52nd Organic Process Research and Development Conference

Adriana Edenharter studied chemistry at the ETH Zürich and received a PhD with Prof. K.-H. Altmann in 2017, in the  field of natural product synthesis. During her education Adriana gained industrial experience through internships with various companies worldwide.

In 2018, she joined Solvias as a project leader in process development and manufacturing. Since 2022, she has been leading the process development team and is a member of the steering committee for the Products & Manufacturing Services business unit. Adriana has successfully enabled the rapid manufacturing of several new entities on a kilogram scale, both under GMP and non-GMP conditions.

Vita

2021 –                  Distinguished Science Fellow, Bayer AG, Crop Science Division

2011 – 2022       Head of Process Research, Bayer AG, Crop Science Division

2002 – 2011       Group Leader, Process Research Frankfurt, Bayer AG, Crop Science Division

2000 – 2002       Group Leader, Process Research Frankfurt, Aventis CropScience

1993 – 2000       Team Leader, Process R&D, AgrEvo, Frankfurt

1990 – 1993       Biochemical Synthesis / Herbicide Research, Schering Agrochemicals, Cambridge

1988 – 1990       NATO Post-Doctoral Fellow, Prof. S.V.Ley, Imperial College, London

1985 – 1988       PhD., Dr. R.T.Brown, University of Manchester

Expertise/Interests:

Biocatalysis and biocatalyst / strain optimization

Agrochemical process research

(Multi-nuclear) metal catalysis
AI and QM supported reaction optimization / modelling

1968:                  Born in Rothenburg, Germany

1993:                  Diploma degree in chemistry at university Würzburg

1996:                  Dissertation at university Würzburg at Prof. Bringmann
incl. research exchange to US (National Cancer Institute, Maryland)
Total Syntheses of anti-HIV active Michellamines and related analogs
Summa cum laude as well as awarded by the “curatorship of Franconian memorial foundation” due to TOP-dissertation of whole university.
Scholarship by “Fonds of chemical industry”.

1996:                  Start industrial career at BASF
Research Scientist within Crop Protection Research

1999-2001:        Assistant Plant Manager (Multi-Purpose Plant Fine Chemicals)

2001-2003:        Plant Manager (Multi Purpose Plant Plant Fine Chemicals)

2003-2006:        Technology Manager
Technological responsibility for several active ingredients at different production locations with respect to process & synthesis optimization, yield increase, waste reduction, reduction of Cost of Goods, Capacity increase

2006-2011:        Head of Global Responsible Care within Global Operations
Ensurance of safe operations as well as quality for active ingredients as well as formulated products

2012-today:      Leading department Chemical- and Process Development within
Crop Protection Research at BASF
Development of new production processes for new active ingredients with focus on safe, robust and sustainable processes by minimum costs

2016:                  Awarded as “Senior Executive Expert Process Development” within BASF
Official announcement within BASF Group: “Over the past 20 years, Roland has held positions in R&D, technology and manufacturing, supporting several key projects during development and production. During his tenure with BASF, Roland has gained broad expertise in process development and operations, and he is recognized as an expert within BASF, in the industry and in academia”

2014-2017:        Teaching assignment at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz
Teaching and examining of bachelor students. Subject on Technical Chemistry with focus on Process Development within study course “Applied organic chemistry”

2017-2021:        Lecturer at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz
Reading “Industrial process technology with focus chemical process development”

2022/2023:        Lecture as Guest Instructor at the IIT Bombay within “Techno-commercial Aspects within Fine Chemicals”

Patents / Publications (only industrial career, without activities at university)

Holding more than 250 patents or applications respectively globally.
Prof. Hashmi et al., Roland Goetz – Adv. Synth. Catal. 2023, 365, 11, 1794-1800
Prof. Hartwig et al., Roland Goetz – Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 399
Prof. Reisman et al., Roland Goetz – Org. Lett. 2022, 24, 21, 3802–3806
Prof. Hashmi et al., Roland Goetz, Green Chemistry 2021, 23, 8169-8180
Prof. Kappe et al., Roland Goetz – Org. Process Res. Dev. 2017, 21, 1, 125
PS: Further publications during PhD-work not considered here

