Is sonic hedgehog a gene or a protein or both?
I think sonic hedgehog is okay as a name for a chemical.
Having said that, I am a little bit concerned about the way sonic hedgehog seems to mean the protein and the gene that codes for it, which is likely to cause confusion.
"Sonic hedgehog is a protein encoded for by the SHH gene." says en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… which later says: "Two of these genes—i.e., desert hedgehog and Indian hedgehog—were named for species of hedgehogs, while sonic hedgehog was named after Sonic the Hedgehog, the protagonist character of the eponymous video game franchise. The gene was named as such by Robert Riddle, who was a postdoctoral fellow at the Tabin Lab, after his wife Betsy Wilder came home with a gaming magazine containing an advert for the Sonic the Hedgehog video game"
The New York Times: "A Gene Named Sonic". The New York Times. 1994-01-11.