In recognition of its commitment to the union of chemistry and biology, Cornell University's Department of Chemistry has changed its name to the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Researchers in the department see the name change as representing an important new focus of modern chemistry in American universities. "Chemical biology is the ultimate dream of many chemists and biologists," says Jon Clardy, Horace White Professor of Chemistry. "Chemical synthesis and macromolecular crystallography will be used to tackle important biological problems at the molecular level. In the future, we hope to attract the best scientists in this area to our department."

Cornell Provost Don M. Randel endorses this view: "This change reflects a part of Cornell's response to the changing face of science, for it describes the way in which one of our most distinguished departments has set a course for excellence in exciting new fields at the frontiers of chemistry and biology."

Department chair Paul Houston says chemical biology is an area of growing importance. As an example he points to Clardy's study of the structure of proteins using X-ray crystallography. This has made it possible to design molecules, through synthesis, that will augment or turn off the function of the protein, which could lead to new medicines, he says. Similarly, chemists have used synthesis to design relatively small molecules to control the way genes are expressed in cells, thus controlling cell function.

"One might hope that the result would be, for example, a new set of cancer drugs targeted much more precisely at tumors, or even a whole new approach to the understanding of how to control cellular processes," says Houston. An advantage to doing research at Cornell, he adds, is that the newly named department could be closely integrated with other units such as the College of Veterinary Medicine so that new drugs could be developed and tested on campus.

Houston notes that with projected retirements, 25 percent to 35 percent of the department's faculty will be replaced over the next five years, and a fourth to a third of the faculty will be working in the area of chemical biology.

However, he says, this is not to suggest that the department has abandoned its commitment to more traditional chemistry. Indeed, notes Houston, many of the advances that have made innovations in materials and chemical biology possible have come from the more traditional areas of theoretical, physical, inorganic, organic and analytical chemistry.

"We will certainly continue to maintain our strength in these areas as we add new members in chemical biology," he says.