The Current Opinion journals were developed out of the recognition that it is increasingly difficult for specialists to keep up to date with the expanding volume of information published in their subject. Elsevier’s Current Opinion journals comprise of 13 leading titles in life sciences and adjacent fields.

Current Opinion in Chemical Biology

IMPACT FACTOR: 9.850
5-Year Impact Factor: 9.723
Issues per year: 6 issues
Editorial Board

Current Opinion in Chemical Biology

The Current Opinion journals were developed out of the recognition that it is increasingly difficult for specialists to keep up to date with the expanding volume of information published in their subject. In Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, we help the reader by providing in a systematic manner:
1. The views of experts on current advances in chemical biology in a clear and readable form.
2. Evaluations of the most interesting papers, annotated by experts, from the great wealth of original publications.

Division of the subject into sections:
The subject of chemical biology is divided into themed sections which are reviewed regularly to keep them relevant. For 2012 they are:• OmicsBioinorganic chemistryBiocatalysis and BiotransformationSynthetic BiologyAnalytical techniquesMolecular ImagingAestheticsMechanisms

Selection of topics to be reviewed:
Section Editors, who are major authorities in the field, are appointed by the Editors of the journal. They divide their section into a number of topics, ensuring that the field is comprehensively covered and that all issues of current importance are emphasised. Section Editors commission reviews from authorities on each topic that they have selected.

Reviews:
Authors write short review articles in which they present recent developments in their subject, emphasising the aspects that, in their opinion, are most important. In addition, they provide short annotations to the papers that they consider to be most interesting from all those published in their topic over the previous year.

Editorial Overview:
Section Editors write a short overview at the beginning of the section to introduce the reviews and to draw the reader's attention to any particularly interesting developments.
This successful format has made Current Opinion in Chemical Biology one of the most highly regarded and highly cited review journals in the field (Impact factor = 8.295)

Ethics in Publishing: General Statement
The Editor(s) and Publisher of this Journal believe that there are fundamental principles underlying scholarly or professional publishing. While this may not amount to a formal 'code of conduct', these fundamental principles with respect to the authors' paper are that the paper should: i) be the authors' own original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere, ii) reflect the authors' own research and analysis and do so in a truthful and complete manner, iii) properly credit the meaningful contributions of co-authors and co-researchers, iv) not be submitted to more than one journal for consideration, and v) be appropriately placed in the context of prior and existing research. Of equal importance are ethical guidelines dealing with research methods and research funding, including issues dealing with informed consent, research subject privacy rights, conflicts of interest, and sources of funding. While it may not be possible to draft a 'code' that applies adequately to all instances and circumstances, we believe it useful to outline our expectations of authors and procedures that the Journal will employ in the event of questions concerning author conduct. With respect to conflicts of interest, the Publisher now requires authors to declare any conflicts of interest that relate to papers accepted for publication in this Journal. A conflict of interest may exist when an author or the author's institution has a financial or other relationship with other people or organizations that may inappropriately influence the author's work. A conflict can be actual or potential and full disclosure to the Journal is the safest course. All submissions to the Journal must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest. The Journal may use such information as a basis for editorial decisions and may publish such disclosures if they are believed to be important to readers in judging the manuscript. A decision may be made by the Journal not to publish on the basis of the declared conflict.

For more information, please refer to: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/conflictsofinterest

Best Cited over the last year.

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New trends for metal complexes with anticancer activity

Medicinal inorganic chemistry can exploit the unique properties of metal ions for the design of new drugs. This has, for instance, led to the clinical application of chemotherapeutic agents for cancer treatment, such as cisplatin. The use of cisplatin is, however, severely limited by its toxic side-effects. This has spurred chemists to employ different strategies in the development of new metal-based anticancer agents with different mechanisms of action. Recent trends in the field are discussed…

Volume 12, Issue 2, 01 April 2008, Pp 197-206
Bruijnincx, P.C. | Sadler, P.J.

Metals in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases

There has been steadily growing interest in the participation of metal ions (especially, zinc, copper, and iron) in neurobiological processes, such as the regulation of synaptic transmission. Recent descriptions of the release of zinc and copper in the cortical glutamatergic synpase, and influencing the response of the NMDA receptor underscore the relevance of understanding the inorganic milieu of the synapse to neuroscience. Additionally, major neurodegenerative disorders, including…

Volume 12, Issue 2, 01 April 2008, Pp 222-228
Barnham, K.J. | Bush, A.I.

