Chemical genomics: a systematic approach in biological research and drug discovery

The knowledge of complete sequences of different organisms is dramatically changing the landscape of biological research and pharmaceutical development. We are experiencing a transition from a trial-and-error approach in traditional biological research and natural product drug discovery to a systematic operation in genomics and target-specific drug design and selection. Small, cell-permeable and target-specific chemical ligands are particularly useful in systematic genomic approaches to study biological questions. On the other hand, genomic sequence information, comparative and structural genomics, when combined with the cutting edge technologies in synthetic chemistry and ligand screening/identification, provide a powerful way to produce target-specific and/or function-specific chemical ligands and drugs. Chemical genomics or chemogenomics is a new term that describes the development of target-specific chemical ligands and the use of such chemical ligands to globally study gene and protein functions. We anticipate that chemical genomics plays a critical role in the genomic age of biological research and drug discovery.