Dr Hessam Mehr

  • Research Fellow (School of Chemistry)

Biography

Hessam Mehr is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow working at the interface of chemistry, robotics, and computing science.

Following completion of his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering (Sharif University of Technology, Tehran), he moved to Canada for a PhD in supramolecular chemistry with Prof. Mark MacLachlan (University of British Columbia, Vancouver), which he finished in 2017. He briefly left the academia to work on automated analysis of drug samples using NMR at Health Canada before coming to Glasgow to join the Cronin group as a post-doc in March 2018. He was involved in the development and validation of the XDL chemical programming language and exploration of its applications as universal code for chemical synthesis and autonomous discovery. Between February 2021 and April 2022, he oversaw the evolution of XDL from version 1.0 to 2.0, adding higher-level language constructs for expressing more complex chemical programs as well as an intuitive abstraction for executing multiple programs in parallel.

In May 2021, Dr Mehr was awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (starting May 2022) in support of his proposal for next generation chemical discovery engines.

Research interests

  • Machine learning and Bayesian modelling in chemistry
  • Autonomated chemical discovery in complex systems
  • Probabilistic and logic techniques applied to discovery
  • Programming languages for automated chemistry
  • Novel reaction media (e.g. aerosols) for chemical discovery
  • High-bandwidth analytical techniques
  • Chemical imaging
  • Soft and responsive materials
  • New substrates for laboratory automation, e.g. acoustic trapping

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2013 | 2012
Number of items: 25.

2025

Li, Z. and M. Mehr, S. H. (2025) Accelerated investigation of complex reaction cascades via digital aerosol chemistry coupled to online mass spectrometry. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-g4hcg)

Mehr, S. H. M. (2025) Digital discovery and the new experimental frontier. Digital Discovery, (doi: 10.1039/D5DD00029G) (Early Online Publication)

Mehr, S. H. M. (2025) Programmable real-time execution of scientific experiments using a domain specific language for the Raspberry Pi Pico. TechRxiv, (doi: 10.36227/techrxiv.173896967.76043093/v1)

Wosik, J., Zhu, C. and Mehr, S. H. M. (2025) A framework for general-purpose chemical synthesis in the aerosol phase and its automated implementation in an open hardware platform. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-mkmn0)

2024

Weiss, G. M., Asche, S., McLain, H., Chung, A. H., Mehr, S. H. M. , Cronin, L. and Graham, H. V. (2024) Operational considerations for approximating molecular assembly by Fourier transform mass spectrometry. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 11, 1485483. (doi: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1485483)

Šiaučiulis, M., Knittl-Frank, C., Mehr, S. H. M. , Clarke, E. and Cronin, L. (2024) Reaction blueprints and logical control flow for parallelized chiral synthesis in the Chemputer. Nature Communications, 15(1), 10261. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54238-6) (PMID:39592595) (PMCID:PMC11599859)

Kahana, A., MacLeod, A., Mehr, H. , Sharma, A. , Carrick, E., Jirasek, M., Walker, S. and Cronin, L. (2024) Constructing the molecular tree of life using assembly theory and mass spectrometry. arXiv, (doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2408.09305)

Asche, S., Pow, R. W., Mehr, H. M. , Cooper, G. J. T. , Sharma, A. and Cronin, L. (2024) Evidence of selection in mineral mediated polymerization reactions executed in a robotic Chemputer system. ChemSystemsChem, 6(3), e202400006. (doi: 10.1002/syst.202400006)

Zhang, L. and Mehr, S. H. M. (2024) Micron-sized soft chemical reactors synthesized via the aerosol phase. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-3zqw5-v2)

Jirasek, M. et al. (2024) Investigating and quantifying molecular complexity using assembly theory and spectroscopy. ACS Central Science, 10(5), pp. 1054-1064. (doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.4c00120) (PMID:38799656) (PMCID:PMC11117308)

Leonov, A. I. et al. (2024) An integrated self-optimizing programmable chemical synthesis and reaction engine. Nature Communications, 15, 1240. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45444-3) (PMID:38336880) (PMCID:PMC10858227)

