Pedro Martín-Acosta
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Chemistry Department
Division of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
At Reed, I teach general and organic chemistry courses. Our research combines organic, medicinal, and biological chemistry, with a focus on the design, synthesis, and optimization of bioactive molecules, particularly those targeting infectious diseases and cancer. In the lab, we emphasize efficient synthetic strategies such as multicomponent and domino reactions, alongside molecular modeling, to investigate structure–activity relationships (SAR) and develop chemical tools to explore disease biology. I earned a B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry from the University of La Laguna (Spain), where I developed multicomponent and domino methodologies to derivatize bioactive natural products, using molecular modeling techniques (docking and molecular dynamics) to guide structural optimization. I then conducted postdoctoral research at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), working on molecular probes for target identification, targeted protein degradation (PROTACs), prodrug development, and broader chemical biology strategies for drug discovery. Most recently, before joining Reed, I was an Open Lab Scientist at GSK, where we led collaborative research focused on screening, identifying and optimizing novel antimalarial compounds against multiple validated molecular targets.