Cesar De León

Cesar De León is a Ph.D. trained chemist currently serving as a Senior Scientist in Chemical Biology at Merck. In this role, they focus on identifying novel disease targets and mechanisms of action across various therapeutic areas, including neuroscience and infectious diseases. Prior to their position at Merck, Cesar completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University, where they worked on the development of induced proximity platforms under Professor Craig Crews. Cesar earned their doctorate at the University of Southern California, studying the aggregation propensity of alpha synuclein, a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease, as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. They also conducted summer research at institutions like California State University-Dominguez Hills, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Scripps Research.