Medicinal Chemistry is an integral part of the drug discovery process, providing the vital link between therapeutic target identification and the final development of a drug for the treatment or prevention of diseases. The core activities of medicinal chemistry are the identification, optimization and biological evaluation. These activities involve a diverse range of research expertise, and can be achieved successfully only when a multidisciplinary approach is applied to the research problem. In this respect, the existing Medicinal Chemistry Program is well placed to address its research foci, namely lead identification through chemical synthesis, rational design and optimization, and biological evaluation.

The Medicinal Chemistry Program has the following aims and objectives:

To establish NUS as a centre of excellence for medicinal chemistry research

To initiate and establish major inter-disciplinary flagship programs in Medicinal Chemistry