Chemical biology - a vital partnership for progress
No chemistry, no biology
In the light of this, the proposed scrapping of chemistry at Sussex announced in March, is even more difficult to understand. Alasdair Smith (Sussex vice chancellor) no doubt intended to placate the chemistry community by announcing that chemistry will in future be part of a chemical biology department. But this reveals an astonishing lack of appreciation of the need for the physical sciences to underpin any sound chemical biology activity.
So why is the fundamental role of chemistry in the biosciences so rarely recognised? Since the medical implications of chemical discoveries are usually easier to explain than the chemistry itself, some re-interpretation of advances in chemistry is inevitable. However, the frequent re-branding of chemical biology as simply biology or medicine is damaging chemistry's profile.
The RSC, in recognition of this, has established a body to promote the importance of the chemical sciences via the biological sciences. This body is the Chemical Biology Forum, and its remit is unique.
What is chemical biology?
Chemical biology is difficult to encapsulate. Nevertheless, the definition used by the journal Nature Chemical Biology is useful: 'chemical biology is both the use of chemistry to advance a molecular understanding of biology and the harnessing of biology to advance chemistry.'
If we use this definition, then contrary to popular belief chemical biology is not a novel field. Joseph Priestly could be classed as one of the first chemical biologists. Working in the 1770s, he used biology to advance chemistry by observing the effects of newly discovered gases, like nitrous oxide, on mice. The proliferation of research at the chemistry-biology interface is by contrast, a recent development. What is the cause of this phenomenon?
Biology - not just for biologists
The growth in numbers of chemists working at the biology-chemistry interface is largely due to changes in approaches to biology, as reductionism has made biology a discipline concerned with molecules.Since chemistry is fundamentally the study and manipulation of molecules, so chemistry and biology have naturally converged.
Biology is becoming less descriptive and more quantitative. The latest buzzword being 'systems' biology. The systems approach integrates many complex interactions between components of biological processes, such as networks of interactions between genes. This is a valuable approach as it can reveal system properties that are not apparent when individual components (or groups of components) are studied in isolation.Chemists have long worked comfortably with complex systems of molecules and reactions in a quantitative manner, so are well placed to lead in this revolution. .
Chemical biology is also driven by powerful emerging technologies such as microarrays. These allow researchers to profile thousands of genes simultaneously, thus speeding up the process by which we can identify drug targets - the gene products with which drugs actually interact. In addition, single molecule techniques are making it possible to measure and even visualise the interactions of individual molecules.
There is an expanding market for applied chemical biology within the healthcare, agriculture and biotechnology sectors. But above all, the field is being driven by an awareness of the rich intellectual rewards in tackling interdisciplinary problems: chemical biology is fun!
The last year has seen the launch of several new journals, funding initiatives and research centres such as the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biosciences Centre. These have all been developed to explicitly cater for chemical biologists and illustrate not only the enhanced activity at the chemistry-biology interface but the recognition of its value.
Chemistry: leader or servant?
George Whitesides recently wrote that 'biology is - now and probably for the foreseeable future - the area of fundamental science in which the growth of knowledge is the most rapid.' The molecular revolution in biosciences has propelled chemical biology to its status as one of the most important areas of science today.
The life sciences will set the agenda for this field - since biological and medical sciences define most of the problems to be solved by chemists. But this does not make chemical biology research any less intellectually stimulating or important for chemists. It will require them to learn basic biology - not to gain a broad view of the whole field (biology is too vast for even biologists to do so), but rather to help them collaborate with biologists (including medics) in order to colonise this exciting boundary zone.
Obstacles at the interface
Despite chemists' desires to have their compounds widely used by biologists, and despite biologists' desires for easy to- use chemical tools to enhance their understanding of biological systems, barriers to chemist-biologist collaboration remain to be addressed.
Some barriers are cultural. The biosciences have long benefited from freely sharing materials and information (distributing DNA constructs, submitting genetic sequences to public databases). This has not traditionally been the case in chemistry as materials may be scarce (unlike easily amplified genetic constructs) and information is often privately stored.
Other barriers are historical, such as the geographical separation of chemistry and biology departments. The increasing number of chemists working in (and running) labs in bioscience departments is one example of how chemical biology is changing the way chemists work.
So if more chemists cross over to bioscience and more chemical biology departments are established, is this a threat to chemistry itself? Emphatically not. Chemistry is simply entering an era of tackling new kinds of questions, and to answer them, chemistry as a discipline is more important than ever.
The RSC Chemical Biology Forum
Making the political case for chemical biology will be a priority for the Chemical Biology Forum (CBF). We cannot afford to hope that the obvious opportunities for chemical biology to benefit the nation will simply speak for themselves.
The new CBF Executive will direct the production of forward-looking reports and take the lead on emerging issues, such as the need for Government to recognise the importance of investment in chemistry for the future of the UK's bioscience research base.
The RSC also aims to extend its influence in government to issues that traditionally have been seen as biological or medical. As the principle advisory body for the chemistry biology interface, the CBF will help drive the RSC into this territory. Thanks to the creation of the Forum, RSC members are in a stronger position to express their views on policy affecting chemical biology.
Chemical biology has a very bright future, in which chemists of all backgrounds and skills should play a vital role, and the RSC is committed to getting this message across to government.
