Organic Industrial Chemistry Award 2011 Winner

Awarded for his outstanding contributions to medicinal chemistry and drug discovery research including the oxetane concept which has made enormous impact recently. 

About the Winner

Klaus Müller, an organic chemist by training (PhD with Prof Albert Eschenmoser, ETHZ), got involved in theoretical and physical organic as well as biostructural chemistry. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the US and continued as visiting lecturer at Harvard University for two years before returning to the ETHZ where hid did his Habilitation in 1977.

In 1982, he joined F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Basel, to set up and further developed molecular modelling, biostructural research, bioinformatics, and was involved in the development of automated and miniaturized key technologies in discovery research. From 1998 till 2009, he was Head of 'Science & Technology Relations', acting as liaison person to both academic and non-academic external groups as well as internally between discovery research and technologies. He was a Member of the Board and Secretary-General of the Roche Research Foundation from 1999 till its conclusion at the end of 2008.

Since 1990 he is extraordinary professor at the University of Basel, teaching structure- and property-guided molecular design in Drug Discovery. He was promoted to 'Roche Distinguished Scientist' in Spring 2005, one of the first in this highest scientific promotion category of Roche. In Summer 2006, he was invited by Harvard University as 'Robert B. Woodward Visiting Scholar' to give a lecture series at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. In 2010, he was awarded the Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery of the Prous Institute. 

After his regular retirement in Spring 2009, he continues to be affiliated with Roche as a consultant in chemistry and scientific matters and, at the same time, resumed teaching and research activities in organic chemistry at the ETH Zurich.