Editorial Board
Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Natalia Tretyakova,
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and the Masonic Cancer Center
Past Chair, ACS Division of Chemical Toxicology
Director, Epigenetics Consortium
Distinguished McKnight University Professor,
Natalia Tretyakova began her independent scientific career in 2000 as an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, where she currently holds the position of Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and the Masonic Cancer Center. Her research lies at the interface of chemical biology, toxicology, and epigenetics, with a focus on DNA and protein adducts, epigenetic deregulation, and the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer and age-related diseases. Her laboratory integrates mass spectrometry, synthetic chemistry, and multi-omics approaches to uncover the biological consequences of DNA-protein crosslinks and to develop targeted epigenetic therapies. Natalia is the founder and director of the University of Minnesota Epigenetics Consortium and serves on multiple editorial boards and national committees. Her work aims to translate chemical insights into therapeutic strategies that promote human health and environmental safety.
Associate Editors
Dr. Alex Gregory Waterson
Departments of Pharmacology and Chemistry
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Alex G. Waterson, is currently a Research Professor of Pharmacology and Chemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Trained as a synthetic organic chemist, he earned his Ph.D. under the mentorship of Professor Al Padwa at Emory University and completed postdoctoral research at Colorado State University in the group of the late Professor Albert I. Meyers. In 2001, Alex joined the medicinal chemistry team at GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where he contributed to the discovery of covalently modifying ErbB inhibitors and the B-RAF inhibitor Dabrafenib, among other projects.
After transitioning to Vanderbilt in 2008, he played a key role in establishing the university’s participation in the National Cancer Institute’s Chemical Biology Consortium. He also joined Professor Stephen Fesik’s fragment-based drug discovery team, serving as a medicinal chemist and project leader. In addition, he serves as Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry for the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, collaborating with multiple research groups to guide hit-to-lead and lead optimization efforts toward probe and therapeutic discovery.
Alex has led and contributed to numerous oncology-focused drug discovery projects, including those targeting direct and indirect inhibition of K-RAS, as well as proteases, epigenetic regulators, and cancer metabolism pathways. More recently, his work has expanded into the area of Targeted Protein Degradation.
Dr. Vitor Bernardes Pinheiro
Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences
Rega Institute for Medical Research, KU Leuven
Vitor B. Pinheiro, is currently an Associate Professor at KU Leuven, where he is a member of the Medicinal Chemistry group at the Rega Institute and an active contributor to the Belgian Synthetic Biology community. Trained in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge (UK), he completed his Ph.D. in bacterial pathogenesis, focusing on the molecular evolution of Yersinia pestis.
Following his doctoral studies, Vitor pursued postdoctoral research at the UK Medical Research Council, where he pioneered the development of the first synthetic or xenobiotic genetic materials (XNAs). In 2013, he joined University College London as an independent researcher, applying Directed Evolution to Synthetic Biology and advancing the XNA field. His research focuses on transforming Directed Evolution from an artisanal practice into a systematic engineering tool for probing the limits of functional biopolymers. His group works across disciplines to develop novel approaches for understanding and manipulating biological systems, with broad applications in molecular medicine and biotechnology.