ESBOC is a cornerstone event in the field of chemical biology, offering a platform for scientific discourse, collaboration, and knowledge exchange that allows early career researchers to mix with world leaders in an informal setting. Its long-standing legacy and continued evolution underscore its importance as a catalyst for advancing research and driving innovation in the field.
The event will be held on May 28th-30th at Gregynog Hall, a picturesque country house nestled amidst 750 acres of lush gardens and wooded parkland in Mid-Wales. The choice of venue for ESBOC 2025 is historical. Gregynog is approximately 2 hours from Birmingham and Manchester, and is a short taxi ride from Newtown railway station. All conference facilities, including accommodation and catering are on site.
In addition, we are organising a satellite pre-ESBOC workshop in Manchester at the MIB (https://www.mib.manchester.ac.uk/) on the morning of May 28th, 2025. This satellite event will enable us to reach a wider audience with the ESBOC lecture programme. Furthermore, a free return coach between MIB and Gregynog will be provided to facilitate travel for attendees and speakers.
Standard registration: £360.00
Industry registration: £500.00
Student registration: £260.00
Attendees can register for one (ESBOC) or both (ESBOC and satellite pre-ESBOC) events for the same price.
The satellite pre-ESBOC event will be held as a hybrid meeting, with the option for online attendance. To register, please contact Louis at lukly@cardiff.ac.uk.
Some relevant information
Dinner on 28th; breakfast, lunch, dinner on 29th, and; breakfast and lunch on 30th.
Cancellation policy
A full refund will be given for cancellations more than 3 months in advance. A refund of 25% of the price will be made for cancellations between 3 months and 1 month in advance. Refunds will not be offered in the event of cancellation less than 1 month in advance.
Please find the suggested travel plan below.
May 27th (Tues):
Recommended arrival in Manchester if attending the satellite meeting at MIB (Manchester Institute of Biotechnology) on May 28th morning.
May 28th (Wed):
Morning: Satellite meeting at MIB.
Around noon: Bus departs from MIB to Gregynog.
Accommodation: A 2-night stay at Gregynog (May 28th-30th) is included in the registration—no need to respond to hotel booking emails (beware of scam emails).
May 28th evening – May 30th noon:
ESBOC event (meals covered during this period).
May 30th (Fri):
Around 1:00 PM: Bus departs from Gregynog back to MIB.
Late afternoon: Expected arrival at MIB, central Manchester.
May 30th evening or May 31st (Fri/Sat):
Suggested return dates.
Programme
Wed 28th May 2025
15:30 Welcome & Introduction
Session 1 – Louis Luk
15:35 – 16:05
Yimon Aye
The Many Guises of Reactive Metabolite Signalling
16:05 – 16:20
Tom E. McAllister
Ribosomal synthesis of glycopeptides
16:20 – 16:35
Nicholas Mitchell
Visible-Light-Mediated Peptide Macrocyclisation
16:35 Tea / Coffee
Session 2 – Yujia Qing
17:05 – 17:15
Poster teasers
17:15 – 17:30
Jonathan Dolan
Sweet Targets: Biocatalytic methods for glycosylating nucleoside analogues
17:30 – 18:00
Barbara Imperiali
Rolling Out Glycan Biosynthesis: A Tale of Two Topologies
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Poster viewing (Open bar)
Thursday 29th May 2025
08:00 Breakfast
Session 3 – Boris Vauzeilles
09:00 – 09:30
Louise J. Walport
Adventures in Covalency using mRNA-display
09:30 – 09:45
Yujia Qing
Towards nanopore proteomics: Single-molecule detection of post-translational modifications on full-length proteins
09:45 – 10:00
María Maneiro
Targeting PARP1 Inactivation in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer with Dephosphorylation-Targeting Chimeras
10:00 – 10:15
Spyros Letsios
Generating Potent Raman-Active BRD4 Degrader Probes for Cellular Imaging
10:15 – 10:45
Nicole Biber
Targeted PROTAC Delivery: Principles of Crafting PROTAC-ADCs and Self-assembling PROxAb Shuttles
10:45 Tea / Coffee
Session 4 – Ben Schumann
11:15 – 11:45
Marc Vendrell
