Dear GA members,
2022 was again an exceptional year: still hampered by the COVID-19 pandemics, but slowly daring to start with a “normal” life, we could again enjoy a vivid and scientifically outstanding annual GA meeting in Thessaloniki. At this point, a big thank to the conference organizer Prof. Andreana Assimopoulou and her team, for all the efforts to offer us such a great f2f meeting.
At this conference we were able to decorate our esteemed previous GA president Prof. Anna-Rita Bilia and our long-standing GA newsletter-editor Prof. Andreas Hensel with the GA crystal Cubes. Fourteen young researchers from eleven different countries could be supported with the GA travel grant to make it to Thessaloniki. At this point many thanks to the travel grant committee around Prof. Maria Halabalaki. During the Young Researchers Workshop organized by Prof. Alessandra Braca and Prof. Jürg Gertsch two further young scientists, Julien Cordonnier and Gabriela Belen Lemus Ringele were awarded for their outstanding presentations.
In the opening ceremony of the GA meeting, we were extremely happy to experience our annual 2022-awardees in a live ceremony: the Egon Stahl Award in Bronze was bestowed to Dr. Epole Ngolle Ntungwe for her excellent doctoral thesis. Dr. Simone Moser was decorated with the prestigious Dr. Wilmar Schwabe Award 2022 for her outstanding contributions to the discovery of bioactive phyllobillins. The Planta Medica best paper Award was bestowed to Antoine Bruguière and coauthors for their study entitled “3C NMR Dereplication Using MixONat Software: A Practical Guide to Decipher Natural Products Mixtures”.
Unfortunately, in 2021 and 2022 we were also faced with the loss of renowned personalities, who dedicated their scientific life to natural product research or our Society in an extraordinary way: Prof. Irmgard Merford, Prof. Otto Sticher, Prof. Hildebert Wagner, and Prof. Peter Bradley. We will miss their spirit and engagement.
GA is proud to have so many decorated honorary members in the Society. This list could be increased by further four role models in the field of natural product outreach and scientific excellence: A cordial welcome to our new honorary members: Prof. Giovanni Appendino, Dr. Mark Blumenthal, Prof. Matthias Hamburger, and Prof. Judit Hohmann.
Beside this so much needed social and scientific interchange which we could experience at the conference in Thessaloniki, we also took advantage from the technical versatility and tools meanwhile acquainted for the organization of regular Podcasts (thanks to Prof. Robert Fürst and the team) and the continuation of eSymposia, such as “Phytotherapeutics in Children: Rationalizing optimal Dosing for use in Children” in May this year and “Plant toxins in botanical drugs, food and feed – from basic science to a safe regulatory framework” in September. We could enjoy the eSeminar on “Regulation of Natural Products” from different geographical and regulatory perspectives, which will continue in 2023. Also, the joint eSymposium with the HMPPA on “Yellow Gentian: Phytochemical, pharmacological and clinical evidence”, which took place in November this year, attracted many scientists around the world.
In 2023, GA, founded in 1953, can celebrate its 70th birthday, and we are very much looking forward to meeting you at the 71st International Congress and Annual Meeting of our Society. It will take place from July 2.-5., 2023, in Dublin at the Trinity College with Prof. Helen Sheridan and Dr. Gaia Scalabrino as conference presidents, and the deadline for submission of abstracts will be March 31. You will find more information at the conference homepage.
Memo:
- Be aware of the GA awards 2023, including two new awards: Awards – Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA) (application deadline: March 10, 2023)
- Take advantage of being a GA member:
(i) free registration to the offered eSymposia and eSeminars,
(ii) special offers (reduced registration fees) to GA conferences,
(iii) do not miss to apply for a travel grant to the GA conference in Dublin (application deadline: March 10), and
(iv) many more benefits.
Additionally, be aware of the next exciting eSeminar, on February 10th about “Brazilian biodiversity as a source of new drugs: Private sector perspective” organized by Dr. Emerson Ferreira Queiroz. You can download the program here.
After this 2022-wrap-up and first preview into the new year, it only remains to thank you all for your commitment this year. It is a pleasure to have so many active members in our big GA family.
Wishing you all a relaxing holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2023!
Judith M. Rollinger
– GA President –
