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The pharmaceutical industry faces major challenges in delivering the next generation of therapeutic agents. The shared interests of pharmaceutical researchers and chemical biologists provide impetus for new drug discovery innovations.
As an international competition that places a premium on creative thinking and the development of a research community of all ages, iGEM is helping synthetic biology grow.
Building on its foundations in chemistry, chemical biology is now extending its reach to understand and manipulate increasingly complex biological systems.
Many macromolecular complexes function as nanoscale machines performing important cellular jobs. However, their complex and dynamic natures pose challenges for detailed structure-function analysis. Small-molecule inhibitors, which can be identified by high-throughput screening, provide important leverage into the study of macromolecular assemblies by allowing researchers to capture transient intermediate states and probe important functional components.
