An understanding of life on a molecular level requires the characterization of all biochemical activities of an organism with spatial and temporal resolution. Progress towards this ambitious goal is thwarted by a shortage in technologies that permit a spatiotemporal quantification of biochemical activities in living cells and the lack of tools to rapidly and specifically intervene in biochemical pathways to investigate function in situ. In this NCCR we propose to address these widely acknowledged needs by developing chemical approaches for the visualization, quantification and manipulation of biochemical activities. The biological focus will be on signaling and membranes. The NCCR Chemical Biology will create an academic chemical screening platform (ACCESS) for Switzerland to find the next generation of molecules with novel biological properties. In addition a new Masters/PhD program will be created to train a new generation of interdisciplinary scientists.