Alex Valdes

About Alex Valdes

I graduated from the University of Florida (UF) in May 2015 with a B.S. in Chemistry with a focus in Biochemistry. During my time as an undergraduate, I was fortunate to have been able to participate in academic research in the fields of pharmaceutical chemistry as well as polymer chemistry. Exposure to the field of chemistry left a lasting impression on me, causing me to shift my career goals from becoming a health professional to engaging in lab work as an organic chemist. Beginning in January of 2016, I was given the opportunity to participate in an internship with Arizona Chemical performing chemistry related research in an industry setting. As an intern I lead an aging study, which analyzes the effectiveness of the addition of various sterically hindered phenol, phosphite ester, and hindered amine light stabilizer antioxidants to resin products. I also work in collaboration with the analytical team on HPLC method development and validation to detect the presence said antioxidants over time. The third phase of my rotation involves the synthesis of Ziegler-type catalysts for use in the hydrogenation of polymer products. During my time with Arizona Chemical I fine-tuned my lab skills and improved upon my analytical technique while gaining valuable insight into the importance of chemistry in industry. During my time in graduate school, I have not only been able to hone my already learned skills as an undergraduate and intern, but have also been able to expand my repertoire, further improving my abilities in the laboratory. I have also had to opportunity to engage with younger students as a teaching assistant, allowing me to develop practical life skills such as time- management, leadership, and public speaking. In the laboratory, all group members are assigned certain tasks in order to keep the facilities in top shape. Because of this, cooperation among lab members becomes vital, leading to growth in communication skills as well as working with teams.

Experience

1. Senior Research Associate

   Nurix Therapeutics

   Jan 2024 — Present · The Woodlands, TX, US

   Chemistry Lead - Ligase Discovery Platformo Point-of-contact for synthetic chemistry planning/execution of exploratory degrader/molecular glue compounds (singleton and/or library format)o Development of early-stage compounds from hit identification to pre-lead nominationo Collaboration with automation chemistry team to validate synthetic chemistry routes amenable to automated processeso Utilization of computational resources (LiveDesign, Spotfire, PyMol) to visualize and interpret data from biophysical assays and to inform/guide future design considerationso Collaboration with DEL chemistry, computational chemistry and biology teams to triage designs of exploratory E3 ligase binders and develop into portfolio candidateso Full management of external CRO organizations to ensure delivery of chemical matter in a timely mannerMedicinal Chemistry Team Member o Experience working within oncology therapeutic area – specialization in Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD)o Responsible for Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR) development to determine viability of compounds for both lead and backup series for projecto Lead optimization of multiple compound series in project utilizing property and structure-based drug designo Enabled by utilization of computational resources (LiveDesign, PyMol, MOE)o Analysis and interpretation of biological data to inform and guide decision-making processes in drug designo Visualization of data enabled by computational resources (Stardrop, Spotfire, LiveDesign)o Execute on organic synthesis of key API scale-ups (GMP and non-GMP) to enable key biological studies within project timelines o Co-management of external project CRO resourceso Collaboration with on-site/in-house operations team and chemistry team leadership on advisement of technical resources to enable a more efficient and safer synthetic-chemistry laboratory

Education

• University of Florida

  Bachelor's Degree, Chemistry (Emphasis on Biochemistry)

  2011 — 2015

• UC Irvine

  Masters (M.Sc.), Organic Chemistry

  2016 — 2019