Activatable Fluorescent Probes for Imaging Immune Cells
11:45 – 12:00
Hannah Wootton
Chemical Synthesis of a Chondroitin Sulfate Fluorescent Probe for Monitoring Hyaluronidase Activity
12:00 – 12:15
Simon N. Smith
Synthesis and Resolution of tris-Heteroleptic Ruthenium Polypyridyl complexes as Chiral DNA Binding Luminescent Probes
12:15 – 12:30
Roman Dembinski
Comparison of Anticancer Activity of Free-Ribose and Acetyl-Ribose Cobalt Carbonyl Furopyrimidine Nucleosides with 5-Alkynyl Substituent
12:30 – 13:00
Péter Kele
Bioorthogonal Modulation of Photoresponsivity and Vice versa
Group picture
13:00 Lunch
14:00 AFTERNOON FREE
Session 5 – Louise J. Walport
16:00 – 16:30
Anthony Green
Building Enzymes with New Function
16:30 – 16:45
Ennio Pečaver
Probing the Catalytic Action of Human 4-oxo-L-proline Reductase via Isotope Effects
16:45 – 17:00
Martin Spinck
Escherichia coli with a 57-codon genetic code
17:00 – 17:30
Cathleen Zeymer
De novo Lanthanide Enzymes for Photoredox Catalysis
17:30 Tea / Coffee
Session 6 – Nicholas Mitchell
18:00 – 18:10
Poster teasers
18:10 – 18:25
Jacob Webb
Photoaffinity labelling using the fungicide mandipropamid as a probe
18:25 – 18:40
Alejandro Torregrosa Chinillach
Novel Chemoselective Metabolomics Analysis: Exploring Gut Microbiome Metabolism in Liver Disease Plasma
18:40 – 19:10
Concepción González-Bello
Exploring New Bacterial Niches for Facing the Silent Pandemic
19:15 3-Course Dinner
21:00 Poster viewing (Open bar)
Friday 30th May 2023
08:00 Breakfast
Session 7 – Olalla Vázquez
09:30 – 10:00
Peter H. Seeberger
Synthetic Glycans as Tools for Molecular Glycobiology
10:00 – 10:15
Roy Weinstain
Spatial Control of Bioactive Molecules in Plants: A Chemical-Genetic Platform for Precision
10:15 Tea / Coffee
10:45 – 11:15
Oliver Thorn-Seshold
Rethinking Photoswitches for Biology: Imaging, Pharmacology, and the NIR
11:15 – 11:45
Benjamin Schumann
Chemical Precision Tools to Study and Disrupt Glycan Biosynthesis
11:45 Final remarks
12:00 Lunch
13:30 Bus departure
Symposia in previous years
Chairmen
1967 Chemistry and Biosynthesis of Antibiotics
CH Hassall
1968 Biologically Active Nitrogen Heterocycles
CH Hassall
1969 Chemistry and Biosynthesis of Terpenes and Steroids
T Walker
1970 Peptides and Related Compounds
GW Kenner
1971 Metal Complexes in Biological Systems
K Heusler
1972 Chemistry of Enzyme-mediated Processes
AR Battersby
1973 Microbiological Chemistry
WB Whalley
1974 Biological Systems and their Models
D Arigoni
1975 Biosynthesis and Biotransformation
Sir John Cornforth
1976 Tenth Annual Meeting
AH Jackson
1977 Chemistry of Communication and Defence Mechanisms
A Brossi
1978 Microbial Cell Walls and Membranes
Sir James Baddiley
1979 Stereospecificity in Chemistry and Biochemistry
I Crombie
1980 Conformational Studies of Bioactive Compounds
J Mathieu
1981 Pigments of Life
AW Johnson
1982 Bi-organic Chemistry of Plants
P Doyle
1983 Key enzymes: Targets for Drug Action
HCS Wood
1984 Molecular Recognition
P Potier
1985 Nucleosides and Nucleotides in Nature
RF Newton
1986 Dioxygen in Chemistry and Biology
JE Baldwin
1987 Chemistry and Biochemistry of Amino Acids
DHG Crout
1988 Chemistry and Biochemistry of Carbohydrates
A Vasella
1989 Non-Covalent Interactions in Biology
DH Williams
1990 Biosynthetic Enzymes and their Inhibition
DA Evans
1991 Molecular Interactions for Biological Regulation
CH Hassall
1992 Molecular Studies Related to Cell Proliferation
BT Golding
1993 Chemistry and Mechanisms of Cellular Signalling
R Baker
1994 Radical Chemistry in Biological Processes
A Marquet
1995 Molecular Aspects of Infection and Immunity
BW Bycroft
1996 Chemistry and the Origin of Life
D Arigoni
1997 Transition State in Biological Chemistry
GM Blackburn
1998 Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology
A Bacher
1999 Biological Approaches to Synthesis
J Staunton
2000 Chemistry and Chemical Biology of Oligonucleotides
B Kräutler
2001 Structure and Function of Membrane Embedded Proteins
J L Castro
2002 Chemical Biology of Cell Signalling and Localization
H Waldmann
