The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is a nationally recognized leader in progressive pharmaceutical care practice, education, and research. Over the past twenty-five years, the School has built a reputation for cutting-edge research, rigorous programs, and outstanding faculty, staff, and students. Our unique environment has inspired a number of collaborative centers that provide faculty and students with access to sophisticated equipment and numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary research. The Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products focuses on discovering new therapeutic agents and targets. Thousands of compounds researched by the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy have the potential for therapeutic applications impacting many disease targets, such as enzymes, specific drug receptors, and even the genome. Currently, MCNP comprises twelve primary faculty members and five secondary faculty involved in research and teaching. Our scientific interests are diverse and span most key areas in contemporary medicinal chemistry. Research approaches ranging from synthesis, spectroscopy, biochemistry, molecular biology and computational chemistry are coupled to identify new therapeutic agents, targets, and the pathways by which drugs express their function. Specifically, MCNP has research strengths in the synthesis and structure-activity characterization of pharmaceutically relevant small molecules and natural products; bioorganic and chemical biology studies of the properties of designed small-molecule ligands and their cognate drug targets, including proteins, nucleic acids, and glycoconjugates; combinatorial biochemistry and proteomics for the identification of novel signaling pathways and drug targets; structural biology and biomolecular dynamics of drug-protein interactions; chemo- and bioinformatics; and molecular modeling. MCNP is well equipped to support these areas of research. Importantly, our scientific interests are integrated with the University of North Carolina's extensive presence in the biomedical sciences. These interests also benefit from many pharmaceutical research programs in nearby Research Triangle Park. In keeping with the spirit of drug discovery that exists in North Carolina's Research Triangle, the School of Pharmacy is a campus-wide leader in new scientific inventions. Indeed, compounds developed in the laboratories of Professors KH Lee and Hal Kohn recently moved into advanced phases of clinical trials for AIDS and neuropathic pain, respectively.