Pharm to Table
42 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 17 ratingsA podcast hosted by L.-C. Campeau and Dani Schultz that dives into the stories about the people behind the chemistry and science that happens at #MerckChemistry.
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @PharmToTablePod, @DrLCSquare, @danithechemist
Email us comments and suggestions at [email protected]
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Episodes
S3:E3 - A chemist, a physicist and an enzyme walk into a bar...
February 20, 2024 07:30 - 34 minutes - 79.7 MBNadine Kuhl (process chemist) and Jacob Forstater (engineer and physicist) join the pod to share a pretty neat story that had its origins from a chemical catalog brochure advertising a new and green solvent called Cyrene. From that brochure blossomed a really amazing biocatalytic transamination to make a key chiral amine building block. In order to make this process more robust and tolerant of organic solvents, the team immobilized the transaminase enzyme and leveraged a Spinchem rotating be...
S3:E2 - Barton-McCombie Beware!
January 15, 2024 07:00 - 34 minutes - 79.7 MBCharles Yeung (@Charles_chem) joins the pod to share some of the latest results from a collaboration with Prof. Wickens' lab (@WickensGroup) at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In their latest paper published in Angewandte Chemie, they disclose a practical and general protocol for alcohol dehydrogenation - putting the Barton-McCombie on notice! The work was supported by a Merck post-doctoral fellow, Myriam Mikhael (@MyriaMikhael), who shares her experience as an industrial PDF. Read the...
S3.E1: All I Want for the holidays are cross-couplings, collaborations and cookies!!
December 11, 2023 10:06 - 19 minutes - 45.4 MBFor our special Holiday extravaganza, Dani and LC share their holiday plans before diving into the cookie jar of questions from some of our favorite listeners! How is R&D in industry similar to and different from how research is done in academia? (@DrSauce96) What is the most annoying academic misconception about work in the pharmaceutical industry? (@Teachforaliving) What things do you wish you knew before starting in industry? (@lifeof_dan) What is your favorite coupling reaction to...
S2.E8: Peptides, Cross-Electrophile Coupling and Maple Syrup!
July 17, 2023 07:30 - 35 minutes - 80.6 MBFor this month's episode, Dani and LC serve up a recently published JACS article on Ni-catalyzed pyridinium cross-electrophile coupling for non-canonical amino acid synthesis and peptide late-stage functionalization which was done in collaboration with Professor Mary Watson’s group. In this episode, Dani and LC share the importance of investing in non-canonical amino acid chemistry with #MerckChemistry scientists Amélie Dion and Dipa Kalyani. We discuss what drew them to pyridinium cross-e...
S2.E7: So Far, So Cyanide: Green, air-tolerant and robust cyanation reactions.
June 15, 2023 06:00 - 30 minutes - 69.7 MBFor this month's episode, Dani and LC go all in on Ni-catalyzed cyanations with Caleb Hethcox who recently published 2 papers on the topic - one with a phenomenal intern, Geraldo Duran-Camacho. Caleb shares how the internal team first identified this challenge and the solutions they explored to replace precious metal catalysts for cyanation reactions! Ultimately, the team identified a Ni-catalyzed system (go base metals!) and depending on the application, different reduction conditions whic...
S2:E6 - The Catalysis Laboratory at Merck: 20 Years of Catalyzing Innovation (Part 3)
May 22, 2023 06:11 - 31 minutes - 29 MBDr. Becky Ruck joins Dani and LC for the grand finale of our journey reviewing the history of the Merck Catalysis Laboratory. She highlights how her background in physical organic chemistry led to deeper role of understanding mechanism and kinetics in development of reactions - a strength of Becky's which ultimately influenced the direction of the Catalysis group. Becky also gives a forward looking perspective as leader of the Process Research & Development Enabling Technologies organization...