2023

Jiang, H. and Mehr, S. H. M. (2023) Detection of micron-sized chemical droplets using a commodity digital camera setup. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-swkp8)

M. Mehr, S. H. , Caramelli, D. and Cronin, L. (2023) Digitizing chemical discovery with a Bayesian explorer for interpreting reactivity data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(17), e2220045120. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.2220045120) (PMID:37068251)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Tang, A. W. and Laing, R. R. (2023) Automated qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex forensic drug samples using ¹H NMR. Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, 61(2), pp. 95-105. (doi: 10.1002/mrc.5265) (PMID:35246867)

2022

Mehr, S. H. M. , Caramelli, D. and Cronin, L. (2022) Digitizing chemical discovery with a Bayesian explorer for interpreting reactivity data. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-t5qqx)

Rohrbach, S. et al. (2022) Digitization and validation of a chemical synthesis literature database in the ChemPU. Science, 377(6602), pp. 172-180. (doi: 10.1126/science.abo0058)

2021

Caramelli, D., Granda, J. M., Mehr, S. H. M. , Cambie, D. , Henson, A. B. and Cronin, L. (2021) Discovering new chemistry with an autonomous robotic platform driven by a reactivity-seeking neural network. ACS Central Science, 7(11), pp. 1821-1830. (doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.1c00435)

Wilbraham, L. , Mehr, S. H. M. and Cronin, L. (2021) Digitizing chemistry using the chemical processing unit: from synthesis to discovery. Accounts of Chemical Research, 54(2), pp. 253-262. (doi: 10.1021/acs.accounts.0c00674) (PMID:33370095)

2020

Mehr, S. H. M. , Craven, M., Leonov, A. I., Keenan, G. and Cronin, L. (2020) A universal system for digitization and automatic execution of the chemical synthesis literature. Science, 370(6512), pp. 101-108. (doi: 10.1126/science.abc2986) (PMID:33004517)

2017

Mehr, S. H. M. , Oshima, H., Carta, V., Patrick, B. O., White, N. G. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2017) Tuning the tautomeric behavior of tris(salicylaldimines). Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 39, 8418. (doi: 10.1039/c7ob02058a) (PMID:28952647)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Depmeier, H., Fukuyama, K., Maghami, M. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2017) Formylation of phenols using formamidine acetate. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 15(3), 581. (doi: 10.1039/c6ob02727j) (PMID:28000831)

2016

Mehr, S. H. M. , Patrick, B. O. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2016) Stabilization of a strained heteroradialene by peripheral electron delocalization. Organic Letters, 18(8), pp. 1840-1843. (doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.6b00577) (PMID:27031736)

2015

Mehr, S. H. M. , Fukuyama, K., Bishop, S., Lelj, F. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2015) Deuteration of aromatic rings under very mild conditions through keto-enamine tautomeric amplification. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 80(10), pp. 5144-5150. (doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.5b00539) (PMID:25906051)

2013

Mehr, S. H. M. , Giese, M., Qi, H., Shopsowitz, K. E., Hamad, W. Y. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2013) Novel ppv/mesoporous organosilica composites: influence of the host chirality on a conjugated polymer guest. Langmuir, 29, pp. 12579-12584. (doi: 10.1021/la4024597) (PMID:24074378)

2012

Frischmann, P. D., Mehr, S. H. M. , Patrick, B. O., Lelj, F. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2012) Role of entropy and autosolvation in dimerization and complexation of C60 by Zn7 metallocavitands. Inorganic Chemistry, 51(6), pp. 3443-3453. (doi: 10.1021/ic202049t) (PMID:22375512)

This list was generated on Fri Apr 25 21:45:28 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles
Number of items: 25.