Invitation to expert conferences and holding lectures

2023 Shanghai (The XXIII International Conference on Organic Synthesis): “Fenmezoditiaz – Synthesis & Process Development of a structurally complex, chiral, mesoionic Insecticide”

2022 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay: “Sustainability in Process Chemistry”

2022 Basel (Organic Process Research and Development): “Sustainability in Process Chemistry”

2017 University of Münster (FoChin): “Crop Protection Research & Process Development”

2016 Prague (Organic Process Research and Development): “Challenges and Solutions within Process Development of a Large Scale New Fungicide”

2015 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay: “Industrial Process Development at BASF Crop Protection“

2015 Pune (Organic Process Research and Development): “Process Development within Crop Protection”

2015 Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry: „Crop Protection Research at BASF with focus on Process Development“

2014 Brussels (Organic Process Research and Development): “Process Development of Active Ingredients for Crop Protection“

Shio Komiya received BS from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2004 under the direction of Professor Charles Kelley. He received MS from Boston College in 2007 under the direction of Professor Scott Miller, after studying enantioselective and site-selective organocatalytic reactions. He began his professional career as a process chemist at Takasago International Corporation in 2008, where his role was centered on the development of ruthenium-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation reactions encompassing laboratory, pilot, and plant scales. He joined Chugai Pharmaceutical in 2013 and has worked on the process development of various small to mid-sized molecule APIs including peptide drugs. In his current position as Manufacturing Technology Development Professional for Mid-Sized Molecule APIs, he plays a leading role in the development of enabling technologies for the efficient synthesis of complex APIs.

Stephanie is currently on an ex-pat assignment as a Principal Scientist in the Crystallization Lab at Boehringer Ingelheim in Biberach, Germany.

Stephanie received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada with Prof. Charles L.B. Macdonald in 2017. There, she specialized in Crystallography and organophosphorus transformations. After working at several different chemical companies in the polymer industry, she joined Boehringer Ingelheim as a Senior Scientist in the Solid-State Science & API Engineering lab in Ridgefield, CT in April 2021.

Kiran received in 2011 his PhD degree in organic synthesis from Indian Association for Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, India. He moved to Europe for post-doctoral research, first at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands (2011-2012) followed by Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Germany (2012-2014).

In 2014, he started his industrial career joining the Chemical Process Research and Development (CPRD) organization at Johnson&Johnson Innovative Medicine, Beerse, Belgium. As a process chemist, he developed cost-effective and robust chemical process for small molecule APIs spanning from early clinical phase supplies to commercial manufacturing routes. He led research projects with internal, external resources (CROs and CDMOs) and participated in CMC meetings.

In 2019, he moved to a newly formed Discovery Process Research (DPR) group within the same organization, as a founding member. In his current role, as a DPR lead, support several discovery programs from SAR enabling chemistry identification to developing efficient synthesis routes to deliver pre-clinical API batches. He is also part of the decisional core team responsible for program strategy and execution towards drug discovery stage gates.

In his career, he gained knowledge and experience in a broad-spectrum of drug discovery and development topics, across different therapeutic areas, including novel modalities.

Mike received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Prof. Stephen F. Martin. While in Austin, he developed a novel carbonylative cross-coupling methodology and completed the total synthesis of isokidamycin. Mike then moved to California where he was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in the labs of Prof. Barry Trost at Stanford. While there, he helped develop several metal-catalyzed reaction methodologies and another total synthesis. Mike then began his industrial career with Gilead Sciences where he is currently Director of Process Chemistry. In his current role, Mike leads Gilead’s efforts to implement Quality by Design concepts across the development timeline. Mike is also the process chemistry lead for obeldesivir, an investigational drug for the treatment of emerging viruses. Over the last 11 years at Gilead, he has also had the opportunity to work on numerous other development projects, including lenacapavir, which is the topic of his seminar today.

