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Much Ado about Small Molecules in Biology and Medicine

The 2nd Chemical Biology Conference was held in Heidelberg, Germany, on 22-25 September 2010 and attracted over 330 participants from academia and industry. As mentioned in the opening words by Iain Mattaj, Director of the host institution European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), this meeting with 37 oral presentations and more than 200 posters seems to be one of the fastest expanding EMBO Conference Series. This, however, is not surprising and reflects the fast development and increasing importance of chemical biology. Similar to the event two years ago, the organizers Maja Kçhn, Carsten Schultz (both EMBL Heidelberg) and John Overington (EMBL-EBI Hinxton, UK) invited scientists representing a large diversity of research areas and techniques but sharing one interest: (small) molecules as powerful tools for basic biology and medicinal research. Accordingly, the program covered a broad spectrum of topics from drug design to chemical synthesis, through development of new tools and high throughput methods, all the way to molecular imaging and cell signaling. Cellular targets were not limited to proteins, as entire sessions were devoted to nucleic acids and carbohydrates. Finally, thanks to the new location—the Advanced Training Center (ATC) at EMBL—and changes in the format (e.g. , extended poster sessions), there was more time and space for discussion, exchanging ideas and setting up new collaborations. Another important aspect was the active involvement of representatives from the German chemical biology initiative ChemBioNet, which organized a special evening meeting to present the scope of the initiative. In addition, the conference benefitted from the active engagement of many editors from journals related to chemical biology. One could sense that despite being diverse in its own field, the chemical biology community was also becoming better defined and better connected.