A qualified teaching method is hard to achieve without traditional classroom lessons. For learning purposes, students need to interact and influence each other, like being part of an osmotic process. They need to learn in a stimulating environment, developing the ability to manage conflicts and to compare opinions. How can this be possible during a pandemic? In an innovative distance learning experiment, students have been involved in significant changes to traditional teaching methods, forced to reinvent themselves and give up face-to-face interactions. General Medicinal Chemistry and Medicinal and Toxicological Chemistry I courses at Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro (UMG) accepted the pandemic call for challenge by renewing their teaching approach, trying to re-establish the sense of community jeopardized by distance learning. Students have been involved in the creation of a multimedia tool, called "MedChemBlog", an innovative distance learning experiment. The aim was to improve the understanding of the chemical structures and drug molecular mechanisms of action, in a unique constructive fashion provided by scientific websites and databases, e.g., Protein Data Bank, DrugBank, and PubChem. In this way, students have been involved in the creation of the course's blog, their "MedChemBlog", revealed as a collector of "food for thought" for present and future students.

No abstract

Background: The inhibition of PRC2, implicated in the pathogenesis of several tumors, can be a useful therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. In the literature, two types of PRC2 modulators are reported: competitive inhibitors of S-adenosyl methionine binding to the catalytic subunit EZH2; and allosteric ligands that prevent the interaction of the trimethylated H3K27 lysine in histone 3 to the EED subunit. The lack of dual EZH2/EED modulators drove us to search for compounds capable of recognizing both domains. Materials & methods: This goal was pursued by combining pharmacophore- and docking-based virtual screening of the Multi-Target Ligand Chemotheca database. Prediction tools for absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion and pan-assay interference compounds were also applied. Results: Finally, five 1,2,3-triazole derivatives were identified as promising dual EZH2/EED modulators. Conclusion: Our multistage screening protocol highlighted the great potential of Chemotheca for identifying polypharmacological agents.