Chemical biology

Chemical biology is a scientific discipline spanning the fields of chemistry, biology, and physics. It involves the application of chemical techniques, tools, and analyses, and often compounds produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and manipulation of biological systems. Chemical biologists attempt to use chemical principles to modulate systems to either investigate the underlying biology or create new function. Research done by chemical biologists is often closer related to that of cell biology than biochemistry. Biochemists study the chemistry of biomolecules and regulation of biochemical pathways within cells and tissues, e.g. cAMP or cGMP, while chemical biologists deal with novel chemical compounds applied to biology.

Some forms of chemical biology attempt to answer biological questions by directly probing living systems at the chemical level. In contrast to research using biochemistry, genetics, or molecular biology, where mutagenesis can provide a new version of the organism or cell of interest, chemical biology studies probe systems in vitro and in vivo with small molecules that have been designed for a specific purpose or identified on the basis of biochemical or cell-based screening.

Chemical biology is one of many interfacial sciences that are characteristic of a general trend away from older, reductionist fields toward those whose goals are to achieve a description of scientific holism. In this sense, it is related to other fields such as proteomics. Chemical biology has scientific, historical and philosophical roots in medicinal chemistry, supramolecular chemistry (particularly host-guest chemistry), bioorganic chemistry, pharmacology, genetics, biochemistry, and metabolic engineering.

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