Snack: The Catalysis Laboratory at Merck - 20 Years of Catalyzing Innovation (Part 2)
April 24, 2023 07:03 - 10 minutes - 9.4 MBL.-C. and Dani talk about the next era in the Catalysis Lab's evolution, highlighting the democratization of high-throughput experimentation tools for end-users and the development of nanomole-scale HTE. It was also in this period that the Catalysis Laboratory's expanded its capabilities in photochemistry developing screening tools to invent and scale-up novel photochemical synthetic methods, including decatungstate mediate reactions and photoredox catalysis. Read the paper we discussed tod...
S2:E5 - The Catalysis Laboratory at Merck: 20 Years of Catalyzing Innovation (Part 1)
April 10, 2023 06:00 - 36 minutes - 34 MBIn this month's episode, and our 1st of 3 parts dedicated the 20th anniversary of Merck's Catalysis Laboratory, Dani and L.-C. sit down and chat with Shane Krska (@swkrska) who was one of the founding members of the Catalysis Laboratory. Shane walks us through the genesis of the group, its early impact on our projects and people. In this first 10 years of the laboratory, there was a heavy focus on asymmetric hydrogenation and cross-coupling, as well as developing all the tools necessary to r...
S2.E4: The Total Synthesis of Darobactin A (or is it Davobactin?)
February 28, 2023 08:00 - 34 minutes - 79.7 MBFor this month's episode, Dani and LC dive into the challenges of strained cyclic peptide synthesis with Niki Patel and Dave Petrone who recently completed the total synthesis of Darobactin A in collaboration with Professor Sarlah's group at UIUC. Now this wasn't Merck's first foray into natural product total synthesis, in fact Darobactin A is part of a rich legacy of total syntheses at Merck that spans 80 years! Niki and Dave share how the internal Merck team first envisioned putting this...
S2.E3: All I Want for Christmas Is Candy, Chainsaws, Chemistry and ANSWERS!
December 22, 2022 08:00 - 25 minutes - 58.2 MBFor our special Holiday extravaganza, Dani and LC reminisce about the holidays while in grad school (think candy throw downs and chainsaws) before diving into the cookie jar of questions from some of our favorite listeners! What is a good way to figure out if you'd be a better fit for a medicinal chemistry or process chemistry role? (@billthechemist) What do you know now that you wished you knew during your undergraduate or early graduate school? (@MichaelAxiotes) How is pregnancy and ...
S2.E2: Enabling medicinal chemistry knowledge exchange with #ChemistryWizards (not trolls)
December 07, 2022 08:55 - 36 minutes - 83.2 MBFor S2E2, we’re joined by drug hunting legends Doug Beshore and Izzat Raheem who recently co-authored a recent (and popular) paper in J. Med. Chem. on building a culture of knowledge exchange. Ironically, it’s easier to learn through the literature than from your organization, colleagues or group members - especially if colleagues have taken on different roles. As a result, building and maintaining a culture where prior knowledge is easily accessible and updatable is paramount to a healthy...
S2.E1: No Bald Eagles We're Harmed in the Recording of this Podcast
November 01, 2022 07:00 - 32 minutes - 74.4 MBWe kick off season 2 with a bang, talking about complex molecule synthesis with John McIntosh and Nastaran Salehi. Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) are a total synthesis fan's dream with 10 stereocenters (including 2 at phosphorus) arranged around a 13 membered macrocycle formed by 2 non-canonical nucleosides. These endogenous secondary messenger molecules have attracted attention because of their activation of the immune system via the STING pathway. We go into all aspects of the innovative bioc...
S2 Kickoff: Answering Your Questions & S2 Sneak Peak
October 24, 2022 07:31 - 10 minutes - 23.5 MBFor our kickoff of Season 2, LC and Dani get together (in person!) to reflect on what’s changed since the Pharm to Table pod started in late 2020, answer a listener question (only 9 months late!) on whether a postdoc is needed for an industrial job, and give a sneak peak on what’s to come for Season 2. Whether you listen in the car or in the lab - buckle up and don that PPE - as Season 2 is destined to be full of energy, laughs and awesome #MerckChemistry. Follow the Pharm to Table podcas...
