News & Comment

By building on the successes of the past and leveraging both innovative technologies and predictive knowledge, scientists can develop smarter ways to create a molecular armamentarium of chemical and biological medicines.

Integrating chemistry and biology in the search for the next generation of therapeutics.

Seeking to maintain a supply of effective antibiotics, Stuart Levy combines research in microbiology and antibiotic drug discovery with a strong commitment to public communication.

As head of the Office of Orphan Products Development, Marlene Haffner offers a perspective on the immense influence the Orphan Drug Act has had in promoting research on and awareness of rare diseases.

Translational research in academia is extending beyond the traditional involvement in clinical trials to the early phases of the drug discovery process. Examples of successful academic-industrial partnerships illustrate the ways in which they can enable the discovery of new medicines.

The difficulty in working with lipids and other membrane components has left many fundamental questions about the biochemistry of membranes unanswered. New techniques are required to determine how cell membranes are organized structurally and functionally.

As a pioneer in the field of membrane traffic, Randy Schekman shares a compelling historical perspective on the roles of various disciplines in forming a field and defining a scientist.

Biological membranes are two-dimensional mixtures of an enormous number of different components. Modeling cell membranes as simple bilayer mixtures reveals rich phase behavior, but how can we use the observed phase behavior to understand the real membranes?

Physical chemistry explains the principles of self-organization of lipids into bilayers that form the matrix of biological membranes, and continuum theory of membrane energetics is successful in explaining many biological processes. With increasing sophistication of investigative tools, there is now a growing appreciation for lipid diversity and for the role of individual lipids and specific lipid-protein interactions in membrane structure and function.

Bioinorganic chemistry remains a vibrant discipline at the interface of chemistry and the biological sciences. Metal ions function in numerous metalloenzymes, are incorporated into pharmaceuticals and imaging agents, and inspire the synthesis of catalysts used to achieve many chemical transformations.

Successful science education requires a knowledgeable teacher, a challenging curriculum, and teaching methods that actively engage students in a learning process that evokes the scientific method.

A required course in communication at the graduate school level may help cure the disorder of poor scientific writing.

Chemical biology graduate programs that are jointly organized by chemistry and life science departments can offer a stimulating 'bicultural' training environment for students from diverse backgrounds. However, communication, flexibility and responsiveness are crucial for effectively structuring such programs.