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Nature Cell Biology 3, E43–E46 (1 February 2001) | doi:10.1038/35055145

Death by design: the big debut of small molecules

Timothy S. Zheng

Good things often come in small packages. When studying the functions of genes involved in complex cellular pathways — such as signal transduction — small, cell-permeable molecules that are capable of binding to protein targets and altering their activities are powerful research tools.