Dr. Carlos Valdez
Carlos was born in Lima, Peru. In 1991, he came to the US and graduated from
high school in 1995. That year he began his studies at Florida International
University. In 1998, he joined the laboratory of Professor Stanislaw Wnuk as an
undergraduate research student and worked on the chemical synthesis of novel
nucleoside inhibitors for the enzyme S-Adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase.
After graduating from FIU with a BS in Chemistry in 2000, he was awarded a
research training grant from the NIH to work at the National Cancer Institute in
the laboratory of Larry Keefer. His work at the NCI involved the synthesis of
carbohydrate compounds capable of releasing nitric oxide upon enzymatic
action. After leaving the NCI in 2001, and receiving $200K NSF graduate
scholarship in Physical Sciences, Carlos began graduate school at the University
of California, Berkeley. At UC Berkeley he joined the laboratory of Professor
Carolyn Bertozzi and his work involved the synthesis of oligosaccharide motifs
involved in the Notch activation pathway. After obtaining a PhD degree from UC
Berkeley in 2006, Carlos joined the laboratory of Professor K. Barry Sharpless
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2001) at the Scripps Research Institute for his postdoctoral appointment. Carlos’ work at the Sharpless lab involved the use of Click
chemistry to build a library of antiparasitic nitroimidazole-based compounds. In
2009, he joined the Life and Physical Sciences Department and the Forensic
Science Center at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His current
work, funded by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland
Security, focuses on the development of cutting-edge technologies for the
defense and security of the nation. He is author/co-author of over 20 scientific
publications, including 4 from his undergraduate studies at FIU, and 5 patents.
Dr. Valdez and his wife Angela have three children: Vicente, Antonio and Marco.