Dr Caggiano is very interested in finding new methods to synthesise compounds, with the goal of making the same molecules found in nature in the lab. Natural products are a huge source of anticancer compounds, but they are typically very difficult to synthesise in a laboratory while plants and animals do so with ease using only what they have around them in the soil or the bottom of the sea. It is this puzzling situation that makes research into these compounds so interesting.

If compounds that are found in nature can be easily made in the lab, they can also be easily modified to make better drugs. This approach is taken by many researchers to improve on what nature has given us, because it is very unlikely that the first compound found is the best. Changes to the molecule can make a drug that is more selective, potent, and overall effective than those previously found.