Staurosporine (antibiotic AM-2282) is a natural product originally isolated in 1977 from bacterium Streptomyces staurosporeus. It was the first of over 50 alkaloids to be isolated with this type of bis-indole chemical structure. The chemical structure of staurosporine was elucidated by X-ray analysis of a single crystal and the absolute stereochemical configuration by the same method in 1994.

Staurosporine was discovered to have biological activities ranging from anti-fungal to anti-hypertensive.^[1] The interest in these activities resulted in a large investigative effort in chemistry and biology and the discovery of the potential for anti-cancer treatment.

The main biological activity of staurosporine is the inhibition of protein kinases through the prevention of ATP binding to the kinase. This is achieved through the stronger affinity of staurosporine to the ATP-binding site on the kinase.