Chemically induced proximity in biology and medicine

Regulating molecule proximity The physical distance, or proximity, between molecules often directs biological events. The development of membrane-permeable small molecules that reversibly regulate proximity has enabled advances in fields such as synthetic biology, signal transduction, transcription, protein degradation, epigenetic memory, and chromatin dynamics. This “induced proximity” can also be applied to the development of new therapeutics. Stanton et al. review the wide range of advances and speculate on future applications of this fundamental approach. Science , this issue p. eaao5902