Articles

Li, Z. and M. Mehr, S. H. (2025) Accelerated investigation of complex reaction cascades via digital aerosol chemistry coupled to online mass spectrometry. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-g4hcg)

Mehr, S. H. M. (2025) Digital discovery and the new experimental frontier. Digital Discovery, (doi: 10.1039/D5DD00029G) (Early Online Publication)

Mehr, S. H. M. (2025) Programmable real-time execution of scientific experiments using a domain specific language for the Raspberry Pi Pico. TechRxiv, (doi: 10.36227/techrxiv.173896967.76043093/v1)

Wosik, J., Zhu, C. and Mehr, S. H. M. (2025) A framework for general-purpose chemical synthesis in the aerosol phase and its automated implementation in an open hardware platform. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-mkmn0)

Weiss, G. M., Asche, S., McLain, H., Chung, A. H., Mehr, S. H. M. , Cronin, L. and Graham, H. V. (2024) Operational considerations for approximating molecular assembly by Fourier transform mass spectrometry. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 11, 1485483. (doi: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1485483)

Šiaučiulis, M., Knittl-Frank, C., Mehr, S. H. M. , Clarke, E. and Cronin, L. (2024) Reaction blueprints and logical control flow for parallelized chiral synthesis in the Chemputer. Nature Communications, 15(1), 10261. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54238-6) (PMID:39592595) (PMCID:PMC11599859)

Kahana, A., MacLeod, A., Mehr, H. , Sharma, A. , Carrick, E., Jirasek, M., Walker, S. and Cronin, L. (2024) Constructing the molecular tree of life using assembly theory and mass spectrometry. arXiv, (doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2408.09305)

Asche, S., Pow, R. W., Mehr, H. M. , Cooper, G. J. T. , Sharma, A. and Cronin, L. (2024) Evidence of selection in mineral mediated polymerization reactions executed in a robotic Chemputer system. ChemSystemsChem, 6(3), e202400006. (doi: 10.1002/syst.202400006)

Zhang, L. and Mehr, S. H. M. (2024) Micron-sized soft chemical reactors synthesized via the aerosol phase. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-3zqw5-v2)

Jirasek, M. et al. (2024) Investigating and quantifying molecular complexity using assembly theory and spectroscopy. ACS Central Science, 10(5), pp. 1054-1064. (doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.4c00120) (PMID:38799656) (PMCID:PMC11117308)

Leonov, A. I. et al. (2024) An integrated self-optimizing programmable chemical synthesis and reaction engine. Nature Communications, 15, 1240. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45444-3) (PMID:38336880) (PMCID:PMC10858227)

Jiang, H. and Mehr, S. H. M. (2023) Detection of micron-sized chemical droplets using a commodity digital camera setup. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-swkp8)

M. Mehr, S. H. , Caramelli, D. and Cronin, L. (2023) Digitizing chemical discovery with a Bayesian explorer for interpreting reactivity data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(17), e2220045120. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.2220045120) (PMID:37068251)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Tang, A. W. and Laing, R. R. (2023) Automated qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex forensic drug samples using ¹H NMR. Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, 61(2), pp. 95-105. (doi: 10.1002/mrc.5265) (PMID:35246867)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Caramelli, D. and Cronin, L. (2022) Digitizing chemical discovery with a Bayesian explorer for interpreting reactivity data. ChemRxiv, (doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-t5qqx)

Rohrbach, S. et al. (2022) Digitization and validation of a chemical synthesis literature database in the ChemPU. Science, 377(6602), pp. 172-180. (doi: 10.1126/science.abo0058)

Caramelli, D., Granda, J. M., Mehr, S. H. M. , Cambie, D. , Henson, A. B. and Cronin, L. (2021) Discovering new chemistry with an autonomous robotic platform driven by a reactivity-seeking neural network. ACS Central Science, 7(11), pp. 1821-1830. (doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.1c00435)

