Conference: 258th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, August 25–29, San Diego, California.
Conference Highlight: Transdisciplinary research in science and its contribution to health challenges worldwide.
Conference Summary: As one the largest scientific conferences in the world, this year’s American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting brought scientists from different research areas together to share and discuss their research. This event offered valuable insight into fundamental discoveries and their applications to a wide range of fields. The plenary lecture was given by the 2018 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Dr. Frances Arnold. She provided a perspective on the directed evolution of enzymes and discussed how they can alter and introduce new chemistry that does not exist in nature. She also discussed the importance of learning from the natural world, a realization that led her to investigate the use of bacteria to conduct fundamental catalytic reactions, and how to train them to be ideal chemists for complex chemical reactions in highly specific and efficient ways. This fundamental research is currently making an enormous impact on industrial chemical processes and has been adopted by the pharmaceutical industry.
Another impressive lecture was given by Dr. Zhen Gu from the University of California, Los Angeles, who discussed developing platelet-antibody agents for post-surgical cancer immunotherapy. He has demonstrated the ability of these agents to significantly prolong animal survival after surgery by reducing the risk of cancer recurrence and metastasis. The agent is bioresponsive, enabling targeting and selective release of immune checkpoint antibodies. This is an exciting new approach to the problem of drug delivery in biological systems.
This conference covered a wide range of scientific topics ranging from chemistry to clinical applications. Undoubtedly, basic science continues to contribute to the solution of worldwide health challenges. The ACS Annual Meeting enables scientists to showcase their discoveries to an international audience and provides an unparalleled platform to inspire the next generation of scientists.