Natural products extracted from plants, animals, fungi, or bacteria, have been used in traditional medicine in many cultures for centuries to treat various diseases. Because natural products are synthesized by living organisms, they are naturally optimized for various biological functions, such as binding to specific biomolecules or target proteins. Natural products possess tremendous structural and unique chemical diversity and continue to provide an unmatched source of new therapeutic agents and chemical scaffolds for drug discovery. 

The diversity of these molecules also enables scientists to study a wide range of potential drug targets and mechanisms of action and has led to the discovery of many new drug classes and novel approaches to treating diseases. Recent technological advances allow scientists to identify and isolate natural products more efficiently than ever. Furthermore, using computational methods has allowed scientists to predict the biological activities of natural product derivatives and accelerate the drug discovery process. 

This collection of research methods aims to share modern methods in drug discovery inspired by natural products and to introduce research methods in the labs of scientists from many different fields involved in drug discovery, including medicinal chemistry, pharmacognosy, and pharmacology.