pharmaceutical industry and stimulate discussion about the future direction of new and emerging methodologies.

Location: Brunei Lecture Theatre, SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh St, London WC1H 0XG, UK (nearest tube station = Russell Square)

Website: https://mdinpharma.wordpress.com/

Registration links:
•       Eventbrite Page (to purchase tickets):
•       Registration form

PLEASE NOTE: Both links must be followed and completed to ensure your place at the event.
Registration closes March 17th 2023. See you there!

To support postdoctoral and young independent researchers, and to remember MGMS founder member Dr Frank Blaney, the MGMS has established the Frank Blaney Award (formerly the Silver Jubilee Award). This is awarded to outstanding young researchers in the field.

Nominations are now sought for the MGMS Frank Blaney Award 2022. All aspects of each candidate’s contributions to the field of molecular modelling and related areas (covering computational molecular science, including the development of methods, scientific hypotheses and insights, research presentations, patents, software and algorithms) may be considered by the Award Committee.

More details on the Prize page.