The Chemical Biology Program comprises researchers in our community with interests in human biology and disease. These researchers study and alter the physiology of cells and organisms with small molecules. Small molecules are used in living systems to convey dynamic information (as distinct from heritable information), e.g., hormones and neurotransmitters, and they are used in medicine, e.g., antibiotics and cholesterol-lowering statins, for the treatment of human disorders. Chemical biology is the science of small molecules in the context of living systems, and so it connects to the study of memory and cognition, sensing and signaling, and the understanding and modulation of cell circuitry with the goal of treating disease. The Chemical Biology Program collaborates with many facets of genome biology at the Broad Institute. A central tenet at the Broad is that integrating chemical biology and genome biology will shine a bright light on human biology and provide powerful new means to create novel therapeutics to treat human disorders that would be impossible to uncover otherwise.
The Program's major scientific aspirations fall within several project areas, which include:
