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Commentary

Nature Chemical Biology 4, 639–642 (1 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/nchembio1108-639

Challenges for the 'chemical-systems' biologist

Gabriel M Simon & Benjamin F Cravatt

What's in a name? Depending on one's perspective, perhaps everything or nothing. By naming or categorizing fields of science, we achieve certain desirable objectives (for example, uniting groups of scientists with common research interests), but these benefits come at the cost of creating potentially artificial chasms between related disciplines.