Wilbraham, L. , Mehr, S. H. M. and Cronin, L. (2021) Digitizing chemistry using the chemical processing unit: from synthesis to discovery. Accounts of Chemical Research, 54(2), pp. 253-262. (doi: 10.1021/acs.accounts.0c00674) (PMID:33370095)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Craven, M., Leonov, A. I., Keenan, G. and Cronin, L. (2020) A universal system for digitization and automatic execution of the chemical synthesis literature. Science, 370(6512), pp. 101-108. (doi: 10.1126/science.abc2986) (PMID:33004517)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Oshima, H., Carta, V., Patrick, B. O., White, N. G. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2017) Tuning the tautomeric behavior of tris(salicylaldimines). Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 39, 8418. (doi: 10.1039/c7ob02058a) (PMID:28952647)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Depmeier, H., Fukuyama, K., Maghami, M. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2017) Formylation of phenols using formamidine acetate. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 15(3), 581. (doi: 10.1039/c6ob02727j) (PMID:28000831)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Patrick, B. O. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2016) Stabilization of a strained heteroradialene by peripheral electron delocalization. Organic Letters, 18(8), pp. 1840-1843. (doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.6b00577) (PMID:27031736)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Fukuyama, K., Bishop, S., Lelj, F. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2015) Deuteration of aromatic rings under very mild conditions through keto-enamine tautomeric amplification. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 80(10), pp. 5144-5150. (doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.5b00539) (PMID:25906051)

Mehr, S. H. M. , Giese, M., Qi, H., Shopsowitz, K. E., Hamad, W. Y. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2013) Novel ppv/mesoporous organosilica composites: influence of the host chirality on a conjugated polymer guest. Langmuir, 29, pp. 12579-12584. (doi: 10.1021/la4024597) (PMID:24074378)

Frischmann, P. D., Mehr, S. H. M. , Patrick, B. O., Lelj, F. and MacLachlan, M. J. (2012) Role of entropy and autosolvation in dimerization and complexation of C60 by Zn7 metallocavitands. Inorganic Chemistry, 51(6), pp. 3443-3453. (doi: 10.1021/ic202049t) (PMID:22375512)

This list was generated on Fri Apr 25 21:45:28 2025 BST.

Grants

Royal Society of Chemistry Research Enablement Grant (2023–24)

Lord Kelvin / Adam Smith Leadership Fellowship (2022–25)

Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (2022–25): Investigating the dark reactions present in chemical space

ScotCHEM Early Career Award (2020–21)

Hack the ARC: The Hacker's ARK

Supervision

Teaching

  1. Science Fundamentals Y1 (2022–23, 2023–24)
  2. Inorganic Chemistry Y3
  3. Chemical Studies

Professional activities & recognition

Research fellowships

  • 2022 - 2025: Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship

Research datasets

Jump to: 2024 | 2022 | 2020
Number of items: 5.

2024

Mehr, H. and Zhang, X. (2024) In situ synthesis within micron-sized soft chemical reactors created via programmable aerosol chemistry. [Data Collection]

2022

Cronin, L. , Rohrbach, S., Siauciulis, M., Chisholm, G. , Saleeb, M., Mehr, H. , Trushina, E., Leotov, A. and Khan, A. (2022) Code and Data for Digitization and validation of a chemical synthesis literature database in the ChemPU. [Data Collection]

Mehr, H. , Caramelli, D. and Cronin, L. (2022) Digitizing Chemical Discovery with a Bayesian Explorer for Interpreting Reactivity Data. [Data Collection]

2020

Cronin, L. , Caramelli, D., Granda, J. M., Cambie, D., Mehr, H. and Henson, A. (2020) Dataset for A Reactivity First Approach to Autonomous Discovery of New Chemistry. [Data Collection]

Mehr, H. , Craven, M., Leonov, A., Graham, K. and Cronin, L. (2020) Benchmarking results and the XDL XML schema. [Data Collection]

This list was generated on Fri Apr 25 21:45:30 2025 BST.

Additional information

I am always happy to recruit motivated students who would like to engage in interdisciplinary research. Interested students with a background in chemistry, physics, or computer science are encouraged to enquire about PhD and other opportunities via email. My personal website (https://mehr-research.science) has more information about ongoing projects and areas of interest.


Hessam Mehr

Dr Hessam Mehr on Twitter