All MGMS Seminars are free of charge and open to all.
Please register below to attend this event.
The MGMS was formed in 1981 to bring together scientists working in different fields of study—such as chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics and computer science—who have a common interest in computational molecular modelling and molecular graphics. One of our activities is to organize MGMS Lecture Tours to highlight cutting-edge research in the field.
We are pleased to announce the 2026 MGMS Virtual Lecture Tour, featuring presentations from Philippe Schwaller (EPFL, 2025 MGMS Frank Blaney Award Winner), Jana Selent (Pompeu Fabra University) and Didier Rognan (CNRS & University of Strasburg). The event will take place on zoom on Wednesday, 11th November 2026, and will be followed by the MGMS AGM.
Please register below to attend.
Zoom connection details for this event will be sent to all registered attendees shortly before the event.
Wednesday, November 11th, 2026 (UK time zone):
- 2:00-2:15 pm GMT: Introduction
- 2:15-2:45 pm GMT: Didier Rognan (CNRS & University of Strasburg): “Structure-based virtual screening of ultra-large chemical spaces”
- 2:45-3:15 pm GMT: Jana Selent (Pompeu Fabra University): “Decoding the MD-Sampled GPCR Conformational Space“
- 3:15-3:45 pm GMT: Philippe Schwaller (EPFL): “Chemical Science in the Era of LLMs”
- 3:45 pm GMT: MGMS Annual General Meeting (AGM)
About Speakers
Didier Rognan
Professor, CNRS & University of Strasburg
Is a medicinal chemist, currently CNRS research director leading the Laboratory for Therapeutic Innovation (Illkirch, France).
He is a European pioneer of virtual screening, notably applied to GPCRs, and is mainly interested in all aspects of structure-based design and synthesis of bioactive compounds.
Besides consulting for many pharmaceutical companies, he recently created a biopharmaceutical start-up company aimed at developing the first specific treatment of chronic neuropathic pain.
To learn more about Didier’s research, please visit his website: medchem.u-strasbg.fr
Jana Selent
Group leader & Associate Professor, University Pompeu Fabra
Jana Selent is a Miguel Servet researcher at IMIM, an associate professor at the University Pompeu Fabra and head of the GPCR Drug Discovery group of the IMIM-UPF joint Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB). She became an authorized Pharmacist in 2000 and obtained her PhD in drug design at the Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany) in 2004. Between 2004-2006, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) and as visiting scientist at Martin-Luther University (Halle, Germany) before joining the GRIB in 2007. Jana is author of more than 45 scientific articles in the field of GPCR research. Currently, she is the coordinator of Molecular Simulations within the MSc on Bioinformatics for Health Sciences (UPF) and Introduction to Drug Research & Development in the degree of Biomedical Engineering (UPF). In addition, she teaches Computer-Assisted Drug Design within the MSc on Bioinformatics for Health Sciences and Structural Biology at Human Biology Degree (UPF). Since 2015, she is a member of the Good Scientific Practice group of the PRBB, thus actively helping to promote good practice in scientific integrity amongst researchers.
To learn more about Jana’s research, please visit her website: http://jana-selent.org/
Philippe Schwaller
Assistant Professor, EPFL
Philippe Schwaller joined EPFL as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering in February 2022. He leads the Laboratory of Artificial Chemical Intelligence, which works on AI-accelerated discovery and synthesis of molecules. Philippe is also a core PI of the NCCR Catalysis, a Swiss centre for sustainable chemistry research, education, and innovation. He belongs to a new generation of scientists with a broad set of skills – in his case a combination of chemistry, materials science, computer science, and experimental research. Philippe is the 2025 MGMS Frank Blaney Award winner.
To learn more about Philippe’s research, please visit his website: https://schwallergroup.github.io/
Registration
In case of any problems with registration please contact us directly on: secretary@mgms.org
Past MGMS Lecture Tours
| 2023 | Prof. Andrew Hopkins, Exscientia |
| 2022 | Prof. Rommie Amaro, University of California, zoom talk recording |
| 2021 | Prof. Graham Richards, University of Oxford, zoom talk recording |
| 2020 | Professor Rebecca Wade, Heidelberg University (ZMBH), zoom talk recording |
| 2018 | Dr. David Glowacki, University of Bristol, UK |
| 2015 | Professor Dr Gisbert Schneider, ETH Zurich, Switzerland |
| 2014 | Prof. Arthur J. Olson, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA |
| 2012 | Prof. Modesto Orozco, Group Leader, Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) |
| 2011 | Prof. Tim Clark, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen- Nurnberg, Germany, and Centre for Molecular Design, University of Portsmouth |