Chemical Biology

Defining the temporal and spatial context in which biological processes function is critical for their systematic analysis. Chemical biology is an essential part of this aspect of life sciences research. An understanding of the interaction of small molecules and proteins is expected to enable controlled and time-sensitive perturbation of biological networks. Complementing aspects of systems research at EMBL, Australian science is particularly strong in many areas of biological, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry. The University of Sydney’s strengths in chemical biology with an emphasis on the development of tools for imaging biological processes at the sub cellular and whole animal levels. Integrating chemistry into structural biology will also be an important aspect of synchrotron science in Australia, which is being pursued at Monash University. These collective strengths of sponsoring Universities in the Network can be exploited to address:

• small molecule analysis: metabolomics, mass spectrometry, in situ detection of trace elements and reactive metabolites in living tissues;
• design and pharmacology of new drugs;
• improved formulations for drug delivery;
• live cell imaging and chemical probes of biological tissues;
• proteomics and other protein detection and analysis techniques;
• mechanisms of chemical causes for some diseases;
• interaction of small molecules and metals with proteins, DNA and other biomaterials;
• design and improvement of pesticides and herbicides; and
• biosensors.