Natural product drug discovery: the times have never been better.

The annual meeting of the Society for Industrial Microbiology (SIM) this year was held in Denver, Colorado, from July 29 to August 2, 2007. Nearly 200 oral and about 120 poster presentations kept the approximately 600 participants busy for more than 4 days. This report focuses on the 35 talks dedicated to natural products chemistry, biosynthesis, engineering, drug discovery and development, as well as neutraceuticals.