Chemical biology

Experimental and theoretical research at the interface of chemistry and biology, covering both chemical tools for biological questions, and molecular-level understanding, control and manipulation of biological processes. Topics include the following.

Design, development and use of chemical tools to probe biological systems
Molecular-level structural and mechanistic studies of proteins, nucleic acids, sugars and lipids
Molecular-level study and control of biological processes including signal transduction, protein-protein/DNA/RNA interaction, nucleic acid replication and repair, protein folding, gene expression, intracellular signalling, biosynthesis and post-translational modifications
Chemical methods in biological systems, including imaging, labelling techniques, directed evolution, genetic and metabolic engineering and other chemical methods of manipulating biology to enable biological understanding or create new functions
Pharmacological studies that provide wider insight into biology (Note that chemical biology studies specifically directed towards drug discovery are better suited to our sister journal MedChemComm.)

Omics sciences

Experimental and bioinformatics research in the -omics sciences, including genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics. Of particular interest are -omics studies with a focus on chemical biology; topics include the following.

Omics studies to gain mechanistic insight into biological processes - for example, determining the mode of action of a drug, or the basis of a particular phenotype, such as drought tolerance
Omics studies for clinical applications, with validation, such as finding biomarkers for diagnostics or potential new drug targets
Omics studies looking at the sub-cellular make-up of cells - for example, the subcellular localisation of certain proteins or post-translational modifications, and new imaging techniques
Studies presenting new tools to support omics studies, including new spectroscopic/chromatographic techniques, chip-based/array technologies and new classification/data analysis techniques

Systems biology

Modelling, simulation and analysis of the components and interactions in complex biological systems, including cells, genes and metabolic or signalling networks. Topics include the following.

Mathematical and biological simulation and modelling
Data mining, transformations, integration and quantitative analysis techniques
High-throughput technologies
Software, tools, databases and methodologies for simulation and modelling

Acceptance Criteria

When evaluating a manuscript editors and referees will assess not only the quality and validity of the research but also its significance and potential impact within its field. To be suitable for publication inMolecular BioSystemsa paper should be of general interest to researchers working at the chemistry-biology interface. We welcome experimental, theoretical or computational studies, or the development of new processes or technologies, which provide significant new insight into important chemical or biological problems. Papers reporting new results which could be routinely predicted, which do not show a significant improvement over known research, or which are of interest only to the specialist in the area are not suitable for publication in the journal.