Mass spectrometry for proteomics

Mass spectrometry has been widely used to analyze biological samples and has evolved into an indispensable tool for proteomics research. Our desire to understand the proteome has led to new technologies that push the boundary of mass spectrometry capabilities, which in return has allowed mass spectrometry to address an ever-increasing array of biological questions. The recent development of a novel mass spectrometer (Orbitrap) and new dissociation methods such as electron-transfer dissociation…

Volume 12, Issue 5, 01 October 2008, Pp 483-490
Han, X. | Aslanian, A. | Yates III, J.R.

G-quadruplex nucleic acids as therapeutic targets

Nucleic acid sequences containing several short runs of guanine nucleotides can form complex higher order structures, termed quadruplexes. Their occurrence has been most extensively characterised at the telomeric ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, whose DNA comprises such sequences, and where the extreme 3′ ends are single-stranded. This enables relatively facile formation of quadruplex arrangements under the influence of a quadruplex-selective small molecule to compete effectively with telomeric…

Volume 13, Issue 3, 01 June 2009, Pp 345-353
Balasubramanian, S. | Neidle, S.

The impact of natural products upon modern drug discovery

In the period 1970-2006, a total of 24 unique natural products were discovered that led to an approved drug. We analyze these successful leads in terms of drug-like properties, and show that they can be divided into two equal subsets. The first falls in the 'Lipinski universe' and complies with the Rule of Five. The second is a 'parallel universe' that violates the rules. Nevertheless, the latter compounds remain largely compliant in terms of log P and H-bond donors, highlighting the importance…

Volume 12, Issue 3, 01 June 2008, Pp 306-317
Ganesan, A.

Near-infrared fluorescence: application to in vivo molecular imaging

Molecular imaging often relies on the use of targeted and activatable reporters to quantitate and visualize targets, biological processes, and cells in vivo. The use of optical probes with near-infrared fluorescence allows for improved photon penetration through tissue and minimizes the effects of tissue autofluorescence. There are several parameters that define the effectiveness of imaging agents in vivo. These factors include probe targeting, activation, pharmacokinetics, biocompatibility,…

Volume 14, Issue 1, 01 February 2010, Pp 71-79
Hilderbrand, S.A. | Weissleder, R.

The Sirtuin family: therapeutic targets to treat diseases of aging

Sirtuins have emerged as therapeutic targets to treat age-related diseases. There are seven human Sirtuins (SIRT1-7) that display diversity in cellular localization and function. Growing evidence suggests that small-molecule activators of SIRT1 may counteract age-related afflictions such as type 2 diabetes. Alternatively, inhibitors of SIRT2 may be useful in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Recent discoveries of small-molecule and protein modulators of…

Volume 12, Issue 1, 01 February 2008, Pp 11-17
Milne, J.C. | Denu, J.M.

Mechanistic insights into glycosidase chemistry

The enzymatic hydrolysis of the glycosidic bond continues to gain importance, reflecting the critically important roles complex glycans play in health and disease as well as the rekindled interest in enzymatic biomass conversion. Recent advances include the broadening of our understanding of enzyme reaction coordinates, through both computational and structural studies, improved understanding of enzyme inhibition through transition state mimicry and fascinating insights into mechanism yielded…

Volume 12, Issue 5, 01 October 2008, Pp 539-555
Vocadlo, D.J. | Davies, G.J.

Discovering mechanisms of signaling-mediated cysteine oxidation

Accumulating evidence reveals hydrogen peroxide as a key player both as a damaging agent and, from emerging evidence over the past decade, as a second messenger in intracellular signaling. This rather mild oxidant acts upon downstream targets within signaling cascades to modulate the activity of a host of enzymes (e.g. phosphatases and kinases) and transcriptional regulators through chemoselective oxidation of cysteine residues. With the recent development of specific detection reagents for…

Volume 12, Issue 1, 01 February 2008, Pp 18-24
Poole, L.B. | Nelson, K.J.

