German Perez

Background

About German Perez

We’re chemical machines” I read that once in a book, and since that day I became an enthusiast of science in general and chemistry specifically. It’s amazing how atoms, molecules, their combinations and interactions shape us and everything around us, right? That was in medium school. I also had my first encounters with programming, BASIC and Pascal at that time. I was then “telling” computers what to do and how to do it … how cool is that? Later at the university, I found out they were used together, in many scenarios, to deal with real-life problems. That is exactly what I have been doing for over 10 years. I took a major in Chemistry and got specialized in Bioinformatics. As a computational chemist, I researched different fields and obtained my Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2015 followed by a 3 years postdoctoral fellowship. Throughout my entire career I have focused on modeling, simulating, and applying machine learning techniques to study and predict the behavior and properties of compounds, and chemical processes. Here are some examples: • Developed a virtual screening methodology, incorporating QSPR models, to perform rational exploration of large libraries of compounds based on properties of interest at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. • Integrated computational methods and data analysis procedures in a heuristic for identifying new peptide receptors targeting selected ligands, at the University of Havana, Cuba. • Used a computational approach for the rational design of biosensors, using peptides to identify drugs and pesticides in different projects with Prof. Marcello Mascini • Proposed peptide-based receptors for artificial “noses” used for sensing different aromas, at the University of Teramo in Italy • Contributed to improve the representation of protein-ligand interactions in molecular docking, at the Centre of Molecular Immunology in Cuba I’m always open to challenges and ideas, eager to apply my knowledge to something new. My areas of expertise include molecular docking, virtual screening, algorithms development, leads identification, data analysis, and QSPR. I also have extensive experience in organic synthesis and with different analytical methods (NMR, FT-IR, UV, HPLC, GC, GPC). Outside work I love hanging out with family and friends. I like going to the wilderness and doing excursions to exotic places. I also enjoy board games and basically everything involving competition.