2003 The Evolution of Catalysis
A Plückthun & D Hilvert
2004 Protein-Protein and Protein-peptide Interactions
JA Robinson
2005 Role and Control of Metals, Ions and Water in Biology
K Müller
2006 Natural Products and their Cellular Targets
P Leadlay
2007 Chemical Biology meets Drug Discovery
D Rees & J Kihlberg
2008 Motor Proteins – New Therapeutic Targets
P Shoolingin-Jordan
2009 Vitamins and Cofactors
T McDonald
2010 Highlights in Biological and Organic Chemistry
R Allemann & H Hailes
2011 The Chemistry and Function of Nucleic Acids
S Balasubramanian
2012 Chemistry and Biology of Antibiotics
T Bugg
2013 Chemical Probes for Cellular Processes
K Johnsson
2014 Biological Applications of Supramolecular Chemistry
JL Mascareñas
2015 Design and Engineering of Novel Biocatalysts
N Turner
2016 A Celebration of Biological and Organic Chemistry
C Abell
2017 Chemical Synthetic Biology: Self-assembly, Encapsulation & Delivery
D Woolfson
2018 Life and Death of Nucleic Acids
T Carell
2019 Chemistry and Biology of Glycoconjugates
S Flitsch
2021 New Frontiers in Chemistry & Biology
S O’Connor
2022 The Chemical Biology of Molecules & Materials
R Field
2023 Chemical Biology in Europe
B Vauzeilles
2024 ESBOC at Biarritz France
Helen C Hailes
2025 ESBOC at Gregynog
Olalla Vázquez
Want to be part of the ESBOC community? Contact us!
We’re looking for enthusiastic, energetic and well-organised members to help lead ESBOC into its next chapter. As one of the longest-running chemical biology conferences, ESBOC is built on the spirit of “old meets new for breakthroughs”—bringing together established leaders and emerging voices in the field. If you’re passionate about supporting the community and scientific exchange, we’d love to have you on board. Interested? Please do get in touch!
The event will be held on May 28th-30th at Gregynog Hall, a picturesque country house nestled amidst 750 acres of lush gardens and wooded parkland in Mid-Wales. The choice of venue for ESBOC 2025 is historical. Gregynog is approximately 2 hours from Birmingham and Manchester, and is a short taxi ride from Newtown railway station. All conference facilities, including accommodation and catering are on site.
In addition, we are organising a satellite pre-ESBOC workshop in Manchester at the MIB (https://www.mib.manchester.ac.uk/) on the morning of May 28th, 2025. This satellite event will enable us to reach a wider audience with the ESBOC lecture programme. Furthermore, a free return coach between MIB and Gregynog will be provided to facilitate travel for attendees and speakers.
Standard registration: £360.00
Industry registration: £500.00
Student registration: £260.00
Attendees can register for one (ESBOC) or both (ESBOC and satellite pre-ESBOC) events for the same price.
The satellite pre-ESBOC event will be held as a hybrid meeting, with the option for online attendance. To register, please contact Louis at lukly@cardiff.ac.uk.
Some relevant information
- How to go to Gregynog?
- What's included from the registration fee?
Dinner on 28th; breakfast, lunch, dinner on 29th, and; breakfast and lunch on 30th.
- Do we provide assistance for visa application?
Cancellation policy
A full refund will be given for cancellations more than 3 months in advance. A refund of 25% of the price will be made for cancellations between 3 months and 1 month in advance. Refunds will not be offered in the event of cancellation less than 1 month in advance.
Please find the suggested travel plan below.
May 27th (Tues):
Recommended arrival in Manchester if attending the satellite meeting at MIB (Manchester Institute of Biotechnology) on May 28th morning.
May 28th (Wed):
Morning: Satellite meeting at MIB.
Around noon: Bus departs from MIB to Gregynog.
Accommodation: A 2-night stay at Gregynog (May 28th-30th) is included in the registration—no need to respond to hotel booking emails (beware of scam emails).
May 28th evening – May 30th noon:
ESBOC event (meals covered during this period).
May 30th (Fri):
Around 1:00 PM: Bus departs from Gregynog back to MIB.
