Chemical BiologyThe role of Chemistry in our fundamental understanding of Biology

Chemical Biology has emerged as a distinct field at the interface of Chemistry and Biology. Broadly defined, Chemical Biology encompasses any study that involves the use of chemical principles to study biological phenomena. This area of research has grown largely from the disciplines of synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, protein biochemistry... read moreand molecular biology, and as such employs a variety of experimental techniques from each field.

The primary objective in Chemical Biology is the fundamental understanding of biological phenomena, however, this leads to several applications, most notably in the areas of drug discovery, identification of therapeutic targets, signal transduction and cell cycle biology. Due to its fundamental nature, Chemical Biology covers a wide array of subjects. Virtually every facet of biology has the potential to be included at some level.

The topics for this review have been organized largely by chemical species, since Chemical Biology usually involves a molecular approach in its application.