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Closer interactions between chemical biology and systems biology have the potential to provide a more integrated understanding of how biology functions.
Chemical biology and systems biology have grown and evolved in parallel during the past decade, but the mindsets of the two disciplines remain quite different. As the inevitable intersections between the disciplines become more frequent, chemical biology has an opportunity to assimilate the most powerful ideas from systems biology. Can the integrationist mindset of systems biology liberate chemical biology from the compulsion to reduce everything to individual small molecule–target pairings?
As the field of chemical biology matures, its practitioners are tackling ever more sophisticated biological problems. Chemical approaches, both synthetic and analytical, provide researchers with powerful new technologies to perturb, dissect and even reconstruct complex biological systems. Here we discuss the special challenges and opportunities confronted at the burgeoning interface of chemical and systems biology.
Although much is known about the molecular components of cellular signaling pathways, very little is known about how these multicomponent biochemical machineries process complex extracellular signals to generate a consolidated cellular response. A newly developed theoretical approach for reverse engineering network structure—analyzing how perturbations propagate in a network—can be combined with chemical perturbations and quantitative detection approaches to reveal the causal connections within protein networks in cells. This information indicates the dynamic capabilities of a network and thereby its potential function.
Undergraduate research experiences help retain students in science majors and prepare our workforce for increasingly competitive jobs. Course-based approaches to research and inquiry allow educators to reach larger numbers of students and provide an entry into further research experiences.
European Research Area (ERA)-Chemistry is a network of funding agencies that supports international collaborative approaches to chemical research and facilitates the flow of ideas from scientists to funding institutions.
Chemical biology continues to grow and blur the theoretical and empirical boundaries between chemistry and biology. Federal funding agencies, including the US National Science Foundation, will be essential to support the development of interdisciplinary research fields.
Funding support for chemical biology is essential for its growth around the world. A new funding initiative from the National Natural Science Foundation of China provides a model of a targeted funding program in the area of signal transduction.
An emerging generation of scientists trained at the interface of chemistry and biology is providing new tools and insights into the workings of biological systems. Private foundations represent an important funding option for scientists at this interface.
