Remembering Marie Curie's Legacy (2011)

The International Year of Chemistry (IYC) 2011 is a worldwide celebration of the achievements of chemistry and of its contributions to the development of humankind. Specific goals of IYC 2011 are to increase the public appreciation and understanding of chemistry, to encourage young people's interest in chemistry, to generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry, and to celebrate the role of women in chemistry. Indeed, it is no coincidence that 2011 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded for chemistry to Marie Skłodowska Curie, and this occasion is considered an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of women to science.1 Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 543 times to 840 people and organizations. Of these, only 41 prizes were awarded to women and only four times to women involved in chemistry. From these facts alone, it could be difficult to highlight significant contributions by females to the development of science in general and chemistry in particular. However, the truth is that many women have contributed to science since its earliest days, but these contributions have generally not been acknowledged. In fact, despite the success of some women, cultural biases against female scientists were prominent until just last century. These biases affected the education of women and their participation in science. Women were often prevented from being granted their doctorates or joining scientific societies worldwide; their work was unpaid or in positions lacking the status they deserved. In recent years, a series of publications have been released aimed at highlighting the contributions women have made, the barriers they have faced, and the strategies implemented to have their work accepted as scientists. The recent book European Women in Chemistry edited by Jan Apotheker and Livia Simon Sarkadi was published by Wiley-VCH in collaboration with the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS) to celebrate the IYC 2011. The book, written by an excellent team of authors, highlights the role of European women in chemistry through the ages—a retrospective look at some of the most important female chemists in history (see the Book Review on p. 737).1 Over the last decade or two, a number of organizations have been set up to combat the stereotyping that dissuades girls from pursuing science in education and as a career. The WISE Campaign (Women into Science, Engineering and Construction) and the UK Resource Centre for Women in science, engineering and technology (UKRC) are European-based organisations whose aims are to ensure that industry, academia and education are aware of the importance of challenging the traditional approaches to careers advice and recruitment to ensure the best brains, irrespective of gender, are not lost to science. A similar agency in the USA, the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), founded in 1971, is a national advocacy organization championing the interests of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) across all disciplines and employment sectors. AWIS believes that “women in STEM are prevented from reaching their full potential, not because they are less able or less willing, but because of barriers that exist in scientific workplaces”. Focusing on medicinal chemistry, it is a field that, similarly to other chemistry disciplines, was largely closed to women before the twentieth century. However, a number of women have performed so notably that the gap is closing with time, though it is likely to take many more years for true equality to be achieved. However, early signs of change and promise are gradually emerging in several forms. While it was considered improper for the first female academic in Europe, Laura Bassi (1711–1778), to teach a room full of students and so only occasionally gave public lectures to which women were invited, nowadays, a female voice explaining the fundamentals of medicinal chemistry is not unusual. Moreover, some medicinal chemistry textbooks are written by women; “Quantitative Drug Design: A Critical Introduction” written by Ivonne Connolly Martin back in 1978 has introduced a generation of students to ligand-based computer-assisted drug design. Today, the presence of women in the junior and senior levels of academia has become routine. However, some studies have revealed that female faculty members are likely to be less well treated than their male counterparts in terms of teaching assignments, laboratory space, they may be evaluated more harshly, are less likely to receive awards and distinctions, or to be included on important committees. Nevertheless, some women do hold key academic positions, such as Department Heads and Faculty Deans. Their stories are inspiring and show that, through hard work and dedication, anyone can be recognized for his or her achievements. More importantly, they serve as role models and catalysts for younger female students that, in recent years, enter Ph.D. programs in medicinal chemistry in an ever-increasing number. In the pharmaceutical industry, where the management positions are historically a male prerogative, things are changing. For example, in July 2010 Karen Lackey, an International Advisory Board member of ChemMedChem, was named Vice President and Head of Medicinal Chemistry at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. With a career spanning 20 years, Karen has held a variety of positions within the pharmaceutical industry and is on several professional advisory boards. In 2008 she received the “Heroes of Chemistry” award from the American Chemical Society for her contribution to the discovery of the dual erbB2/EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, lapatinib, which is currently marketed for the treatment of breast cancer. This is indicative of Karen’s commitment to the well-being of women. The signs of change can also be appreciated when looking at ChemMedChem, where women hold a number of prestigious positions: the Editor-in-Chief (Natalia Ortúzar), an Editorial Board member (Gloria Cristalli) and eight International Advisory Board members (Maria Laura Bolognesi, Maria José Camarasa, Sylviane Giorgi-Renault, Concepción González-Bello, Pilar Goya Laza, Karen Lackey, Dominique Lesuisse, Sylviane Muller). Publications might be considered a more objective measure of a scientist's success; since its beginning, around 16 % of the manuscripts published in ChemMedChem were submitted by women. Two of the journal's most prolific female authors are Concepción González Bello (Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain) and Tanja Schirmeister (Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Würzburg, Germany), both of whom are involved in antimicrobial drug discovery. Professor González Bello is the subject of this issue's Author’s profile, where she discusses her research on exploring the shikimic acid pathway for the development of antitubercular agents (see p. 591). We like to think of Concepción and Tanja as women with a strong organic chemistry background working to combat some of the most devastating diseases in the world. While there are many positive examples to be found, it is clear that a gender gap remains, and what's more, it remains to be overcome. When we, as scientists, build barriers around anything, we fail. Over the past four decades, working side by side in industrial and academic laboratories has allowed us to see that men and women’s skills can be different, but that, if approached from a positive perspective, these differences can be celebrated and taken advantage of to complement one another in the challenges of drug discovery. So, when asking “Who will rescue the on-going drug discovery crisis?”, the most correct answer should be “Men and women together–with joint efforts towards discovering more effective medicines.” 1 Prof. Gloria Cristalli University of Camerino (Italy) 1 Prof. Maria Laura Bolognesi University of Bologna (Italy)