The summer school reflects the recent development of interest in microbial metabolites that has resulted from the sequencing of small molecule-producing microorganisms, coupled with the current explosive development of sequencing technology, bioinformatics and chemical analysis. Ecological studies highlighting the wide range of roles for small molecules in microbial communities provide another major driving force. These summer schools have established a reputation for the quality of the faculty and participants (around 45) and the high degree of productive interaction during the week-long courses. A special feature of the summer school will be hands-on computer workshops to interrogate genome sequences and analyse natural product gene clusters.