Privileged scaffolds for library design and drug discovery

This review explores the concept of using privileged scaffolds to identify biologically active compounds through building chemical libraries. We hope to accomplish three main objectives: to provide one of the most comprehensive listings of privileged scaffolds; to reveal through four selected examples the present state of the art in privileged scaffold library synthesis (in hopes of inspiring new and even more creative approaches); and also to offer some thoughts on how new privileged scaffolds…

Volume 14, Issue 3, 01 June 2010, Pp 347-361
Welsch, M.E. | Snyder, S.A. | Stockwell, B.R.

Advances in laboratory evolution of enzymes

We address recent developments in the area of laboratory, or directed evolution, with a focus on enzymes and on new methodologies of generic potential. We survey three main areas: (i) library making techniques, including the application of computational and rational methods for library design; (ii) screening and selection techniques, including recent applications of enzyme screening by FACS (fluorescence activated cell sorter); (iii) new approaches for performing directed evolution, and in…

Volume 12, Issue 2, 01 April 2008, Pp 151-158
Bershtein, S. | Tawfik, D.S.

Antibody-drug conjugates: Targeted drug delivery for cancer

The antibody-drug conjugate field has made significant progress recently owing to careful optimization of several parameters, including mAb specificity, drug potency, linker technology, and the stoichiometry and placement of conjugated drugs. The underlying reason for this has been obtained in pre-clinical biodistribution and pharmacokinetics studies showing that targeted delivery leads to high intratumoral free drug concentrations, while non-target tissues are largely spared from…

Volume 14, Issue 4, 01 August 2010, Pp 529-537
Alley, S.C. | Okeley, N.M. | Senter, P.D.

Upconverting luminescent nanoparticles for use in bioconjugation and bioimaging

Upconverting luminescent nanoparticles (UCNPs) display the unique property of emitting visible light following photoexcitation with near-infrared laser light. This results in features such as virtually zero autofluorescence of (biological) matter and easy separation of the emission peaks from stray light. Other features include rather narrow emission bands, very high chemical stability, the lack of bleaching, and the absence of blinking effects. This article reviews the work performed in the…

Volume 14, Issue 5, 01 October 2010, Pp 582-596
Mader, H.S. | Kele, P. | Saleh, S.M. | Wolfbeis, O.S.

Expanding the functional diversity of proteins through cysteine oxidation

The polarizable sulfur atom in cysteine is subject to numerous post-translational oxidative modifications in the cellular milieu, which regulates a wide variety of biological phenomena such as catalysis, metal binding, protein turnover, and signal transduction. The application of chemical rationale to describe the features of different cysteine oxoforms affords a unique perspective on this rapidly expanding field. Moreover, a chemical framework broadens our understanding of the functional roles…

Volume 12, Issue 6, 01 December 2008, Pp 746-754
Reddie, K.G. | Carroll, K.S.

Folate-targeted therapeutic and imaging agents for cancer

Cancer therapies that exploit targeting ligands to deliver attached cytotoxic drugs selectively to malignant cells are currently receiving significant attention. While antibody-targeted drugs have been the first to enter the clinic, recent studies demonstrate that the vitamin folic acid can also be used to deliver attached imaging and therapeutic agents selectively to malignant cells in both animal tumor models and human cancer patients. Thus, folate conjugates bind to folate receptors that are…

Volume 13, Issue 3, 01 June 2009, Pp 256-262
Low, P.S. | Kularatne, S.A.

Engineered protein scaffolds as next-generation antibody therapeutics

Antibodies have been the paradigm of binding proteins with desired specificities for more than one century and during the past decade their recombinant or humanized versions have entered clinical application with remarkable success. Meanwhile, a new generation of receptor proteins was born, which is derived from small and robust non-immunoglobulin "scaffolds" that can be equipped with prescribed binding functions using the methods of combinatorial protein design. Their ongoing development does…

Volume 13, Issue 3, 01 June 2009, Pp 245-255
Gebauer, M. | Skerra, A.

Directed enzyme evolution: climbing fitness peaks one amino acid at a time

Directed evolution can generate a remarkable range of new enzyme properties. Alternate substrate specificities and reaction selectivities are readily accessible in enzymes from families that are naturally functionally diverse. Activities on new substrates can be obtained by improving variants with broadened specificities or by step-wise evolution through a sequence of more and more challenging substrates. Evolution of highly specific enzymes has been demonstrated, even with positive selection…

Volume 13, Issue 1, 01 February 2009, Pp 3-9
Tracewell, C.A. | Arnold, F.H.

