Advancements in Process chemistry – Screening, automation and innovation

Ángel is a Senior Scientist at AstraZeneca in Macclesfield, UK, where he has contributed for over two years by applying modeling and mechanistic understanding to process design. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in the group of Prof. Franziska Schoenebeck. Ángel received his PhD from the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Spain, where he combined experimental and theoretical approaches to advance the mechanistic understanding of chemical reactions.

Maddie earned her PhD in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia, conducting her research in Professor Jason Hein’s laboratory. During her doctoral studies, she utilized the lab’s custom automation platforms to generate data-rich reaction profiles and develop mechanistic understanding for complex transition metal-catalyzed processes. In 2023, Maddie joined the Data Rich Experimentation group at Merck, where she focuses on developing and deploying enabling technologies to support process development and characterization.

I’m currently a Principal Scientist at Pfizer. I received my Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Houston and completed my postdoctoral training at Indiana University. My current work specializes in late-stage process development and chemical engineering.

Pierre-Louis was born and raised in Quebec, Canada. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Université Laval while being an intern in Prof. Thierry Ollevier research group, focusing on the development of green synthetic methodologies.  Pierre-Louis then moved to Montreal and earned his Ph.D. under the guidance of Prof. Bruce A. Arndtsen at McGill University as a NSERC & FRQNT doctoral fellow, focusing on the development of new approaches to acylation reactions via metal-catalyzed carbonylation and electrochemistry.  He then joined the research group of Prof. Song Lin at Cornell University as a postdoctoral associate, and worked on developing scalable, stereoselective electrochemical borylation of oxygenated allylic electrophiles, and utilized these methodologies in diverse synthetic sequences to expand the chemistry toolbox. More recently, Pierre-Louis joined Sanofi as a senior scientist in process chemistry and is part of the Data Rich Experimentation team.

Hailing from Lima, Peru, Alonso joined the Synthetic Molecule Design and Development (SMDD) organization at Lilly in 2019 after completing his PhD studies in Organic Chemistry at the University of Michigan with Prof. Pavel Nagorny and Prof. Paul Zimmerman. During his graduate studies he worked on the development and application of novel acetal containing ligands for asymmetric transition metal catalysis, as well as quantum-chemical mechanistic investigations of phosphoric acid-catalyzed acetalizations. Currently a Sr. Advisor-Chemistry, Alonso has worked on the process development and optimization for several projects spanning from early development to post-approval modifications, including peptide assets as well as anti-cancer small-molecules such as selpercatinib, pirtobrutinib, imlunestrant. In parallel, Alonso leads the SMDD Data-Rich Experimentation Team and is highly enthusiastic about cultivating a data-rich and automation-centric culture in SMDD.

At the workshop, Alonso will be part of the interactive panel session on the topic of Emerging trends in process chemistry.