Snack: What it's Like to Immigrate to the US for Work
July 18, 2022 06:24 - 9 minutes - 8.7 MBCecilia Bottecchia is originally from Italy and Francois Levesque is native of Canada. Both have had very international pathways during their studies which have ultimately brought them to #MerckChemistry in the US. We asked them to tell us a little bit about this transition and have a little fun with a Canadian vs Italian food quiz!
S1.E10: Hot Tub Flow Time Machine
July 01, 2022 07:00 - 31 minutes - 72.3 MBFor the 10th, and final course of season 1, Dani and LC jump in the hot tub flow time machine with Cecilia Bottecchia and Francois Levesque, co-recipient of the Peter Dunn Green Chemistry Award, and learn how to discover, develop and scale-up a photobromination in flow! But don't let this deceptively simple bromination fool you - this reaction turned out to be a full course meal of challenges! We go into all aspects of the reaction, including: 1) Why they decided to use light vs AIBN to faci...
S1.E9: ChemSpeed, Daft Punk and Twinkly Lights
May 09, 2022 07:00 - 41 minutes - 94.6 MBFor the 9th course, Dani and LC do the robot dance with Melodie Christensen (@chemchristensen on Twitter) #MerckChemistry Enabling Technologies group. Melodie shares her unique career path with us, including her current PhD with @procastiprof - more >10 years after starting her career in pharma. Resident expert in reaction automation, robotics and self-optimizing reactions, Melodie shares her journey in high-throughput and data-rich experimentation. We discuss her award winning paper in JOC ...
Snack: Spring ACS Symposia Organizer Sneak Peak - Taming the Unnatural (amino acids) with Sue Zultanski
March 21, 2022 12:00 - 8 minutes - 18.8 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with Sue Zultanski (Associate Principal Scientist, Discovery Process Chemistry). Sue first joined our #MerckChemistry Discovery group in 2006 before obtaining her PhD and then starting in Merck Process in 2016. Since joining, Sue has sought solutions across boundaries, weaving deep mechanistic understanding into developing robust manufacturing routes (OPRD) and also through an academic-indus...
Snack: Spring ACS Symposia Organizer Sneak Peak - Chemists of Color with Jennifer Obligacion and David Thaisrivongs
March 14, 2022 07:00 - 5 minutes - 13.3 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with David Thaisrivongs (Director) and Jenny Obligacion (Associate Principal Scientist) from our Rahway, NJ Process Chemistry group. David and Jenny tell us about a symposia featuring Outstanding Chemists of Color, their motivation for creating this event and the broader implications highlighting Chemists of Color can have on the equity, diversity and inclusion in our field. Complete speake...
Snack: Spring ACS Symposia Organizer Sneak Peak - Theory to Therapy with Marion Emmert and Colin Lam
March 07, 2022 12:23 - 8 minutes - 20.4 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with Marion Emmert (Principal Scientist, Catalysis and Enabling Technologies) and Colin Lam (Associate Principal Scientist, Computational and Structural Chemistry). Marion joined #MerckChemistry in 2018 (after a successful career in academia) and has brought her love for catalysis into drug discovery (Google Scholar). Colin joined #MerckChemistry in 2016 and has flexed his computational migh...
Snack: Spring ACS Symposia Organizer Sneak Peak - BCP's with Xiaoshen Ma
February 28, 2022 08:00 - 6 minutes - 15.2 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re bringing you 3 good minutes with Xiaoshen Ma, Associate Principal Scientist in our Boston Discovery Chemistry group. Xiaoshen joined #MerckChemistry in 2018 and has been influential in advancing drug discovery through the exploration of bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes (aka BCP's) as bioisosteres for arenes - the work of which is already making an impact (Google Scholar). Today, Xiaoshen stopped by to give a sneak peak on Synthe...
