Dr. chem. Jānis Veliks Leading researcher and Head of the Laboratory of Organic Synthesis, Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis. The main research focus of Jānis Veliks is the development of new – efficient, easy to use and stable – fluoromethylene group reagents for the simultaneous introduction of fluorine and carbon atoms into organic compounds. These reagents allow new fluorinated molecules to be formed more easily and their most important potential application is in the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, as on average one in four of them contains at least one fluorine atom.