Dr. Gabriele Menges-Flanagan has almost 20 years of experience in industrial applications of flow chemistry. She is a Senior Scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM in Mainz and a member of the OPRD Editorial Advisory Board. She earned her Diploma in chemistry from the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and, after completing her PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, returned to Germany to join Fraunhofer IMM (then the Institut für Mikrotechnik Mainz) in 2005. Her interests include the conversion of batch into continuous processes and the synthesis and direct conversion of reactive intermediates on varied throughput scales.

• Diploma Chemist 1983, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
• PhD Chemistry 1986, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
• Medicinal Chemist 1987-1999, Schering AG, Berlin, Germany
• Process Chemist 1999-2006, Schering AG, Berlin, Germany
• Process Chemist 2006-2024, Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany
• Lecturer “Biocatalysis” 2014-2024, Technical University Berlin, Germany
• Honorary Professor for Industrial Biocatalysis 2024
• Retirement May 2024
• Chief Scientific Officer at Apeloa (China) since 1.7.2024
• 66 Publications & Posters, two book chapters
• 155 Patents
• 23 Invited Lectures to international Conferences (4 times OPRD Lecturer! => now 5th )

  

Principal Scientist (Manufacturability and improvement) at AstraZeneca working on the commercial portfolio of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients within Global Chemical Development at AstraZeneca, Macclesfield UK

Qualified chemist with 30 years’ Industrial Pharmaceutical experience in Process Development and scale-up within process chemistry for development projects, pilot plant manufacture for clinical supply and technical stewardship of commercial and established products. I am self-motivated, energetic, a strong scientific leader and I enjoy working as part of multidisciplinary teams with a breadth and depth of technical knowledge, driving novel solutions and bringing innovation to projects. I am expert in technology transfer and able to succeed in producing API’s and intermediates within stringent deadlines. Started as a process chemist with Fison’s Pharmaceuticals, Chemical Development back in 1994, seems like only yesterday! Love the challenges on projects and working with other people across the Globe with experiences at Dow Chemicals (Stade Germany), Rhone-Polenc Rorer (Paris, France) and Astra AB (Sodertalje, Sweden)

João received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 2009, specializing in carbohydrates, from both the University of Lisbon and Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris VI, under the supervision of Prof. Amélia P. Rauter and Prof. Pierre Sinaÿ. Following his Ph.D., he conducted postdoctoral research in molecular dynamics simulations at NOVA School of Science and Technology in Lisbon, focusing on CO2 solubility in ionic liquids and protein-ligand interactions.

In 2013, João joined Hovione as an Assistant Chemist in the Process Chemistry Development department. Throughout his career, he has been involved in developing and optimizing various processes, as well as their introduction to pilot plant and manufacturing areas. More recently, he has participated in digitalization projects and Hovione’s internal R&D programs aimed at enhancing sustainability. Currently, he is a Senior Scientist at Hovione.

Dr. Gabriel Schäfer studied Chemistry at the University of Basel. He then moved to ETH Zürich to obtain his doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Jeffrey Bode, working on Friedel-Crafts benzylations and the synthesis of sterically hindered amides. After completing a postdoctoral research stay with Prof. F. Dean Toste at the University of California, Berkeley, he started his industrial career in 2015 as a Process Chemist at Actelion Pharmaceuticals in Allschwil (Switzerland). After the acquisition of Actelion by Johnson & Johnson and the subsequent demerger of Idorsia Pharmaceuticals in 2017, he worked as a Senior Scientist in Idorsia’s Chemistry Process R&D group. In this function, he developed scalable chemical processes for a wide range of preclinical candidates (incl. ACT-1004-1239, ACT-1014-6470 and IDOR-1117-2520, Phase 1/2) and new manufacturing routes for several late-stage or commercial products such as clazosentan (approved in Japan & South Korea), vamorolone (approved by FDA & EMA) and cenerimod (Phase 3). In 2020, he was promoted to Group Leader of the Chemistry Process R&D group, leading and overseeing 6 PR&D labs, a crystallization lab and the in-house Kilolab. After over 8 years at Actelion/Idorsia, Gabriel started a new position in 2024 as Director, Global Head of Chemistry at Biosynth, being responsible for the global R&D and production sites of the Complex Chemical division.