S1.E8: Biocatalytic Cascades, the Rube Goldberg of Chemistry - Fun with Nucleosides : Part 3
February 14, 2022 08:00 - 34 minutes - 80 MBFor the 8th course, Dani and LC ride the biocatalytic cascade with Ania Fryszkowska (@fryania on Twitter) and Greg Hughes (@greg_hughes on Twitter) from the #MerckChemistry Process Chemistry group. Greg, a process chemistry pro, kicks off this episode by giving a high-level overview of the drug development process and the differences in designing clinical supply route vs. a final commercial route. Ania, a biocatalysis superstar, then takes us on a retrosynthetic journey that ultimately led t...
S1.E7: Surfin' the ProTides - Fun With Nucleosides : Part 2
January 31, 2022 08:00 - 35 minutes - 80.8 MBFor the 7th course, Dani and LC serve up a hearty helping of nucleoside chemistry with Artis Klapars and Dan DiRocco from the #MerckChemistry Rahway NJ Process Chemistry group. We tee off this episode by diving into the ProTide pool to find out what exactly ProTides are why they are so important for the development of common antiviral and anticancer drugs. Then, Artis and Dan tell us about their efforts to develop a green solution to the ProTide synthesis problem by designing a multifunction...
S1.E6: Nuc, Nuc, Nuc'ing on Heaven's Door - Fun With Nucleosides : Part 1
January 10, 2022 08:00 - 35 minutes - 81.2 MBFor the 6th course, Dani and LC serve up a delicious discussion with Steve Silverman (@asymtmm on Twitter) from the #MerckChemistry Kenilworth NJ Discovery Process Chemistry group. Steve tells us about an industrial-academic collaboration he's leading with Professor Rob Britton's laboratory at Simon Fraser University (@BrittonLab on Twitter) where they discovered a short de novo route to nucleoside analogs. We discuss why nucleoside analogues are so important to pharmaceutical development an...
Holiday Snack: All I Want for Christmas Is ... ANSWERS!
December 20, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 58.6 MBFor our special Holiday Snack episode we invite Eric Ashley (Director of Discovery Process Chemistry, @DrERAChem), Yeon-Hee Lim (Director of Discovery Chemistry, @alchemistyhl) and James Roane (Senior Scientist, Discovery Chemistry) from our South San Francisco research laboratories to join us and answer YOUR questions! What topics or case studies to help students understand drug discovery better? What was the most surprising thing about starting your career and navigating the transition f...
Snack: #TLCchat with Cecilia Bottecchia, photoflow award winner
November 15, 2021 07:00 - 7 minutes - 6.55 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Cecilia Bottecchia, Senior Scientist in Flow Chemistry group. Cecilia joined #MerckChemistry a little >2 years ago bringing her flow experience to Merck and immediately having an impact (Google Scholar). She was recently the co-recipient of the Peter Dunn Green Chemistry Award for the development of a greener manufacturing process featuring a photo-flow bromination. We discuss her exper...
S1.E5: Paint the Town ERED!
November 01, 2021 07:00 - 35 minutes - 82.3 MBFor the 5th course, join Dani and LC as they sit down with #MerckChemistry's Meg Shaw and Chihui An to discuss their biocatalytic approach in transforming readily available acrylic acids to chiral α-substituted carboxylic acids - a reoccurring motif in drug development. As this story evolved (no pun intended), we’ll hear how Meg (Process Chemistry) and Chihui (Biocatalysis) joined forces to develop an ene-reductase (ERED) to effect the asymmetric reduction of acrylic acids and ultimately wh...
Paint the Town ERED!
November 01, 2021 07:00 - 35 minutes - 82.3 MBFor the 5th course, join Dani and LC as they sit down with #MerckChemistry's Meg Shaw and Chihui An to discuss their biocatalytic approach in transforming readily available acrylic acids to chiral α-substituted carboxylic acids - a reoccurring motif in drug development. As this story evolved (no pun intended), we’ll hear how Meg (Process Chemistry) and Chihui (Biocatalysis) joined forces to develop an ene-reductase (ERED) to effect the asymmetric reduction of acrylic acids and ultimately wh...
