Carlos received a B. Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Costa Rica (San Pedro, S.J.) in 2005. He also studied Physics and Chemical Engineering. His M. Sc. research was focused in the synthesis of synthetic analogs of the active site of the enzyme nitric oxide reductase (NOR).

Carlos joined Dr. Julia Brumaghim’s Group at Clemson University in 2009 to research the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA damage by metal ions and nanoparticles. He also evaluated the antioxidant activity natural antioxidants, neurotransmitters, and related molecules to prevent oxidative stress and its deleterious consequences. He graduated the Ph. D. program in May, 2016.

At Yale University, Carlos worked in Dr. Sidney Altman’s lab in the synthesis and evaluation of peptide-morpholinooligonucleotide conjugates as new antibiotics based on RNA silencing technique (2016-2018). He also worked under the supervision of Dr. Douglas Brash (Yale Cancer Institute) in the prevention and analysis of DNA damage caused by excited species generated by chemical reactions (chemiexcitation) and in absence of UV irradiation (in the dark), as a strategy to prevent skin cancer and neurodegeneration (208-2023).

In August 2023, Carlos joined the Anticancer Discovery from Pets to People research theme, directed by Prof. Paul J. Hergenrother at the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois. Carlos is currently working on elucidating the mode of action of anti-cancer drugs by treating different breast cancer cell lines with the drugs ErSO and ErSO-TFPy to evaluate the rate of cell death before and after treatment with cell death inhibitors. Furthermore, Carlos isolates the RNA for RNA sequencing and analyzes the up- and down- regulation of genes after the treatment with the drugs.

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Gonçalves, L.; Premi, S.; Angelé-Martínez, C. et al. “Chemiexcitation of Neurotransmitters and Hormones Creates DNA Photoproducts in the Dark”. ACS Chem. Biol. 2023, 18, 484.

Angelé-Martínez, C; Murray, J.; Stewart, P. A.; Haines, J. Gaertner, A. A. E.; Brumaghim, J. L.