Medicinal chemistry is both science and art. The science of medicinal chemistry offers mankind one of its best hopes for improving the quality of life. The art of medicinal chemistry continues to challenge its practitioners with the need for both intuition and experience to discover new drugs. Hence sharing the experience of drug research is uniquely beneficial to the field of medicinal chemistry. Drug research requires interdisciplinary team-work at the interface between chemistry, biology and medicine. Therefore, the topic-related series Topics in Medicinal Chemistry covers all relevant aspects of drug research, e.g. pathobiochemistry of diseases, identification and validation of (emerging) drug targets, structural biology, drugability of targets, drug design approaches, chemogenomics, synthetic chemistry including combinatorial methods, bioorganic chemistry, natural compounds, high-throughput screening, pharmacological in vitro and in vivo investigations, drug-receptor interactions on the molecular level, structure-activity relationships, drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicology and pharmacogenomics. In general, special volumes are edited by well known guest editors

This book explores the importance of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in biomedical research. As SNP technologies have evolved from labor intensive, expensive, time-consuming processes to relatively inexpensive methods, SNP discovery has exploded. In terms of human biology, this research, particularly since the completion of the Human Genome Project, has provided a detailed understanding of evolutionary forces that have generated SNPs. It also has shown how SNPs shape human variation. The ability to inexpensively generate and analyze vast amounts of genetic data is poised to transform our understanding of human evolution and biology. "Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms" covers a broad survey of SNPs and their classification into synonymous and non-synonymous; the role of SNPs in human disease; case studies providing specific examples of synonymous and non-synonymous SNPs associated with human diseases or affecting therapeutic interventions; mechanisms by which synonymous mutations affect protein levels or protein folding which affect human physiology and response to therapy; and the role of SNPs in personalized medicine. Understanding what SNPs are, how they have been shaped is necessary for an increasingly expanding audience. This research will revolutionize the future of medicine. Chapter 4 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. SNPs Ability to Influence Disease Risk: Breaking the Silence on Synonymous Mutations in Cancer" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.