Snack: #TLCchat with Becky Ruck, new topic editor at ACS Catalysis
October 18, 2021 07:00 - 6 minutes - 15.1 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Becky Ruck, Executive Director and Head of Enabling Technologies in Small Molecule Process R&D. Becky has amassed an amazing portfolio of amazing science (Google Scholar) in a variety of roles at #MerckChemistry. She recently took on a role as a Topic Editor for ACS Catalysis to help bring more industrial science to the journal. Having led recruiting for many years, Becky gives prospecti...
Does HTE stand for Hazmat Trucking Enforcement?
October 04, 2021 07:00 - 28 minutes - 64.8 MBFor our 4th course, we sit down with Dipa Kalyani to chat about her journey from a tenured professor position at St-Olaf to associate principal scientist within our Discovery organization via an academic-industrial collaboration with Dani. This episode explores how pairing state-of-the-art capabilities in HTE (the high-throughput experimentation kind) with great problem selection can lead to a nice impactful method for direct arylation of heterocycles with pharmaceutically relevant aryl chlo...
S1.E4: Does HTE stand for Hazmat Trucking Enforcement?
October 04, 2021 07:00 - 28 minutes - 64.8 MBFor our 4th course, we sit down with Dipa Kalyani to chat about her journey from a tenured professor position at St-Olaf to associate principal scientist within our Discovery organization via an academic-industrial collaboration with Dani. This episode explores how pairing state-of-the-art capabilities in HTE (the high-throughput experimentation kind) with great problem selection can lead to a nice impactful method for direct arylation of heterocycles with pharmaceutically relevant aryl chlo...
Snack: #TLCchat with Patrick Fier, newly minted C&EN's Talented 12 for 2021
September 20, 2021 07:00 - 5 minutes - 13.5 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Patrick Fier, Principal Scientist in Process Chemistry. Patrick has a had a roaring start to his career at Merck in the last 5 years (Google Scholar) and was just named to C&EN's Talented 12 for 2021. Building on this season's Episode 2: Phenols and Sulfonamides are Cool, Patrick returns to the pod to discuss this recognition and answer the real important questions, like: Who did he tell...
Simon, Garfunkel and the Art of Building N-Aryl Piperidines
September 06, 2021 07:00 - 28 minutes - 66.1 MBFor our 3rd course we serve up another #MerckChemistry duo, Libby Hennessy (aka Simon) and Aaron Sather (aka Garfunkel) who join us to discuss their discovery of a new way to access N-(hetero)aryl piperidines. We'll discover how to convince your grandma why piperidines are so important to drug discovery and learn how chemistry advances are made at the interface of Process and Medicinal Chemistry at Merck. We'll also dive into the Merck Future Talents program which brings in interns to come w...
S1.E3: Simon, Garfunkel and the Art of Building N-Aryl Piperidines
September 06, 2021 07:00 - 28 minutes - 66.1 MBFor our 3rd course we serve up another #MerckChemistry duo, Libby Hennessy (aka Simon) and Aaron Sather (aka Garfunkel) who join us to discuss their discovery of a new way to access N-(hetero)aryl piperidines. We'll discover how to convince your grandma why piperidines are so important to drug discovery and learn how chemistry advances are made at the interface of Process and Medicinal Chemistry at Merck. We'll also dive into the Merck Future Talents program which brings in interns to come w...
Snack: #TLCchat with Jamie McCabe Dunn, lead of process chemistry recruiting
August 30, 2021 07:00 - 5 minutes - 11.9 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Jamie McCabe Dunn, Director of Process Chemistry who, on top of delivering amazing science (Google Scholar), is also leading recruiting of new hires for our Process Chemistry teams. While this episode is short, we get answers to some serious questions such as “Is South Dakota considered the Midwest or central USA?”; “Will building a network really impact my chances of getting a job?”; an...
