About me

Melchor Sanchez Martinez, Ph.D.
Melchor Sanchez Martinez, Ph.D.
Email melchor .at. msanchezmartinez.com
Company website Associate Manager Data Science | Data Product Analytics
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya Course Instructor
ORCID 0000-0002-3674-8577
LinkedIn melchorsanchezmartinez
Google Scholar Scholar Citations
Twitter @melsanm
GitHub MelchorSanchez
GitLab msanmar
Publons Profile
ResearchGate Profile

Hey! I am Melchor, a molecule hunter. Wherever I work, my goal is the same: to enhance the discovery, development and/or production of new molecules using computers, through computational sciences, cheminformatics, machine learning and AI, and the data products that make them useful for scientists.

I am an experienced player in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, with 15+ years of experience and management and senior-level positions across different companies, specializing in consultancy and service provision. I have led projects and teams, co-authored 25+ peer-reviewed publications and supervised dozens of theses, including a PhD.

On the technical side, I work at the intersection of chemistry, biology and data: cheminformatics, bioinformatics, machine learning, LLM/agentic workflows and data science, as well as the business side of data (business analysis, data strategy and data product definition). My work is characterized by a strong client- and product-oriented focus, paired with an entrepreneurial and business-driven mindset, demonstrated through my roles in various startups and my freelance experience. Not a founder of a company but a co-founder of two nice kids! A guy from a small town of Navarra that now lives in a slightly bigger town of Catalonia, in the greater Barcelona area. I have changed the desert for the beach… although I prefer mountains.

After graduating in biotechnology with a Bachelor’s degree, I decided to pursue an M.Sc. in biophysics. During that year, I was introduced to theoretical chemistry, which I realized was my passion. So I decided to pursue another M.Sc. in theoretical and computational chemistry. During that year, I met Dr. Ramon Crehuet, who became my Ph.D. advisor for the next four years at the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC) in Barcelona.

When I was finishing the Ph.D., it was clear to me that I wanted to do something at the borderline between computational chemistry and, if possible, pharmaceutical research. Luckily, before my Ph.D. defense I started to work at Mind The Byte (MtB), also in Barcelona. MtB was a startup devoted to developing new computational chemistry software for the pharma and biotech industries. We also provided consultancy services, acting as a Contract Research Organization (CRO) in computational chemistry and cheminformatics and related fields such as bioinformatics. Moreover, MtB regularly participated in regional, national, and Europe-wide funded projects where I acted as a Principal Investigator. I joined the company as a computational chemist and progressed to Scientific Director, leading a team of 2-7 people and managing more than 40 projects. In addition to drug discovery, MtB gave me experience in real-world business operations, such as the acquisition of our main national competitor, as well as in project and people management. Moreover, MtB gave me the opportunity to direct my first PhD thesis. Great times indeed!

However, after four years I left Mind The Byte to join Molomics in March 2019 as a Senior Research Scientist in computational chemistry and data science. Molomics is a company that advances the search for structurally new small molecule therapeutics using artificial intelligence (AI) empowered by human knowledge. In Molomics, I looked for candidate molecules to become therapeutic agents against central nervous system (CNS) disorders, mainly Parkinson’s disease. I had a great time there until July 2021 when I left Molomics. In fact, looking back, I have to say that I have been very lucky with all the job positions I have had. I have enjoyed great times and collected good memories in all of them.

After leaving Molomics, it was clear to me that I wanted to do something for myself. During my time at Mind The Byte, I began to develop an entrepreneurial mindset that grew over the years until it morphed into business ideas. However, I was, and still am, afraid of what it means to run a business, so I decided to do something in between, becoming a freelancer. On 1st September 2021 I created Burua Scientific, the brand through which I offer my professional services as a freelancer. In addition, in March 2022 I also co-created ByteKem where, also as a freelancer, I (together with my colleague Emanuele) try to close the gap in the use of computational tools to discover molecules outside the biotech/pharma industries.

However, Burua took up too much of my time and I could not devote the necessary effort to growing ByteKem. So I took a step aside, and although I continued to collaborate with Emanuele for a while, I decided to focus solely on Burua Scientific. Finally, a few months later, I decided to completely abandon the freelance route. When I started freelancing I had in mind to set up a small consulting company, but although I would say that I have been successful as a freelancer, I was just acting as a normal employee of other companies. A freelancer instead of a permanent employee, but more or less the same. That was a far cry from my original aspirations.

So 1 year and almost 3 months after starting as a freelancer I returned to the business world by joining Zifo in December 2022 as a Senior Consultant in Cheminformatics, and I became Team Lead in Cheminformatics in October 2023. In January 2025 I took over the Informatics team in Europe (previously split into Cheminformatics and Bioinformatics) together with the Data Science team, focused on AI applications. Since April 2025 I am an Associate Manager leading the Data Product Analytics team in Europe, which encompasses Scientific Informatics (Cheminformatics and Bioinformatics) and AI applications, as well as data strategy, data analysis, and data product development (from conception to deployment). Zifo is a company that helps science-driven organisations innovate through a full range of specialised scientific computing services. It is a role where science, people and data products meet, and I am having fun with the challenge.

Last but not least, since 2015, I also collaborate with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, a private university based in Barcelona, in the M.Sc. program in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, teaching Programming for Bioinformatics as well as directing and evaluating M.Sc. thesis. I also love teaching, helping people learn and at the same time communicating knowledge (another of my passions). I really enjoy teaching!

For more info here there are my, hopefully updated, Cheminformatics oriented CV and Data Science oriented CV