Potent antibody drug conjugates for cancer therapy

Significant progress has been made in the past few years in the area of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) for the selective delivery of cytotoxic drugs to tumors. Early work in this field incorporated clinically approved drugs and mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which had modest activities, and were generally immunogenic. The results of these studies prompted investigation that led to the identity of several key parameters that influenced activity and tolerability. These included the antigen…

Volume 13, Issue 3, 01 June 2009, Pp 235-244
Senter, P.D.

Fluorescent biosensors of protein function

Fluorescent biosensors allow researchers to image and quantify protein activity and small molecule signals in living cells with high spatial and temporal resolution. Genetically encoded sensors are coded by a DNA sequence and hence constructed entirely out of amino acids. These biosensors typically utilize light-emitting proteins, such as derivatives of the green fluorescent protein (GFP), and have been developed for a wide range of small molecules and enzyme activities. Fluorescent biosensors…

Volume 12, Issue 1, 01 February 2008, Pp 60-65
VanEngelenburg, S.B. | Palmer, A.E.

Glycan arrays: biological and medical applications

Carbohydrates and their conjugates are involved in various biological events, including viral and bacterial infection, the immune response, differentiation and development, and the progression of tumor cell metastasis. Glycan arrays are a new technology that has enabled the high-sensitivity and rapid analysis carbohydrate-protein interaction and contribute to significant advances in glycomics. Glycan arrays use a minute amount of materials and can be used for high-throughput profiling and…

Volume 12, Issue 1, 01 February 2008, Pp 86-92
Liang, P.-H. | Wu, C.-Y. | Greenberg, W.A. | Wong, C.-H.

Glycan arrays: recent advances and future challenges

Carbohydrate arrays, also referred to as glycan arrays, are composed of various oligosaccharides and/or polysaccharides immobilized on a solid support in a spatially defined arrangement. This technology provides a powerful, high-throughput approach to examining carbohydrate-macromolecule interactions, and glycan arrays have had a significant impact on the field of glycobiology. This review focuses on recent advances in glycan array technology, limitations, and opportunities for improvement. In…

Volume 13, Issue 4, 01 October 2009, Pp 406-413
Oyelaran, O. | Gildersleeve, J.C.

Metal-organic frameworks as potential drug carriers

Nanoparticle-based therapeutics have received increasing attention, as these systems can alleviate many drawbacks of conventional therapy. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a new class of hybrid materials composed of metal ions and organic bridging ligands, have emerged as a promising platform for drug delivery, owing to their high drug loadings, biodegradability, and versatile functionality. The bulk MOF materials can absorb and release large amounts of therapeutics including ibuprofen,…

Volume 14, Issue 2, 01 April 2010, Pp 262-268
Huxford, R.C. | Della Rocca, J. | Lin, W.

Isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions in drug discovery

This review describes recent advances in the application of isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions (IMCRs) in drug discovery and summarizes the various chemotypes used to probe biological targets. In the past couple of years, IMCR-derived ligands have been used to develop agents against infectious diseases and to interfere with protein-protein interactions. Additionally, they were active against a variety of targets such as enzymes, GPCRs and ion channels. The rational for the chemical…

Volume 12, Issue 3, 01 June 2008, Pp 324-331
Akritopoulou-Zanze, I.

Imaging mobile zinc in biology

Trafficking and regulation of mobile zinc pools influence cellular functions and pathological conditions in multiple organs, including brain, pancreas, and prostate. The quest for a dynamic description of zinc distribution and mobilization in live cells fuels the development of increasingly sophisticated probes. Detection systems that respond to zinc binding with changes of their fluorescence emission properties have provided sensitive tools for mobile zinc imaging, and fluorescence microscopy…

Volume 14, Issue 2, 01 April 2010, Pp 225-230
Tomat, E. | Lippard, S.J.

NIR dyes for bioimaging applications

Fluorescent dyes based on small organic molecules that function in the near infrared (NIR) region are of great current interest in chemical biology. They allow for imaging with minimal autofluorescence from biological samples, reduced light scattering, and high tissue penetration. Herein, examples of ongoing NIR fluorophore design strategies as well as their properties and anticipated applications relevant to the bioimaging are presented. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Volume 14, Issue 1, 01 February 2010, Pp 64-70
Escobedo, J.O. | Rusin, O. | Lim, S. | Strongin, R.M.