Hundreds of study and academic opportunities in Medicinal Chemistry are available internationally. Conferences and summer schools in Medicinal Chemistry are organized regularly in the best academic centers of the world. The majority of universities and many foundations also offer BA, MA, and Ph.D. programs in Medicinal Chemistry as wells as postdoctoral research grants, awards, and fellowships. Below you will find the updated list of international opportunities available in Medicinal Chemistry.
Medicinal Chemistry Scholarships
- UNSW Sydney Cavill Medicinal Chemistry Scholarships
- The University of Arizona Dr. Wayne Cody Scholarship in Medicinal Biological Chemistry
- DTU Ph.D. Scholarship in Medicinal Chemistry
- The University of Kansas Department of Medicinal Chemistry Financial Aid
- University of Nebraska Omaha Chemistry Scholarships
- The Ohio State University Awards and Fellowships in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
- MBCF Scholarships
- The University of Edinburgh Chemistry Scholarship and Student Funding
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chemistry Scholarships and Financial Aid
- Western Sydney University Rowe Scientific Chemistry Scholarship
Medicinal Chemistry Fellowships
- UC San Diego Chemistry and Biochemistry External Fellowships
- MEDI Division Predoctoral Fellowships
- Union University Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Medicinal Chemistry
- Duke University Medicinal Chemistry Predoctoral Fellowships
- ESMEC and EFMC Fellowships
- The University of Kansas Lauver Medicinal Chemistry Fellowship
- RTI International Postdoctoral Fellow- Medicinal Chemistry
- ORT Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Synthetic or Medicinal Chemistry
- University of Buffalo Chemistry Department Teaching Assistantship, Fellowship and Awards
- Clinical Chemistry, Post Ph.D. Fellowship
Medicinal Chemistry Conferences
- Medicinal Chemistry Gordon Research Conference
- RSC/SCI Medicinal Chemistry Symposium
- RICT - International Conference on Medicinal Chemistry
- EFMC-ISMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry
- MBCF Winter Conference on Medicinal and Bioorganic Chemistry
- Drug Discovery Chemistry
- MIKIW Medicinal Chemistry Conference
- Global Experts Meeting on Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry
- Organic and Medicinal Chemistry Conference
- Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry
Medicinal Chemistry relevant accounts on Twitter
- @rsc_medchem
- @AcsMedi
- @NCL_MedChem
- @fsgfmc
- @ACSMedChemLett
- @EuroMedChem
- @RSC_BMCS
- @MedChemica
- @UMN_MedChem
- @ELSchemistry
Medicinal Chemistry is an essential branch of the broader Chemistry discipline. With all its subdivisions, Chemistry is meant to understand the matter around us: from the things we see and can touch to those we can not, such as air. Chemistry analyzes how matters change if they undergo specific reactions to discover how we can manipulate the surrounding world to the human benefits. As a basic example, we can put water under a high temperature and receive boiled water, the characteristics and benefits of which significantly differ from the water of lower or middle temperatures. Similarly, all the elements in the environment can change their features and become helpful or toxic for humans. Therefore, chemistry scientists explore the best combination of external forces and matters to synthesize new matters that will solve many human issues. The invention of drugs and pharmaceutical materials that cure diseases is the essential goal among those.
Before you go further in this article and explore Medicinal Chemistry, we suggest exploring the study and research opportunities in Chemistry.
Medicinal Chemistry
The goal of Medicinal Chemistry as a separate Chemistry subdivision is inventing new chemical matters that are useful in therapeutic use. Accordingly, Medicinal Chemistry works in tight cooperation with pharmaceutical agents.
The method for Medicinal Chemistry to contribute to its main goal is mixing synthetic organic chemistry and computational chemistry to investigate the structure of natural products and the smallest particles. Medicinal Chemistry studies small organic molecules and identifies their main aspects to develop new chemical entities through synthetic alteration. Medicinal Chemistry is interdisciplinary, and it includes other Chemistry branches such as biochemistry, molecular biology, toxicology, human and veterinary medicine, etc. To organize Medicinal Chemistry laboratory processes smoothly and effectively, one would also need solid statistical and project management skills.
Medicinal Chemistry works with organic compounds, usually small organic molecules like atorvastatin, clopidogrel, and biologics, including insulin glargine, infliximab. Rarely Medicinal Chemistry can deal with inorganic or organometallic compounds such as lithium carbonate and galium, as they can also be used for developing medicines.
How is Medicinal Chemistry different from Pharmaceutical Chemistry?
The line between Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry is sometimes eliminated in practice. Therefore, the two disciplines are often used as interchangeable in non-professional communities, and for you as a student searching for your path of specialization in Chemistry, the division might also be unclear.
The main similarity between those two Chemistry directions is that both work to develop pharmaceutical materials and drugs. However, they concentrate on different stages of that flow. While Medicinal Chemistry mainly works at the stage of investigation and development of compounds that can be used to develop new drugs, Pharmaceutical Chemistry explores the final stage of developing drugs and exploring how they can be used for specific diseases.
In other words, Medicinal Chemistry mainly develops the primary working material of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Medicinal Chemistry usually does not have ready drugs as a final output of its research and laboratory processes.
To sum up, Pharmaceutical Chemistry covers a broader concept of drug design & development than Medicinal Chemistry. Yet, they both work for the same goal of finding cures to different diseases, each on its own scale.
Medicinal Chemistry research
Medicinal Chemistry research plays a vital role in the increasing of human life duration and quality. Many developments of the recent decades, such as animal testing, reshaped the way this field carries research.
An important role in Medicinal Chemistry research plays in vivo testing. In vivo and in vitro testing methods are both widely used in Medicinal Chemistry research. In simple words, those include testing the newly invented medicines on tissues extracted from animals (in vitro) or living animals (in vivo). The in-advance testing helps to practically understand the impact and efficiency of the drugs before they are approved to enter the market and reach human use. Both methods have their drawbacks, and scientific society works to develop better alternatives for the medicine pre-testing.
Medicinal Chemistry is about lifespan research, where each breakthrough in the field is widely welcomed, considering the number of medical problems that remain unsolved in the world. Below, find some popular research centers, which are an excellent opportunity for specialists in any expertise level to conduct research.
- Helmholtz Zentrum münchen Institute of Medicinal Chemistry in Germany focuses on two main research directions: Medicinal Chemistry and Infectious disease.
- University of Liverpool’s Department of Chemistry offers research specific to certain diseases, including Malaria, HIV, Neuropathic Pain, Cryptococcus, etc.
- The medicinal Chemistry Department at the University of Kansas opens opportunities to research synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry, Biochemistry and Peptide Chemistry, and Natural Products Chemistry.
- National Hellenic Research Foundation offers more than 15 active research directions in the field of Medicinal Chemistry, which you can explore in more detail here.
In addition, check all the research opportunities in your university’s Medicinal Chemistry departments. As the number and the type of the diseases increase, the research to respond to this growth rises in parallel.