Chemistry comes to life

This year the RSC will bring chemists and life scientists together in a series of workshops that will develop communication and understanding between those working in the two disciplines.

Multi-disciplinary projects between chemistry and the life sciences are incredibly exciting, as Malcolm Smyth, Chair of the Analytical Division explains: "Many breakthroughs in our understanding of complex biological systems have come about through innovations in analytical techniques." 

It is therefore important that both disciplines work closely together in order to learn from each other and to create new networks. This is particularly true for health care, where the analytical sciences have a great impact on people's lives. Chemical sciences not only assist in the diagnosis of disease, but are also employed to search for their origin and for treatments.

The RSC has established the Chemistry Biology Interface Forum (CBiF) which aims to promote more interaction between the two disciplines. In 2007 the Analytical Division and CBiF started working together on developing a series of workshops called Analytical Tools for the Life Sciences in order to promote this area of research.

Pip Bell, RSC Manager Biosciences, was delighted with the response to the initial idea: "It was great, everybody we spoke with seemed to be excited about the project; we knew we had to pursue it.

"It is important to show researchers just how vast the possibilities are that analytical tools and techniques offer to assist research in the life sciences. This is particularly important with the focus on quantitative biochemistry. At the same time, we wanted to make sure that chemists know about the difficulties and problems that researchers in the life sciences face."

Unlocking potential

These workshops are designed to provide a dedicated forum for scientists of different disciplines to interact and learn from each other. This will also be a great chance for those who are new to the field to meet more experienced scientists or to decide in which direction they would like to take their research.

The first workshop will be on Oxidative DNA Damage (see box below). Blánaid White, an invited speaker, recognises how fostering collaborations can help investigate this complex field: "Human DNA undergoes an estimated 10,000 oxidative hits per day, triggered by g-irradiation, sunlight or chemical oxidation.

 "Oxidative DNA damage has been implied to play a part in mutagenesis, aging and illnesses such as cancer, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Analytical tools and techniques have a huge potential, both in terms of research into these diseases and in terms of early diagnosis and disease monitoring."

By collaborating with the Biochemical Society for the latter two workshops (see box below, Future Workshops), the RSC hopes to engage with a wide range of experts concerned with advances in health care and breakthroughs in medical research.

The second workshop will discuss biological membranes. The importance of analytical techniques here lies in understanding the structure and function of membranes and their proteins. A large number of biological targets of pharmacological importance are situated in the membrane.

Approximately 55% of drug targets are membrane proteins. Shedding light on the structure of those proteins and their interactions with other molecules could help progress the development of novel drugs.

The theme of the third workshop is on monitoring the progression of diseases and using analytical tools as medical diagnostic tools. Speakers will be chosen with the aim of encouraging  and developing further interactions between the two disciplines.

Pip Bell summarises: "We hope that a wide range of scientists from these fields will recognise the opportunities that these workshops offer, and will be enthused to get involved."