Late afternoon: Expected arrival at MIB, central Manchester.
May 30th evening or May 31st (Fri/Sat):
Suggested return dates.
Programme
Wed 28th May 2025
15:30 Welcome & Introduction
Session 1 – Louis Luk
15:35 – 16:05
Yimon Aye
The Many Guises of Reactive Metabolite Signalling
16:05 – 16:20
Tom E. McAllister
Ribosomal synthesis of glycopeptides
16:20 – 16:35
Nicholas Mitchell
Visible-Light-Mediated Peptide Macrocyclisation
16:35 Tea / Coffee
Session 2 – Yujia Qing
17:05 – 17:15
Poster teasers
17:15 – 17:30
Jonathan Dolan
Sweet Targets: Biocatalytic methods for glycosylating nucleoside analogues
17:30 – 18:00
Barbara Imperiali
Rolling Out Glycan Biosynthesis: A Tale of Two Topologies
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Poster viewing (Open bar)
Thursday 29th May 2025
08:00 Breakfast
Session 3 – Boris Vauzeilles
09:00 – 09:30
Louise J. Walport
Adventures in Covalency using mRNA-display
09:30 – 09:45
Yujia Qing
Towards nanopore proteomics: Single-molecule detection of post-translational modifications on full-length proteins
09:45 – 10:00
María Maneiro
Targeting PARP1 Inactivation in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer with Dephosphorylation-Targeting Chimeras
10:00 – 10:15
Spyros Letsios
Generating Potent Raman-Active BRD4 Degrader Probes for Cellular Imaging
10:15 – 10:45
Nicole Biber
Targeted PROTAC Delivery: Principles of Crafting PROTAC-ADCs and Self-assembling PROxAb Shuttles
10:45 Tea / Coffee
Session 4 – Ben Schumann
11:15 – 11:45
Marc Vendrell
Activatable Fluorescent Probes for Imaging Immune Cells
11:45 – 12:00
Hannah Wootton
Chemical Synthesis of a Chondroitin Sulfate Fluorescent Probe for Monitoring Hyaluronidase Activity
12:00 – 12:15
Simon N. Smith
Synthesis and Resolution of tris-Heteroleptic Ruthenium Polypyridyl complexes as Chiral DNA Binding Luminescent Probes
12:15 – 12:30
Roman Dembinski
Comparison of Anticancer Activity of Free-Ribose and Acetyl-Ribose Cobalt Carbonyl Furopyrimidine Nucleosides with 5-Alkynyl Substituent
12:30 – 13:00
Péter Kele
Bioorthogonal Modulation of Photoresponsivity and Vice versa
Group picture
13:00 Lunch
14:00 AFTERNOON FREE
Session 5 – Louise J. Walport
16:00 – 16:30
Anthony Green
Building Enzymes with New Function
16:30 – 16:45
Ennio Pečaver
Probing the Catalytic Action of Human 4-oxo-L-proline Reductase via Isotope Effects
16:45 – 17:00
Martin Spinck
Escherichia coli with a 57-codon genetic code
17:00 – 17:30
Cathleen Zeymer
De novo Lanthanide Enzymes for Photoredox Catalysis
17:30 Tea / Coffee
Session 6 – Nicholas Mitchell
18:00 – 18:10
Poster teasers
18:10 – 18:25
Jacob Webb
Photoaffinity labelling using the fungicide mandipropamid as a probe
18:25 – 18:40
Alejandro Torregrosa Chinillach
Novel Chemoselective Metabolomics Analysis: Exploring Gut Microbiome Metabolism in Liver Disease Plasma
18:40 – 19:10
Concepción González-Bello
Exploring New Bacterial Niches for Facing the Silent Pandemic
19:15 3-Course Dinner
21:00 Poster viewing (Open bar)
Friday 30th May 2023
08:00 Breakfast
Session 7 – Olalla Vázquez
09:30 – 10:00
Peter H. Seeberger
Synthetic Glycans as Tools for Molecular Glycobiology
10:00 – 10:15
Roy Weinstain
Spatial Control of Bioactive Molecules in Plants: A Chemical-Genetic Platform for Precision
10:15 Tea / Coffee
10:45 – 11:15
Oliver Thorn-Seshold
Rethinking Photoswitches for Biology: Imaging, Pharmacology, and the NIR
11:15 – 11:45
Benjamin Schumann
Chemical Precision Tools to Study and Disrupt Glycan Biosynthesis
11:45 Final remarks
12:00 Lunch
13:30 Bus departure
Symposia in previous years
Chairmen
1967 Chemistry and Biosynthesis of Antibiotics
CH Hassall
1968 Biologically Active Nitrogen Heterocycles
CH Hassall
