Lucas C. Valdes, PhD
(he/him/his)Overview
Lucas Valdes assists clients with patent preparation and prosecution in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology spaces. Lucas has extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry. His areas of focus include small molecule therapeutics, antibiotics, and antibody-drug conjugates.
Prior to joining Wolf Greenfield, Lucas obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from Harvard University under Professor Andrew G. Myers. During his graduate research, Lucas designed and synthesized novel fully synthetic analogs of trioxacarcin A as cytotoxic payloads for antibody-drug conjugates. He also synthesized novel mechanism of action antibiotics targeting multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria with demonstrated in vivo efficacy and oral bioavailability. Lucas continued this work as a postdoctoral associate in the Myers Laboratory, where he supported a hit-to-lead campaign to optimize the antibiotics discovered during his graduate research for preclinical development. Lucas also gained industry experience as an intern on the drug substance manufacturing team at Vertex Pharmaceuticals where he interfaced with contract manufacturing organizations and experimented with bench-scale chemical reactors to optimize manufacturing processes for regulatory starting materials used in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Lucas is listed as a co-inventor on two patent applications.
Activities
American Chemical Society, Member (2017-Present)
Recognition
-
Derek C. Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University (2022)
- Chandler T. White 1916 Research Prize, Dartmouth College (2020)