Pharmacology by Chemical Biology

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

~ Marcel Proust

Pharmacology is a science deeply rooted not only in manipulating physiology but also in defining the mechanism of therapeutic compounds so that they may be more precisely deployed. For example, studies by Sydney Farber revealed the potential of antifolates as drugs for the treatment of childhood leukemia, which led to mechanistic efforts that defined dihydrofolate reductase as a drug target. This discovery in turn enabled the development of novel anticancer and antibacterial agents, as well as new methods for probing biology using inducible dimerization. In this special issue of Molecular Pharmaceutics, “Pharmacology by Chemical Biology”, we highlight a diverse collection of chemical advances which may be used to treat disease or study drug action, and thus impact our understanding of pharmacology.