1969 Chemistry and Biosynthesis of Terpenes and Steroids
T Walker
1970 Peptides and Related Compounds
GW Kenner
1971 Metal Complexes in Biological Systems
K Heusler
1972 Chemistry of Enzyme-mediated Processes
AR Battersby
1973 Microbiological Chemistry
WB Whalley
1974 Biological Systems and their Models
D Arigoni
1975 Biosynthesis and Biotransformation
Sir John Cornforth
1976 Tenth Annual Meeting
AH Jackson
1977 Chemistry of Communication and Defence Mechanisms
A Brossi
1978 Microbial Cell Walls and Membranes
Sir James Baddiley
1979 Stereospecificity in Chemistry and Biochemistry
I Crombie
1980 Conformational Studies of Bioactive Compounds
J Mathieu
1981 Pigments of Life
AW Johnson
1982 Bi-organic Chemistry of Plants
P Doyle
1983 Key enzymes: Targets for Drug Action
HCS Wood
1984 Molecular Recognition
P Potier
1985 Nucleosides and Nucleotides in Nature
RF Newton
1986 Dioxygen in Chemistry and Biology
JE Baldwin
1987 Chemistry and Biochemistry of Amino Acids
DHG Crout
1988 Chemistry and Biochemistry of Carbohydrates
A Vasella
1989 Non-Covalent Interactions in Biology
DH Williams
1990 Biosynthetic Enzymes and their Inhibition
DA Evans
1991 Molecular Interactions for Biological Regulation
CH Hassall
1992 Molecular Studies Related to Cell Proliferation
BT Golding
1993 Chemistry and Mechanisms of Cellular Signalling
R Baker
1994 Radical Chemistry in Biological Processes
A Marquet
1995 Molecular Aspects of Infection and Immunity
BW Bycroft
1996 Chemistry and the Origin of Life
D Arigoni
1997 Transition State in Biological Chemistry
GM Blackburn
1998 Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology
A Bacher
1999 Biological Approaches to Synthesis
J Staunton
2000 Chemistry and Chemical Biology of Oligonucleotides
B Kräutler
2001 Structure and Function of Membrane Embedded Proteins
J L Castro
2002 Chemical Biology of Cell Signalling and Localization
H Waldmann
2003 The Evolution of Catalysis
A Plückthun & D Hilvert
2004 Protein-Protein and Protein-peptide Interactions
JA Robinson
2005 Role and Control of Metals, Ions and Water in Biology
K Müller
2006 Natural Products and their Cellular Targets
P Leadlay
2007 Chemical Biology meets Drug Discovery
D Rees & J Kihlberg
2008 Motor Proteins – New Therapeutic Targets
P Shoolingin-Jordan
2009 Vitamins and Cofactors
T McDonald
2010 Highlights in Biological and Organic Chemistry
R Allemann & H Hailes
2011 The Chemistry and Function of Nucleic Acids
S Balasubramanian
2012 Chemistry and Biology of Antibiotics
T Bugg
2013 Chemical Probes for Cellular Processes
K Johnsson
2014 Biological Applications of Supramolecular Chemistry
JL Mascareñas
2015 Design and Engineering of Novel Biocatalysts
N Turner
2016 A Celebration of Biological and Organic Chemistry
C Abell
2017 Chemical Synthetic Biology: Self-assembly, Encapsulation & Delivery
D Woolfson
2018 Life and Death of Nucleic Acids
T Carell
2019 Chemistry and Biology of Glycoconjugates
S Flitsch
2021 New Frontiers in Chemistry & Biology
S O’Connor
2022 The Chemical Biology of Molecules & Materials
R Field
2023 Chemical Biology in Europe
B Vauzeilles
2024 ESBOC at Biarritz France
Helen C Hailes
2025 ESBOC at Gregynog
Olalla Vázquez
Want to be part of the ESBOC community? Contact us!
We’re looking for enthusiastic, energetic and well-organised members to help lead ESBOC into its next chapter. As one of the longest-running chemical biology conferences, ESBOC is built on the spirit of “old meets new for breakthroughs”—bringing together established leaders and emerging voices in the field. If you’re passionate about supporting the community and scientific exchange, we’d love to have you on board. Interested? Please do get in touch!
