InfoMetricsFiguresRef. Molecular PharmaceuticsASAPArticle This publication is free to access through this site. Learn More CiteCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore citation options ShareShare onFacebookXWeChatLinkedInRedditEmailBlueskyJump toExpandCollapse EditorialMarch 7, 2025Voices in Molecular Pharmaceutics: Meet Dr. Herma Pierre, Dedicated to Developing Safer and More Effective TherapeuticsClick to copy article linkArticle link copied!Herma PierreHerma PierreDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402, United StatesMore by Herma Pierrehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3900-8099Open PDFMolecular PharmaceuticsCite this: Mol. Pharmaceutics 2025, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXXClick to copy citationCitation copied!https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.5c00283https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.5c00283Published March 7, 2025 Publication History Received 2 March 2025Published online 7 March 2025editorialPublished 2025 by American Chemical Society. This publication is available under these Terms of Use. Request reuse permissionsThis publication is licensed for personal use by The American Chemical Society. ACS PublicationsPublished 2025 by American Chemical SocietySubjectswhat are subjects Article subjects are automatically applied from the ACS Subject Taxonomy and describe the scientific concepts and themes of the article. Cancer Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceutics Safety Testing and assessment Current RoleClick to copy section linkSection link copied!I am currently a Research Scientist in the Safety Assessment Division at Charles River Laboratories (CRL). My work centers around developing and validating bioanalytical methods used to assess the safety of a variety of APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and chemicals across varying biological matrices. CRL partners with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as academic laboratories, to assist them with facilitating the discovery, early stage development, and safety assessment of their novel therapeutics. This, in-turn, makes my job interesting since I could work with a wide range of drugs (e.g., proteins, small molecules, ADCs, etc.) at any given time.Best Piece of AdviceClick to copy section linkSection link copied!Build a good diverse scientific support group/community early on in your grad school journey. Grad school has many challenges. But, surrounding yourself with people that you can bounce ideas off of, lean on when you need support, and who genuinely understand the ebbs and flows of your journey in your program can make your experience less daunting and more enjoyable.A Future GoalClick to copy section linkSection link copied!I hope to establish a community program that cultivates the science "spark" in children from underrepresented groups.Inspiration for Choosing a Career in the Pharmaceutical SciencesClick to copy section linkSection link copied!My family and friends who courageously fought against terminal illnesses. They may have fought their battles already, but I got a front row seat at those battles and the challenges that came with it. Choosing a career in the pharmaceutical sciences affords me the opportunity to make other people's fight a bit easier.Most Recent Molecular Pharmaceutics PublicationClick to copy section linkSection link copied!My most recent Molecular Pharmaceutics publication, Verticillin A-Loaded Surgical Buttresses Prevent Local Pancreatic Cancer Recurrence in a Murine Model, details the assessment of verticillin A-polymer coated buttresses as a preventative for pancreatic cancer recurrence postsurgical resection via murine models. By embedding verticillin A, a fungal secondary metabolite with potent cytotoxicity and hepatotoxicity, in poly(glycerol monostearate co-ε-caprolactone) or PGC-C18, a biodegradable polymer, and loading the mixture onto a polyglycolic acid (PGA) buttress, we were able to develop a controlled-release drug formulation that was capable of metering the dose of verticillin A over an extended period of time. This drug product achieved a high maximum tolerable dose (40 mg/kg body weight) compared to the free drug (3 mg/kg), reduced the systemic toxicity of verticillin A, and prevented the recurrence of gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic tumors in 80% of the murine models. This article is important to the field because it describes a biodegradable drug product that suppresses tumor recurrence in safe, therapeutic doses against a highly aggressive, metastatic model of pancreatic cancer. It also lays the foundation for future work in this area.Author InformationClick to copy section linkSection link copied!AuthorHerma Pierre, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402, United States, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3900-8099NotesViews expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.BiographyClick to copy section linkSection link copied!High Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideHerma Pierre earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry and Environmental Studies, respectively, from Florida International University. She then worked for over three years as a contract analytical chemist for USDA-APHIS-PPQ-S&T Treatment and Inspection Methods Laboratory (formerly USDA-APHIS-PPQ-S&T Miami Laboratory) through a cooperative agreement with NCSU NSF CIPM. She then pursued a Ph.D. in Medicinal Biochemistry at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the guidance of Dr. Nicholas H. Oberlies. Her dissertation work encompassed the development of (1) semisynthetic natural product derivatives with improved drug-like properties, (2) a polymer-based drug delivery system for local, prolonged release of a fungal natural product in pancreatic cancer, and (3) natural products-based chemical probes to identify key biological targets of select compounds in ovarian cancer cell lines. These efforts so far have resulted in the semisynthesis of over 20 compounds, 5 peer-reviewed publications (2 first or cofirst authored), and 1 provisional patent.Cited By Click to copy section linkSection link copied!This article has not yet been cited by other publications.Download PDFFiguresReferences Get e-AlertsGet e-AlertsMolecular PharmaceuticsCite this: Mol. Pharmaceutics 2025, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXXClick to copy citationCitation copied!https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.5c00283Published March 7, 2025 Publication History Received 2 March 2025Published online 7 March 2025Published 2025 by American Chemical Society. This publication is available under these Terms of Use. Request reuse permissionsArticle Views-Altmetric-Citations-Learn about these metrics closeArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated.Recommended Articles FiguresReferencesAbstractHigh Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideHigh Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideHerma Pierre earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry and Environmental Studies, respectively, from Florida International University. She then worked for over three years as a contract analytical chemist for USDA-APHIS-PPQ-S&T Treatment and Inspection Methods Laboratory (formerly USDA-APHIS-PPQ-S&T Miami Laboratory) through a cooperative agreement with NCSU NSF CIPM. She then pursued a Ph.D. in Medicinal Biochemistry at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the guidance of Dr. Nicholas H. Oberlies. Her dissertation work encompassed the development of (1) semisynthetic natural product derivatives with improved drug-like properties, (2) a polymer-based drug delivery system for local, prolonged release of a fungal natural product in pancreatic cancer, and (3) natural products-based chemical probes to identify key biological targets of select compounds in ovarian cancer cell lines. These efforts so far have resulted in the semisynthesis of over 20 compounds, 5 peer-reviewed publications (2 first or cofirst authored), and 1 provisional patent.This publication has no References.