Dr. Gustavo G. Flores-Bernal has been selected for the University of California (UC) Alianza MX Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, beginning in the 2025–26 academic year. He will join Professor Osvaldo Gutierrez‘s group at UCLA to develop new chemical methods that use inexpensive, non-toxic, and widely available iron-based catalysts for sustainable pharmaceutical synthesis.
The fellowship, awarded for Flores-Bernal’s project titled “Enantioselective Access to Chiral Alcohols via Fe-Catalyzed Discabofunctionalization of Silyl Enol Ethers,” will support his full-time, in-person residency in the Gutierrez group from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2027.
Flores-Bernal’s passion for chemistry began in high school, with vocational training as a Chemical Laboratory Technician. After being accepted into the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) to pursue a bachelor’s degree in industrial pharmaceutical chemistry, he graduated with honors, fulfilling his childhood dream. Flores-Bernal’s love for organic chemistry motivated him to pursue his M.Sc. degree in asymmetric synthesis under the supervision of Professor L. Gerardo Zepeda-Vallejo at IPN, while his Ph.D. in radical chemistry was completed with honors in the group of Professor Luis D. Miranda, director of the Institute of Chemistry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Flores-Bernal’s commitment to contributing to the scientific community has led him to mentor several undergraduate students and collaborate on multidisciplinary projects. The UC Alianza MX award represents a milestone in Flores-Bernal’s scientific career toward fulfilling his long-term goals of becoming a research professor, and creating a research group dedicated to developing stereoselective methodologies for the synthesis of high-value chiral molecules through sustainable metallophotocatalytic processes.
The UC Alianza MX Postdoctoral Research Fellowship is a new pilot program launched in Fall 2024 to strengthen U.S.–Mexico binational collaboration. It supports early-career scholars—particularly Mexican nationals or UC graduates—who hold a doctoral or terminal degree and conduct research directly relevant to U.S.–Mexico issues. The program aims to advance the research activities and professional development of emerging scholars under the mentorship of UC faculty, with the long-term goal of expanding collaborative ties between the University of California and Mexican academic institutions.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