Gabriel is very passionate about spreading the art & science of Process Chemistry through publications and presentations. By now, he has co-authored over 30 publications and patents. He also serves as a member of the Early Career International Advisory Board of Helvetica Chimica Acta and the Advisory Board of Synthesis. in 2022, he was awarded an Industrial Junior Scientists Participation Fellowship Award for the prestigious Bürgenstock conference.

Sam graduated from The University of Manchester, UK, in 2011 with an MChem in Chemistry with Industrial Experience, while carrying out her industrial placement at Pfizer, UK, in Medicinal Chemistry. In 2011–2015, Sam completed a PhD in the groups of Professor Jonathan Clayden and Professor Nicholas Turner on the ‘Biocatalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Atropisomers’. Sam joined Johnson Matthey in 2015 where she developed expertise in Biocatalysis and Homogeneous Catalysis. In 2021, Sam was hired by AstraZeneca, bringing her expert knowledge of Biocatalysis to their Process Chemistry Depeartment. Since 2022 Sam has been leading the expansion of AstraZeneca’s High-Throughout Experimentaion capabilties in the new Discovery Centre in Cambridge.

Dr. ing. Dide Verhoeven is a Chemical Project Leader in process research and development at Symeres Weert, in the Netherlands. Her focus is on the development of safe and efficient processes for kg-scale manufacture of complex small molecules and APIs. Dide started in the company as a PR&D chemist in 2020.

Prior to her work in industry, Dide received her MSc degree in chemistry and physics from Utrecht University in 2014, with a focus on organometallics and biochemistry. She obtained her doctoral degree in 2018 in the group of Dr. Marc-Etienne Moret at Utrecht University, with a specialization in organic synthesis and homogeneous catalysis. After this, she moved to Switzerland for postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. Martin Albrecht, investigating the use of Fe-based catalysts for oxidative transformations. With her experience in homogeneous catalysis, Dide brings unique expertise to her current role at Symeres, thereby advancing the company’s capabilities in metal catalyzed reactions at large scale.

Simon Wagschal currently works within Lonza’s Advanced Chemistry Technologies team.
Prior to this, he worked within Janssen External R&D team, focusing on compounds in early development and delivering GxP batches at CRO partners.
Simon also worked in Janssen’s Chemical Process R&D group and was involved in a dozen late-stage projects, developing and introducing new processes in the pilot and production plants.
He received the Vice Presidents’ Research Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement in 2020.

Simon earned his Ph.D. in 2010 from École Polytechnique, Paris, France, under the supervision of Prof. El Kaïm and Prof. Grimaud.
He then delved into organometallic chemistry during his postdoctoral stay with the Kündig group in Geneva, Switzerland.

In his current role as Product Specialist, Steve is responsible for a portfolio of heterogeneous catalysts, supporting the development and manufacture of new and existing catalysts within the business.

About me: I am based in Nanjing, China, leading the Tech Innovation Center (TIC) of PharmaBlock group. I got my PhD from U of Minnesota in 2018, and BS from Peking University in 2013. Author of over 10 publications and patents. Formal name is Yuanxian Wang, I can go by Larry Y. Wang.

About PharmaBlock: we are a small-molecule CDMO company operated in China and the US, focusing on innovating chemistry and low-carbon technologies, for a greener and healthier world. We strive to contribute to the sustainable development of the industry.

About the Tech. Innovation Center: The disciplines we work on are continuous production including continuous hydrogenation, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, biocatalysis, innovative waste treatment, process safety, and data-driven R&D We look forward to applying these technologies in production of API’s, intermediates, and RSM’s. it is the work from this center that won the ACS CMO Excellence in Green Chemistry Award two years in a row.