Snack: #TLCchat with Ania Fryszkowska, bioCAT extraordinaire!
August 16, 2021 07:00 - 7 minutes - 6.52 MBChemTwitter told us it takes 3 minutes to run a TLC plate, so today we‘re brining you 3 good minutes with Ania Fryszkowska, a biocatalysis whiz who recently co-authored an article in Science on innovative biocatalytic cascades to access sugars (link HERE). While this episode is short, we get answers to some serious questions such as “which Nobel laureate zoom-bombed the Virtual Biocatalysis and Protein Engineering Meetups?”; “what does the future of biocatalysis hold?”; and most importantly ...
Phenols and Sulfonamides Are Cool!
August 02, 2021 07:00 - 31 minutes - 71.4 MBFor our 2nd course, a #winning #MerckChemistry duo, Patrick Fier and Kevin Maloney, join us to discuss their discovery of the Maloney-Fier reaction (campaigning to be in the 2nd edition of the indispensable Strategic Applications of Named Reaction in Organic Synthesis by Kurti/Czako) as well as other projects they've collaborated on in the last few years. We'll uncover why these two work so well together and how they balance exploring scientific curiosities while having day jobs as successf...
S1.E2: Phenols and Sulfonamides Are Cool!
August 02, 2021 07:00 - 31 minutes - 71.4 MBFor our 2nd course, a #winning #MerckChemistry duo, Patrick Fier and Kevin Maloney, join us to discuss their discovery of the Maloney-Fier reaction (campaigning to be in the 2nd edition of the indispensable Strategic Applications of Named Reaction in Organic Synthesis by Kurti/Czako) as well as other projects they've collaborated on in the last few years. We'll uncover why these two work so well together and how they balance exploring scientific curiosities while having day jobs as successf...
Snack: Origin Story
July 19, 2021 07:00 - 3 minutes - 7.75 MBEvery great meal starts with an inspiration.... Find out how Pharm to Table was created from an idea to our release. You'll find out how we gathered all the essential ingredients - including our name, logo, music and also folks that gave us great advice along the way. You will also get to meet a key early contributor, our Merck Future Talent program intern Jimmy Olsen (now a graduate student with Professor John Wood at Baylor!), who helped us get off the ground last year! Follow the Pharm ...
S1.E1: Harder, Better, Faster
July 05, 2021 08:00 - 32 minutes - 74.6 MBFor our 1st course (and inaugural episode!!), Dani and L.-C. serve up the true Pharm to Table experience by discussing the importance of academic-industrial collaborations through the lens of their comment piece published in Nature Chemistry titled “Harder, Better, Faster.” This article struck a cord with a lot of folks in the chemistry community (>22k views) and created a social media buzz where academics and industrial scientists debated the age old question “Why don’t you use my [insert s...
Harder, Better, Faster
July 05, 2021 08:00 - 32 minutes - 74.6 MBFor our 1st course (and inaugural episode!!), Dani and L.-C. serve up the true Pharm to Table experience by discussing the importance of academic-industrial collaborations through the lens of their comment piece published in Nature Chemistry titled “Harder, Better, Faster.” This article struck a cord with a lot of folks in the chemistry community (>22k views) and created a social media buzz where academics and industrial scientists debated the age old question “Why don’t you use my [insert s...
The Theme Song
June 28, 2021 12:00 - 1 minute - 973 KBAnother teaser! Here is our delicious theme song. Thanks to Mark Partridge (twitter: @markrightmedia) for this original piece! One more week to the launch! The 1st episode drops July 5th. Please subscribe so you never miss new content.
Coming Soon! Pharm to Table Podcast
June 17, 2021 16:42 - 2 minutes - 5.8 MBCheck out our trailer! Join L.-C. Campeau and Dani Schultz as they explore the amazing stories and people behind the papers from #MerckChemistry. We promise to always bring tasty (pun intended) #MerckChemistry content to our table that is guaranteed to have you coming back for another dose (pun intended, again). Subscribe to get all our new episodes.