Researchers in the IBMS Chemical Biology and Molecular Pharmacology cluster use the principles of medicinal chemistry to study drugs and drug action, to develop synthetic compounds for exploration as new pharmaceuticals, and to probe and control normal and abnormal biological processes. Expertise includes synthetic chemistry (including combinatorial and natural product synthesis), structure-guided and computational drug design, toxicology and metabolism, and bioassay development. Research emphasizes the integration of biology and chemistry, ensuring that students in the cluster receive strong training in the interface between both fields and learn to exploit chemical diversity as a means to understand biology and advance human health.