Researchers, journalists and academics with a mission to champion small molecule science will meet for the 3rd annual Conference on Small Molecule Science (Cosmos 2006) in San Diego, USA
San Diego is not only the epicentre of southern California living but also a hotbed for a burgeoning life science community, which is why researchers, journalists and academics with a mission to champion small molecule science will meet for the 3rd annual Conference on Small Molecule Science (Cosmos 2006) to be held from July 24-27 at the Omni Hotel.
The field of small molecules impacts every facet of health, pharmaceutical, environmental and industrial interest.
For example, small molecules play an important role in controlling biological functions for the design of new drug candidates, understanding the behavior and science for improving the drug manufacturing process and detecting the impact of chemicals in the environment.
Reflecting topics currently in the news, Jean-Claude Wolff of GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage, UK, will present efforts underway based on small molecule science to uncover substituted active ingredients in counterfeit medicines with a presentation titled 'Investigating counterfeit drug products or why does my antimalarial cure my headache but not much else?'.
Michael Balogh, a principal scientist at Waters and one of the lead organisers of Cosmos, is a veteran of large-scale conferences focusing on large molecule pursuits.
He saw the need to help build a community of like-minded parties with a bias towards practical science dealing with timely issues.
According to Balogh, "Cosmos has attracted scientists from all over the world looking to exchange practical experiences, academic research and novel techniques".
By presenting discussion opportunities for the latest scientific thinking in this field, Cosmos 2006 builds on the momentum of the previous two years.
A few of the highlighted sessions will include the chromatography session chaired by Nelu Grinberg, senior principal scientist at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and editor of the Journal of Chromatography and Small Molecule Science magazines and a session on structural characterization by Oliver McConnell, director, chemical and screening sciences at Wyeth Research who also edits the Journal of Chirality.
Under the novel techniques session, Charles McEwen from DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware and professor Paul Vouros from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts will speak on applications of recently developed technology used in support of wide-ranging and diverse analytical needs.
