干细胞研究中的化学生物学:学科交叉的新前沿

化学生物学（chemical biology）是利用小分子化合物干预和解析生物系统，认识生物系统的本质和内在规律的学科，在包括干细胞研究在内的多个领域得到应用。近年来，干细胞研究取得了引人瞩目的进步，这些基础研究的进步也正在推动着干细胞技术在再生医学中的应用。对细胞命运转换分子基础的认识以及精确操控是干细胞研究的核心问题。小分子化合物因其在使用的便捷性、可控性和功能多样性等方面的显著优势，正越来越多地被用于干预和研究干细胞的增殖、分化和重编程等生物学行为。利用化学分子调控体内干细胞的生物学行为、促进其体内再生和修复将有望成为再生医学领域极具潜力的发展方向。
Chemical biology focuses on the discovery and use of chemical compounds to understand and manipulate biological systems. It has been applied in many fields, including stem cell research. Recently, stem cell research has made significant progresses. A better understanding of stem cell biology will also promote the translation of stem cell technology in regenerative medicine. Elucidating the mechanisms governing cell fate determination and developing strategies to precisely manipulate cell fates are the fundamental issues in stem cell research. The use of small molecules to manipulate stem cell behaviors, including self-renewal, differentiation and reprogramming, has become more and more popular and offered significant advantages over conventional genetic approaches for their convenience in use, high degree of temporal control and functional diversity. In addition, based on our long-term experience in small molecular drug development, the application of chemical compounds to modulate stem cell functions in vivo for regeneration and repair could be the future direction of regenerative medicine