Growing the Chemical Tool Compounds Community

Chemical compounds can be powerful tools for biomedical research. But in order to earn the "chemical probe" or "tool compound" designation, a compound must undergo rigorous testing and validation, and satisfy certain chemical and biological criteria. Using these compounds (sometimes commonly referred to as "chemicals", "inhibitors", or even "drugs" by those who use them as research tools) that have been tested and validated can help answer functional questions about biology and physiology that genetic manipulations can't access. This may leave users with the impression that any compound that produces a phenotype that they are interested in is the best tool for the job. Unfortunately, this prevalent thinking is dangerous as it often leads to incorrect conclusions about biological phenomena, and subsequently frequently leads to wrong clinical hypotheses. The main point of this presentation is to continue to raise the awareness of the critical need to carefully validate all compounds that are meant to be used as biomedical research tools, as well as nucleate a diverse and inclusive community of chemists, biologists, funders, journals, and vendors that will set and enforce the standards, in hope those will safe guard our research efforts going forward.